Mamawe Ota Askihk – Sharing Life Together Here on Earth

October 16-20 – small group
October 20-21 – overnight SCM retreat
October 21 – larger event
Beausejour, Manitoba

Sandy-Saulteaux Spiritual Centre, Ploughshares Community Farm, Canadian Mennonite University, Student Christian Movement & the Feast for Friends partners present : a festival & a feast for friends

Gather with Indigenous community leaders and settler allies to to reclaim the homebred, the homespoken, the homegrown, and the homemade.

Come root yourself in an understanding of the land as our health. Share in the spiritual teaching, laughter, and new learning. And most importantly, taste the beauty of friendships formed through nurturing one another as the earth nurtures us.

October 16 – 20: A week-long festival where we’ll winnow wild rice, tan an animal hide, smoke fish, can berry preserves, share skills and tell stories.

October 21: The “Feast for Friends” will wrap up our week with a day of games, ceremony, show & tell, and of course, sharing good food together.

To register and learn more, see the Sandy-Saulteaux Spiritual Centre Website

To participate in a Friday night retreat for SCMers, contact info@scmcanada.org

What?​ Your Faith on Feminism Conference
When?​ October 20 – 22, 2017
Where?​ St. Joseph’s College, University of Alberta, Edmonton
How?​ Please register by filling out the Registration Form​. Call for Papers below, or read here.
Fee?​ Registration costs vary from $100 – $275 CAD based on billeting and student status.

Your Faith on Feminism is an interfaith and ecumenical conference where feminist advocates of various ages and walks of life will share ideas, build community and participate in worship.

Friday evening to Sunday, the program will encompass discussion-based educational and creative breakout sessions, music and worship, and reflections on what it means to be a feminist in the present, global
atmosphere of fear, war and oppression.

Individuals and groups are invited to submit papers at any stage of the writing process to be workshopped in an informal, academic group environment, facilitated by experienced and knowledgeable feminist advocates but with the understanding that everyone has wisdom.

A set of conference papers will be published on the ideas presented and discussed by participating students and ministers, including the influence of workshops and the community.

Participants of all intersections, including age, race, culture, gender, size, ability, sexuality and faith, will contribute to their collective knowledge on diversity in feminism and enrich their activism with interfaith dialogue, friendships and intergenerational context. Relationships of mutual giving will develop across distance and divides both literal and figurative to help empower women and feminist advocates of various faiths to create meaningful change in their communities.

Download Your Faith On Feminism (PDF) here.

Call for Papers
Feminist advocacy is, as bell hooks has said, a movement to end sexist oppression. Sexist oppression enacted on different groups and identities confers varying degrees of power and privilege (or a lack thereof) to different aspects of our identities. Feminism must—or ought to, by the great diversity of its advocates—be an intersectional movement. As people of faith, in all our varying contexts, we are called to challenge injustices and empower each other to free ourselves from spiritual, emotional and physical bondage.

Feminisms must subvert misogyny and patriarchy wherever they are found, including in our holy texts. Feminist theology intersects with and incorporates rich and diverse ways of understanding and critiquing both feminism and faith, such as liberation theology or queer theology.

This conference focuses on how faith and feminisms come together, sometimes explosively, in our time of global political upheaval, war, oppression and increased fear of the other.

We are seeking papers at any stage of the writing process that are rooted in faith and use intersectional feminist theology to address at least one of the following themes:
● Terrorism and fear
● War
● Racism
● Xenophobia
● Islamophobia
● Antisemitism
● Colonialism and reconciliation
● Gender identity
● Sexual orientation

Abstracts (limit 300 words) can be sent to wscfna@gmail.com for review.
The deadline for submissions is August 18, 2017 and participants will be informed of acceptance by October 1, 2017. Participation from all walks of life is welcome and celebrated.

Post-conference, finished papers and reflections will be published, if consent is given, by World Student Christian Federation North America.

September 21, 2017, 7:00 – 9:00 pm

Please join us to hear an update about the WSCF from Luciano Kovacs, North American Staff for the World Student Christian Federation.
This is also an opportunity to celebrate and thank Luciano for his almost ten-year contribution to the leadership of the WSCF in North America and the global Federation before he leaves WSCF at the end of December.

Peter Haresnape, Coordinator of the SCM in Canada will also bring us an update. All welcome.

Christie Gardens
600 Melita Cres.
Toronto
Recreation Room, Lower Level
7:00-9:00 p.m.
RSVP andersonbetsy528@gmail.com or 416-656-6064

2017 09 21 Celebration

2017 09 21 Invitation

Advance Donation

It’s been a little over a month since Cahoots 2017, and we’ve already received a donation for next year from a “kindred spirit” who was unable to attend this year’s fest! Thanks so much to our anonymous donor!

Cahoots is made possible through your donations, so if you’d like to contribute to another year of faith, justice, and DIY, you can do so through the Cahoots fund of SCM Canada. Contact our office or donate online, perhaps through CanadaHelps (click here), or through Chimp (click here).

Donations help us offer affordable tickets to students and lower-income individuals and families. We are deeply grateful to all our donors, and to the Women’s Inter-Church Council of Canada for their generous support!

Creative & Critical Bible Stories

Sunday morning at Cahoots involved a rather raucous retelling of the Genesis Creation Story by the children, featuring animal sounds, ribbon dances, and critiquing interjections.

If you would like to access the script as a resource, you can find it: (click here)

Matched Donations – up to $150 each!

Did you know that Chimp.ca is offering up to match donations of up to $150 over 6 months (up to $25/month for six months)? They are hoping to inspire charitable giving in Canada, so if you’re looking to donate to the SCM or another awesome charitable cause today, this is a good way to go about it!

http://weare.chimp.net/give150

Is your congregation celebrating Peace Sunday this year?

International Day of Peace is marked annually on September 21, with marches, songs, mourning rituals and the call for an end to violence and warfare around the world. The closest Sunday is celebrated as Peace Sunday – this year, on September 24.

Mennonite World Conference has produced a packet of materials for worship leaders and preachers serving their congregations on that day, using the text of Ephesians 2:11-22 and the theme of Building Bridges.

Are you involved in preaching, worship leading, or other aspects of serving at church?

Letter of Invitation – – – Link to Worship Resources – – – Website (with link to photo gallery)

The package includes song suggestions, scriptural analysis, photography, sermon suggestions and themes, liturgies and worship activities, and inspiring, challenging accounts of peacemaking and reconciliation around the world.

If you use these resources, please let the MWC Peace Commission know (details in the Letter of Invitation) and share the news with us at SCM – we would love to share your pictures and stories!

Bob Wild, Senior Friend of the Student Christian Movement of Canada, reflects on his personal history with the SCM and today’s challenge for the spiritual person.

I was fortunate that my father had an enquiring mind and led me into the same path. And I was doubly fortunate when a friend led me to the local SCM when I registered at McGill University in the fall of 1946. I found there an interesting mix of seekers with whom I could test my rudimentary questions about religion carried over from a youthful exposure to the church. And it was there that the person of Jesus of Nazareth took firm shape in my mind and heart as a revolutionary and liberating presence.

My pilgrimage since those days has been a continuous reworking of that early deposit from the SCM. As with many other people, I began my spiritual journey in the context of classical Christian faith; but eventually I encountered Bonhoeffer’s challenge to find a “religionless Christianity” and I began another time of radical questioning. This challenge initially came through the SCM at the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, where I was the Anglican chaplain in the latter 1960s.

And still the journey continues. A contemporary reshaping of Christianity seems to me inescapable in response to three intellectual revolutions – in cosmology, anthropology and theology. What is the nature of the Universe? What is the true vocation of the human? What language can we use to speak of the Universal Sacred Presence? Already there are signs in many places that a new spirituality is emerging. And where better to take up this exciting task than in the SCM? Best wishes for a fruitful pilgrimage.

We are hiring a Festival & Resource Coordinator!

Dates: The position is for 7 weeks starting July 3rd and ending August 18th, 2017. There is some flexibility about the dates.

Pay: $15/hour for 30 hours a week

Requirement: You must be a full-time student between the ages of 15-30 years old with the intention of returning to full time studies in the fall of 2017.

Location: Toronto, Ontario

Application Deadline:  June 1, 2017

How to Apply: Send application to: hiring@scmcanada.org by June 1, 2017

 About the Position:

The Festival & Resource Coordinator will be responsible for:

• Supporting the Cahoots organizing collective around Cahoots 2017, including feedback and analysis and communicating with participants, and preparation for Cahoots 2018
• Participating in organizing SCM’s fall retreat in Manitoba, including logistics, programming, promotion and working with the planning team.
• Creating a devotional resource that connects faith and justice, in connection with the General Secretary and other resource people.
• Participation in SCM activities over the summer
• Supporting the SCM General Assembly (August)

We are looking for students who have:

• Understanding of the political and theological orientation of social justice and faith movements
• Experience or exposure to SCM’s work on a national or regional level and/or experience in an organization with similar vision
• Interest in the Christian ecumenical movement and in working in such an organization.
• A commitment to working in an anti-oppressive framework, including anti-racist, feminist, and LGBTQIA2+ inclusive & affirming.
• The desire to develop skills in event planning, resource creation, and working with church communities & faith based organizations.

About Student Christian Movement

The Student Christian Movement (SCM) 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.

Application Instructions: Send a short letter (350 words at minimum) about your interest in the position and why you are suited for it, and tell us about yourself and your studies.

Include a copy of your CV.

The SCM especially encourages applicants from racialized groups, and from a diversity of gender identity, sexual orientation, and ability. If you are comfortable, please identify this in your application.

Send application to: hiring@scmcanada.org by June 1, 2017

A few times a year we send out a print newsletter to our members and friends across the country. If you’d like to receive our newsletter, Sign Up Here!

Read the cover letter from Lina Mullin, local unit coordinator for SCM – Montreal / MÉC – Montréal

As followers of Jesus of Nazareth, we are an Easter people. We are a people intrigued by incarnation and resurrection. We are a people who do not believe that sin, or systemic violence, or death is the last word. We are a people who continually look forward to the breaking of dawn–to the good things we can create and cultivate.

Read the full newsletter, including news from local units, the Pilgrimage for Indigenous Rights, a report from the SCM -USA leadership training program, and invitations to SCM Friends gatherings.

2017 SCM Easter Newsletter

Join us, June 15-19, 2017 in Winnipeg, Treaty 1, homeland of the Ojibwa, Metis & Cree nations

Indigenous Solidarity Trip: June 15-19

In keeping with the advocacy themes of Racial Justice & Indigenous Rights, the North America region of WSCF is hosting an Indigenous Solidarity programme in Winnipeg, Manitoba this June.

Up to 20 students and young adults from across Canada and the United States will be immersed in issues of racial justice and right relations, Indigenous solidarity, Indigenous theology and theologies of settlers’ solidarity, economic and eco-justice for Indigenous people, mass incarceration of Indigenous people in Canada, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Residential Schools in Canada and other relevant topics.

Interested in attending?

Click here to apply!

Click here to learn more!

All the best job options that we know about for SCMers to hone their skills and earn some cash this summer.

If you have a job or opportunity that should be featured here, email us. We will add announcements to the page as they become available, and will share this page via Facebook.

SCM supports the Fight for $15 & Fairness, and will give priority to job announcements for students that pay $15 or more per hour.