Indigenous Day of Prayer - June 2021

Prayer is a vital component for the believer’s life in Christ. Over and over in Scripture we are invited to call upon God and seek His face. In Luke chapter 11 the disciples, knowing how crucial it was to hear from God, humbly asked Jesus, "Lord, teach us to pray". It is then in Matthew 6:9-13 we are given Christ's full response to this ask with what has become known as “The Lord’s Prayer”.

On June 21, 2021 (National Indigenous Peoples Day here in Canada) several Indigenous leaders, along with Indigenous ministry influencers gathered for a time of reflection, prayer, and worship of our Lord. We attempted to explore the various themes that emerge from Christ’s prayer, seeking God for blessing, forgiveness, reconciliation, as well as direction for Indigenous Peoples and our nation’s future.

We encourage you to click here to view this national prayer gathering, and to pray with us for God to sovereignly move in our nation.

Recently for some, Canada’s future has become a bit muddled, with the summer season beginning on an ominous tone in late May with the revelation of the remains of 215 bodies being found on a former residential school property in Kamloops, BC. Since that time, other sites have been discovered and it has thrown some Canadians into a conflict of conscience regarding “national pride”.

But as followers of Christ, we believe in the power of God’s redemptive grace that was demonstrated through Christ’s sacrifice upon the cross, and so we ask that all would continue to pray for the healing of our nation and for the reconciliation of Canada towards its First Peoples. May we continue to seek out touch points where we might give opportunity for relationship to germinate and prosper. We also must persist in bringing to the Lord the need for Spirit filled next generation Indigenous leaders to sense the call of God on their lives, and upon heeding that call, to then minister in the power and conviction of the Holy Spirit.

Indigenous People are the "first peoples" of our nation and were the original caretakers of this land. If we believe in praying for God to bless our nation of Canada and to bless our ministry efforts within its boundaries, that blessing, in part, flows through our Indigenous people and the relationship we have with them. Despite our nation’s unfavuorable history, Canada is situated perfectly for an outpouring of God’s Spirit. What an opportunity we have as the Body of Christ! Let’s continue to pray!

Dan Collado
Indigenous Peoples Coordinator