The SCM’s Pandemic Online Platform is up and running – bringing our blend of theology, social justice, community building and humour.
We are aiming for 4 events each week, using the Zoom platform, as well as some impromptu hangouts organized by participants.
Monday Meditation – 12:30 Eastern
Wednesday Radical Bible Study – 4p-6pm Eastern
Thursday Fasting from Fear prayer time 4-5pm Eastern
Friday Movie Night – 7pm Eastern
Check the SCM Canada Facebook Page, or email peter@scmcanada.org to find out how to connect with SCM POP.
After many years sharing office space with KAIROS Canada, the Student Christian Movement Canada Office is packing up and moving across town to new digs!
Please update your address books to:
Student Christian Movement of Canada 103 Bellevue Ave Toronto, ON M5T 2N8
The cohort with instructors Laurel and Ashe (far left) and author Lane (third from left)
This September I began the Center for Prophetic Imagination’s Certificate Program in Prophetic Spirituality. I first learned about this program when Peter Haresnape of the SCM suggested I apply. To be honest, I kind of did it on a whim because I thought it sounded weird and cool, and I certainly wasn’t disappointed.
This 2 year program is comprised of five week-long intensives in Minnesota and two online classes, which explore different aspects of the Christian prophetic tradition and the call to justice as it is reflected in the Bible and in our lives today. This first intensive involved travelling to Minnesota to spend a week camping with instructors Ashe van Steenwyk and Laurel Dykstra and three other participants in Tettegouche State Park, with no cell phones or technology. Situated on the North-Western shore of Lake Superior, I could write a whole piece just about how beautiful the land was, and the joy of spending more time than I ever had being intentionally present in nature. But I digress.
Informed by critical anti-capitalist and anti-colonial perspectives, Ashe and Laurel presented a compelling course that was engaging, thought-provoking and placed a strong focus on self-reflection. Each morning we got up at dawn, cooked together and washed up, and then Laurel would teach a class about wilderness prophets in the Bible. We would then cook and eat lunch, and afterwards Ashe would discuss what we would be reflecting on for the afternoon. Each day we would be given a topic, idea or suggested activity to guide us, and spend between 2 and 4 hours in solitude on the land exploring, reflecting, journaling, and doing spiritual exercises. Afterwards we would cook dinner and spend the evening in circle discussion, usually around a fire, reflecting on what we had learned that day.
The experience was honestly very enlightening. The instructors and the participants each were seeking justice and Christ through their work in very different ways, and I think I learned as much from the other students as I did from the course itself. The entire experience balanced the exploration of grief and the call to building hope and resiliency in our work, and left us with the understanding that we each have a prophetic call and vocation in our lives – qualities and gifts that only we can give to our communities in our collective work towards justice.
This was only the first course of the program and while I don’t know what to expect from the rest of it, I am excited to see where it takes us. The next class, The Spirituality of Empire, is an online course running through January and February 2020 and the next intensive, Learning Compassion, will be in May. Each of these courses and intensives, except the final intensive, is open to attend individually without having to register for the full program. So for anyone who might be looking to do something weird and cool and learn more about themselves and the prophetic tradition, I would highly recommend signing up for a course with the Center for Prophetic Imagination.
The 37th General Assembly of the World Student Christian Federation will be meeting in Berlin, June 4-11 2020, in the 125th year of the Federation. Will you be there?
Under the theme ‘Rejoice in Hope‘ (Romans 12:12), 108 member Movements from 94 countries, including SCM Canada, will gather with senior friends, partners and guests. As the highest decision-making representative body of the World Student Christian Federation, General Assembly will accomplish significant work and build joyful and meaningful connection between the many members of this global body, under the theme, ‘Rejoice in Hope‘ and sub-theme ‘Young People, Journeying Together Towards Justice and Peace‘.
SCM Canada is seeking a delegate to represent our Movement in Berlin in June 2020. To express interest, please complete the SCM Canada application using the notes at the bottom of this page. Applicants will be interviewed and invited to register by December 2019.
Senior Friends, guests and partner organizations
As well as delegates, many others will be travelling from around the world to take part in the networking, learning, and discussion of news of Student Christian Movements!
SCM Canada also warmly welcomes notifications from Senior Friends and other interested parties intending to participate as observers!
Support for global participation
As part of SCM Canada’s commitment towards building global solidarity and supporting our sibling movements, we invite donations to cover the participation costs of the Bangladesh delegation as well as our own participant. Please make your donation through SCM Canada, noting WSCF GA in the memo, using one of the following methods:
PayPal transfer to info@scmcanada.org
Interact transfer to info@scmcanada.org
Donation via CanadaHelps (Select WSCF General Assembly)
The theme speaks strongly of WSCF identity as one ecumenical movement composed of diverse traditions, background and contexts. Romans 12:12 reminds us that unity in Christ Jesus is our hope in times of challenges and difficulties. We are called to be one in our spirit, mind and action in the building of the Kingdom. We are called to prophesize and proclaim hope in the coming of the Kingdom. We are to be THE hope in today’s world. As young people, WSCF offers the message of hope in the context of the suffering of the world today. It is our reason for being.
The Student Christian Movement of Canada heartily and fully endorses the aims and objectives of the Global Climate Strike, Sept 20-27, 2019.
We call upon all people to participate in this interruption to our daily routine of life and work. Climate Change threatens to permanently disrupt ‘life as usual’, but students are being educated for a world that will not exist when they graduate. Climate Change is already interrupting life for people around the world. We must respond.
We first express gratitude to the Indigenous nations around the world, especially in Turtle Island where the Student Christian Movement of Canada does its work. We name the ways that Christianity has supported Imperialism and Capitalism to attack Indigenous nationhood with genocidal intent. We acknowledge that violence done against the land is also violence against the Indigenous Peoples of the land.
SCM Canada recognises the need for complete truth telling, restitution, and the return of land, as essential precursors to ‘reconciliation’. We recognise the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as one of the tools that international Indigenous communities have offered as a minimum expectation. We believe that decolonization is a process that will liberate Settler society from violence and lack of vision.
We are grateful to the Indigenous Peoples, to scientists, to prophets, mystics, and people who live on the land who have been warning us, calling us to our responsibilities. We reject the ways that your voices have been silenced, mocked, shamed or sidelined.
We are grateful for the people of all faiths and none who share this calling and offer their wisdom. Those of us who profess the Christian faith have many ways to express and explore our deep grief and culpability in the centuries of ecological violence that have brought us to this moment. We invite others to share in this necessary journey with us, building an ecosystem of spiritual resiliency for the times ahead.
We commend professors, lecturers, teachers, and other educational facilitators who work to make it possible for students to participate in this strike and in additional efforts to raise consciousness and empower the necessary actions.
We commend organizers, activists and land defenders who are thinking through what needs to be done, not just in the upcoming climate strike, but in the weeks and months to come.
We commend the migrants and refugees, the international community, the advocates for those most affected by Climate Change, and everyone who rejects the false solution of imposing violent, human-made borders to shut out these communities. We acknowledge that Climate Justice is also Migrant Justice.
One day of a strike is not enough to overturn the global society that has raised profit like a sword over our heads and over the value of all living systems and beings.
Yet every barrier that this strike overcomes is one less barrier to that change, that ‘great turning’, the way forward. We believe that this time of urgency is a time for careful, deliberate, passionate action.
May hearts and minds be transformed. May the society that imposes borders and categories on lands and peoples come to repentance. May economics that obscure truth and justice be abandoned.
This is our living prayer as followers of Jesus in this time and place, and we offer it as to the chorus of voices calling for change.
Facing deep grief and dying ecosystems, we come together to ask God: ‘What is emerging?’
Many of us are weighed down by despair, anxiety, and deep fear about our future in the face of the climate crisis. Join us for a contemplative retreat where we will seek God’s presence and call in the midst of an emergency. What are the sacred gifts that are being given during this time? What is mine to do? What is ours to do?
Who Should Attend? – This is an ‘all hands on deck’ moment – so all generations are invited, ages 17-70 and beyond! This is an ecumenical event, with content rooted in the Christian tradition. Everyone interested in engaging with these questions in the context of prayer, inclusive of any spiritual tradition, is welcomed.
What Can I Expect?
collective contemplative practice
times of silence
individual time in nature
opportunities to meet with a Spiritual Director
building community
a retreat structure based on insights from Joanna Macy.
What is the Cost? – we have a sliding scale of prices ($350-$100) to support a range of participants. If finances are a barrier to your participation, contact us as soon as possible.
Who is Putting This On? – this retreat is a collaboration between Pastors in Exile (PiE) and Student Christian Movement (SCM), two organizations seeking to build capacity for faith, contemplation and social justice activism, especially among young adults and those who have been pushed to the margins of faith communities. We believe that this retreat will benefit greatly from insights through inter-generational friendships. Please consider participating!
Growing a garden this summer has given me a lot of hope for in the fight against climate change. It’s a concrete action I can take. It helps address the issues our world is facing now, and it helps me build the skills to supplement my nutritional needs when climate change creates food shortages in the future. I’m helping to address poverty and exploitation as it intersects with climate change.
I know where my food came from. It was not shipped, flown, or trucked long distances to get to my table. It was walked over to my kitchen from the side yard. The seeds were bought from a store, coming from who knows where. But they were very small when they were shipped, and if I can save my seeds properly I won’t need to buy them again next year. I already did that with my sunflowers.
I know who grew my food. Mostly, my brother Phoenix and I have been doing the work. Phoenix’s scouting friends volunteered to help with the setup and planting. They were paid in hot dogs. There was no slave labour, or people making slave wages during any part of the process.
I know where the water is coming from. Mostly, we’ve been lucky this season and it’s been falling from the sky at regular intervals. Otherwise, it’s been coming out of the pump in the river. The river is on unceded unsurrendered Algonquin territory, but I like to think of my water use more of a borrowing, since the water is sinking into the ground, and ending up back in the water table that it came from. I didn’t ask permission from any Algonquin people though, so they might have a different opinion. At the very least, I know my water is not being stolen from a powerless community and piped hundreds of kilometers away while the community it originated from faces water advisories and/or drought.
I know what waste is being created and where it is going. My food is not being packaged. The weeds will be piled in the dirt/compost pile under the pine tree or sent away in the city’s yard waste pickup to compost elsewhere within the city. There are no chemicals or pesticides causing harm to wildlife or disrupting the ecosystem.
I know where the excess is going. If you’ve ever planted a garden before, you’ll know that there reaches a time in the season where your plants produce more food than you can actually eat. At the beginning of this process, Phoenix and I agreed that we would give our extra food to the Ottawa food bank. The Ottawa food bank takes fresh food donations at their warehouse. They will also pick up fresh food donations directly from your yard.
I am maintaining my health. I’m drinking lots of water, wearing a hat, sunglasses, and sunscreen. I’m getting some physical exercise by weeding and watering. Studies even show that gardening is good for your mental health, because working in the dirt can increase your serotonin levels.
I think about my class in religion and ecology and my future career path. As a Christian, as someone hoping to become a pastor, some of my largest responsibilities are and will be to help the poor, feed the hungry, and stand with the marginalized. We know that the rich will ride out climate change on the backs of the poor. Gardening is one of those things that is not accessible to those who will benefit the most from it. People living in apartment buildings (who may be more likely to be low income) and people who are homeless do not have access to the land to grow things. People who work two or three jobs or who are single parents may not have the time to maintain a garden. What can we do about this?
Well, our churches sure have a lot of land.
Our libraries, our community centers, our parks – they sure have a lot of land too.
Some churches have community gardens. How can we expand this program? Can we offer volunteer hours to students for maintaining the garden? Can we hire students with a living wage, supplemented through the Canada summer works program? Can we hire students and other people with disabilities, especially intellectual disabilities, who may not be hired elsewhere? Can we ask teachers and retirees to volunteer for an hour or two each week in the summer? Can we request the city offer free garden plots to people living in apartment buildings or in houses without a yard where a garden is feasible?
I think about victory gardens in the world wars, where everyone, especially city dwellers, was encouraged to supplement their food consumption through personal gardens because mass produced food was being sent to soldiers overseas. Municipalities lent city-owned land to people living in urban areas. At the peak of its program, something like 50% of the food being consumed by urban dwellers in Canada was being produced in victory gardens. If we did it once, we sure as heck can do it again. Except this time, these gardens will be for victory against climate change.
Consume mindfully. Create wonderfully. Minister to the poor. Feed the hungry. Stand with the marginalized. Challenge the systems. Fight climate change, for the future of us all.
Jordan is an SCMer living in Ottawa. They are studying to become an Anglican priest. Like most people who happen to live on this planet, they are very concerned about climate change.
We are looking for a Festival and Resource Coordinator to work with our General Secretary on a variety of projects this summer.
Awesome job alert!
Submit your application to hiring@scmcanada.org by May 8, 2019 for first consideration!
Did you know that this year, the applications are not just for students? If you are aged 15-30, whether you are in school or not, you can apply for one of the many Canada Summer Jobs programs.
Who are we looking for?
Legally entitled to work in Canada, 18-30 years old
Available for 9 weeks of the summer, ideally beginning in May
Willing to work within a faith-based organization and bring their own perspective to the work.
Committed to social justice and anti-oppressive practices
BIPOC and LGBTQ2IA+ people encouraged to apply.
What’s in it for us?
When you come and work with SCM, we get the benefit of your skills, passions, attention, and presence on a variety of tasks. The core of the Festival & Resource Coordinator position focuses on three areas:
You will offer logistical support for the May 23-36 Cahoots Festival, an annual event with workshops on faith, justice, and DIY. This will include being a point person for facilitators and participants, assisting with tasks on site and off site, and supporting the creation of safer spaces. Following the festival you will collate and analyse feedback and help with wrap-up.
You will provide coordination and preparation support for the planned Indigenous Solidarity Delegation (Multifaith, with a special focus on Jewish and Christian responsibilities in decolonization). This will include booking spaces, use of online tools to coordinate, advertising/promotion, and communications. (If interest and schedules align you can participate in the Delegation, but this is not included in the position).
You will research and design a resource to support the faith-and-justice focus of the Student Christian Movement. This could be a book study, devotional, workshop design, online resource, activity-based learning, even a board game! We have plenty of ideas already and you can work on something that excites you or allows you to express and explore your own interests.
Other tasks as assigned – participation in events, research projects, writing or graphic design, some record keeping and other office tasks according to capacity and skills.
What’s in it for you?
$15 per hour, 20 hours per week, for 9 weeks of the summer
Flexible schedule
Fascinating work
Experience within the global ecumenical movement
Experience using communications, graphic design, database and social media
Teamwork and leadership skills development
A work place that is explicitly LGBTQ+ inclusive, anti-racist, feminist, and open to spiritual, religious, secular and cultural identities.
Mentoring from a leader (identified collaboratively)
If you’re interested in working with the SCM this summer, contact hiring@scmcanada.org with a copy of your CV including 2 references, and a letter of interest (3-5 paragraphs) identifying why you are a fit for this position and what excites you.
First-Round Deadline for Applications is May 8, 2019
The SCM especially encourages applications from those who are Black, Indigenous, People of Colour, and a range of gender identity, sexual orientation, and ability. If you are comfortable doing so, please identify this in your application letter.
About SCM
The Student Christian Movement is a progressive network engaged in social justice and faith. We are a non-dogmatic community of diverse belief systems where faith and radical political action flourish. SCM Canada was founded in 1921.
This position is made possible by funding through the Canada Summer Jobs program.
We believe that a ticket structure with a variety of options is a matter of justice. Some folks need to miss shifts to attend, some are sharing a skill that they’d usually earn wages with, and Cahoots participants who navigate systemic barriers every day have enough on their plate.
Every year the Cahoots Festival Planning Team budgets for ‘Special Rate tickets’, meant to support the participation of people with fixed incomes, who are single parents, or otherwise need support to attend. This is in concert with our intention to make ticket prices as low as possible, since most of our community are people without much access to resources (This isn’t the Fyre Festival!)
Currently, our ticket prices (from April 2 until the end of sales on May 15) Festival pass – Adult $150, Child $90, Family $450 Day ticket – Adult $80, Child $50 This includes all meals, accomodations, workshops and sessions, as well as support to get to the festival – carpooling or pickup from the bus. These fees cover the basic costs, and are very reasonable considering the festival’s scope.
I don’t know what this has to do with anything, I just love this picture – Peter
Our model works because all participants buy tickets. This includes all of the core organizers and workshop facilitators (unless an individual is attending only to do a workshop, and not to participate in the festival). We are all participants – and we are also all volunteers, and all organizers! We believe that everyone helps create the festival by being present, assisting one another, caring for children and taking the ever-popular kitchen shift.
We are deeply grateful to those who add a donation onto their ticket purchase! This act helps make our festival more accessible and more just. These donations are tax-receipted. You can make a donation earmarked to the festival directly through SCM Canada.
All participants, including workshop leaders participating in the festival, people on OSAP/ODSP/EI, families, singles, elders, people targeted by racism, colonialism, sexism – well – ALL PARTICIPANTS are welcomed to receive a ‘Discounted Ticket’. It’s a matter of justice.
Contact cahoots@scmcanada.org to apply.
Once you’ve submitted your details, you can register using this form.
