Bradley Williams is lead pastor at Arviat Alliance Church, in Arviat, Nunavut.
Since
moving to Arviat, Nunavut to pastor at the Arviat Alliance Church, my
wife and I have had a shift in how we view time. We moved from
Saskatoon five years ago and have come to enjoy the slower pace of life
in the hamlet of Arviat. In addition to leading a church for the first
time, we have experienced our first June blizzard, first child, first
polar bear sighting and first time in another culture.
Even
though Nunavut is part of Canada, the Inuit have a different way than
we were used to, having grown up in Southern Saskatchewan. One big
difference we have found is the emphasis on time. While we lived in
Saskatchewan, it was a part of life to keep everything in chronological
order: we had day planners, our resumes were ordered by date, and we
tried to remember how many years it had been since some event happened.
Our lives were focused on time.
For
Inuit people, time is fluid. It is difficult to determine when things
happen and to think in terms of a timeline because all events, good
times and bad, are not kept chronologically in the memories of the Inuit
people. Their relocation from the land to towns is fresh in their
minds. Their decision to follow Christ and baptism is fresh in their
minds. The death of a loved one is fresh in their minds. Considering
that happenings in life are not remembered in chronological order,
memories bringing happiness and grief can be fresh in their minds.
It
has been important to us to acknowledge this fluid view of time,
recognizing that in a moment, memories, good and bad, may come rushing
back and bring happiness or grief. We
have
been working to allow time for those seeking to follow Christ to
confront these memories, no matter how long ago they may have happened,
in order to allow Christ to heal them and begin to follow Christ more
whole than they were before.
One
person had been hurt due to the lack of accountability in structure and
leadership in her past church experience. Her memories of how lack of
accountability had hurt her and the church body still pained her when
she came to visit. As she attended our church and as we talked with
her, she saw the accountability and safeguards we had in place as part
of our church structure. Experiencing the love of Christ within our
church structure, she has healed from the past experience and has become
an important leader in our church.
Some
have witnessed leaders pushing ahead to get more done and go further at
the expense of people’s feelings. This can be a natural tendency for
leaders who have been asked to show that something is being done;
however, it can also demonstrate inconsideration for people and be
damaging. In John 15:1-17, Jesus says that our task is to remain in him
and to love each another. This is how we bear “…fruit that will last
We
have done our best to change and allow time for Jesus to heal, so that
the church body can move together, toward what God is calling us to do
in our community and in our world. As our congregation is becoming
healthier from hurts that have happened in the past, I am looking
forward with expectation to see the great ways in which our church will
serve our community and continue to reach out with the message of
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