By Jack Krayenhoff

TWO years ago, when he would hear of some new demand from First Nations people, Mark Buchanan would say: “What do they want now?”

Today, that attitude has changed 180 degrees. He now has a passion to make other Christians see what he has come to see: the native people of Canada have been wronged grievously, in part by the church; and we, followers of Jesus, need to make it our business to right that wrong – especially to our local native neighbours.

Buchanan, in early middle age, is a man to watch in evangelical circles – not only on Vancouver Island, but Canada-wide and even internationally.  

He pastors a remarkably successful church, Duncan’s New Life Baptist. In his spare time (whenever that is), he contributes articles to prestigious magazines like Christianity Today, and writes books at a rate of about one a year. They are bestsellers, which you  have probably read, seen or heard about: Things Unseen; Your God is Too Safe; The Holy Wild; The Rest of God ; and Hidden in Plain Sight .

And now comes his drive to open the eyes of the churches to God’s call to love their neighbours: the First Nations. “I’m trying to minister to First Nations, and my deepest motivation is to reach them with the gospel,” Buchanan says.  

“But my agenda right now is to convert the church, not the natives. Before we can say, ‘Be reconciled to God,’ we ourselves need to be reconciled to them. Then we may gain some credibility for the message.”

This is what Buchanan wants churches to realize: that Canada’s Indian Act itself is a shameful thing. It makes the natives wards of the state; it oversees their lives in a very paternalistic way; and it has created a whole generation of people accustomed to getting things handed to them. On the reserves, individuals cannot own land; that is a key reason why the houses are often ramshackle and strewn with car parts. It also means the real estate boom cannot benefit them. After having been entrenched for so long, it will be very difficult to dismantle the Indian Act. 

Indian land was taken over by the colonizers. Governor James Douglas obtained funds to compensate them for land in the Cowichan Valley; but the compensation never happened.

“We are sitting on their land right here,” says Buchanan. “There never was any extinguishment of title. What this means in practical terms? I don’t have all the answers, and it frightens me; but I know I need to stop thinking in a self-protective way. Mind you, in treaty negotiations they hardly ever ask for their land back. They just want some fair compensation.”

Then there were the residential schools, which caused terrible fragmentation of their society. The thinking behind them ran thus: the only way ahead is to assimilate them, so knock the language and culture out of them.

Treat them like British schoolboys, and put them through a British curriculum.

“The lie about that,” says Buchanan “was that nobody would give such a kid a white-collar job. Nor would anybody have them for dinner. When that became obvious, the First Nations people realized they had been duped. They had everything taken away from them – their culture and their children, who were sexually abused and got tuberculosis to boot – to be ‘assimilated’ in a culture that did not invite them in. That burns!” 

How does Buchanan see all this from a biblical perspective? “I researched the scriptures, and I found it is a matter of justice. We evangelicals stress holiness and our personal relationship with Jesus, and that is good; but God also requires justice of us. I am not a political activist; but we need to stand up for the weak. The prophets often mention that.” 

He adds: “Then there is God’s concern with nations, not just individuals. He has a problem with the nations, he wants healing for the nations, he wants to reconcile the nations to himself. That was a paradigm shift for me. The First Nations, as a people, are to be my concern.”

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These insights spurred Buchanan into action. First, he used his pulpit extensively to develop the biblical basis for his concern. Then he brought in key First Nations speakers, like Richard Twiss, who would explain what it was like to be an aboriginal.

Later, after suitable preparation of the congregation, Buchanan conducted worship with native-style singing and drums.

“The effect on First Nations worshippers was huge,” he says. “For them to worship in a Western style, they have to surrender some deep-down cultural values of their own. They were deeply touched.” 

About two years ago, he joined forces with Graham Bruce – formerly Provincial Labour Minister, and now employed by the Cowichan First Nations to work on reconciliation issues. He had come to see how deep-down and spiritual the problems were, and that government was therefore unable to address them effectively. Buchanan and Bruce together laid on five-hour workshops for mid-island churches, and in the fall will make them available to wider audiences as well.

In 2008, the Cowichan Valley will host the North American Indigenous Games. Buchanan and Bruce are working with the Games leaders and organizers to mobilize a substantial corps of Christian volunteers to help there (and, as occasion arises, share their story among the First Nations people).

They also want to organize events prior to and following the games as a gesture to remove historic barriers between the races ­– like a Walk of Reconciliation, a huge march which, they hope, will draw significant participation by Christians.

BCCN raises the question of drumming, and other practices linked with native spirituality – which many church people fear are linked with dark, demonic forces.

“I don’t want to be glib,” responds Buchanan. “There is a real spiritual power here, and you don’t venture into it foolishly. But ’greater is he who is within you, than he who is in the world.’ I believe in the devil; but I believe in God a lot more.” 

He adds, “The question is – can these practices be rededicated to God, can they be baptized? Are Indian drums different from Western drums? In our own culture, we are negotiating about these things all the time: Can we have Christian rock? What sort of dress is appropriate?” 

About native spirituality, he says this: “Much of the Cosalish faith was not evil and depraved, like the Aztec religion. Rather it was pre-Christian, with the worship of a Creator-God. At first, there was a great openness to the Christian missionaries; they were trusted. It would have been so simple and natural to say, like Paul did in Athens, ‘I see you worship a God. Let me tell you his name.’ But instead of building on the faith the aboriginals had, the colonizers tried to eradicate it. This did not happen – it went underground instead, and in the process it got twisted and picked up some spiritual influences no Christian could embrace. In the process, the trust in missionaries was deeply damaged. We must allow time, and much love on our part, for it to be restored.” 

Finally: what can churches do, especially those close to native reserves? They send money and missionaries all over the world, but they don’t know how to approach their neighbours. Buchanan’s advice?

“Make a friend! I have made significant friendships with First Nations people, and I am much enriched for it. If you have one or two First Nations folk in your church, ask them to bring some friends – they don’t have to be all Christians – and set up friendship circles, where you have guided conversations about topics like ‘What makes you feel at home?’ ‘What does hospitality mean to you?’ Or you may hit a hard topic, like residential schools. It’s about gaining mutual understanding.

“It will help you to love First Nations People – and that is the keystone.”

Is your church interested in Mark Buchanan’s reconciliation presentations? His e-mail address is office@newlifechurch.bc.ca

September 2007