The Alongside Hope Indigenous Partnership Program promotes partnerships based on recognition, respect, and support for the rights and wellbeing of the Indigenous partners.

Indigenous cultures, languages, and traditions are invaluable and contribute to the rich tapestry of Canadian society. Supporting Indigenous programs helps preserve and revitalize these cultural assets, ensuring they are passed on to future generations.

Mapping the Ground We Stand On

In 2015, following the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Alongside Hope developed a narrative and a process called “Mapping the Ground We Stand On.” The resulting workshop explored Indigenous presence and Settler arrival on the map of Turtle Island/Canada.

Piloted at Alongside Hope’s National Gathering in the fall of 2015, this “education for reconciliation” resource was further developed and delivered in parishes and other venues. In 2019, Alongside Hope launched a new five-year strategic plan. The fifth goal is “Mutual Reconciliation: We will accompany and support First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples, guided by the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the priorities of Indigenous communities and organizations in Canada.” In 2019, a decision was taken by Alongside Hope to train a national network of Mapping Exercise facilitators.

Bring a Mapping Exercise to your community

The map of truth and reconciliation in Canada is still very much incomplete. Alongside Hope remains committed to being part of the journey towards finding a more complete map.

Each ecclesiastical province group has been equipped with a large floor map of Canada and is ready to bring this education for reconciliation resource to you. It is ideal for a synod, clergy retreat day, youth gathering, or Indigenous awareness event in your parish or community.

Archdeacon Terry Caines wrote that “during the annual clergy Lenten retreat, under the guidance of Canon Tom Mugford, an Alongside Hope representative, clergy of Central NL took part in a meaningful Mapping exercise designed to create reflection, awareness, and shared learning. Through visual storytelling and guided discussion, clergy looked at key moments and stories that have shaped our nation’s history, including lesser-known and often overlooked experiences.

The exercise encouraged clergy to engage more deeply with the historical truths of our country, including the lasting impacts of colonization and the experiences of Indigenous communities across regions such as Newfoundland and Labrador. By visually tracing these histories, clergy gained new insight into how past events continue to influence present-day communities.

Beyond education, the Mapping exercise created sacred space for dialogue, mutual understanding, and collective growth. It offered an opportunity not only to learn, but also to listen—strengthening relationships and deepening commitment to reconciliation, compassion, and informed ministry within our communities.”

If you would like to host a Mapping Exercise for an Anglican entity, Alongside Hope will cover any travel costs for our volunteer facilitators. Local hosts are asked to cover any costs associated with the venue or refreshments and provide tech support. Non-Anglican entities are asked to cover both travel and hosting costs. For more information on the Mapping Exercise cost structure, please contact Abdi Ali aali@alongsidehope.org.

Information taken from the Alongside Hope website (alongsidehope.org)

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I always write my Easter message with a sense of joy, expressing thanksgiving for our shared faith in the story of new life, resurrection, reconciliation, and our hope for peace throughout the world.

With faith unwavering, I write this to you with a heart joining our beloved siblings in deep pain. As you would know, in the early hours of February 28, at the dawn of Shabbat, a large-scale coordinated military attack by the United States and Israel on a number of cities and facilities within Iran began.

Those in Iran, and throughout Cyprus and the Gulf, across Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, are forced to face unprecedented threats of military violence.

As more and more innocents suffer, lose all hope, and die, I find my heart resting outside Jesus’ tomb, thinking of how Jesus himself longed for peace when he gazed upon Jerusalem, weeping from the Mount of Olives.

On Easter Day, in my own devotion, reflection, and prayer, I must intentionally enter a time of quiet, going about the day in prayer. On Palm Sunday, we cried “Hosanna”… Save us, Lord. Let us pray for a greater understanding of what it means to ask God to be faithful and rescue us all.

His answer is, and forever will be, the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s look to the tomb, wait for the stone to be rolled away, and cry with hope and joy… “He is risen!”

I wish you, one and all, a blessed, happy Easter.

+John, Central Newfoundland

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At St. Martin’s Cathedral in Gander on the 10th of December 2025, The Rt. Rev’d John E. Watton, ordained The Rev’d Carol Budgell Manning to the diaconate. Rev’d Carol will be going to the Parish of Lewisporte in January of 2026.

Also, Bishop Watton ordained The Rev’d Steward May and The Rev’d Don Brett to the priesthood. Rev’d Steward will continue his ministry in the Parishes of Twillingate and Gander Bay. Rev’d Don will continue his ministry as Hospital Chaplain in Grand Falls. Thank you to all who came supported these three individuals as they continue their ministries.

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As you read this, you might well imagine that the course around the Eucharist had many levels. It did. Now, rather than provide a précis of the course, I am going to choose here briefly to offer one theme that provided us with a foundation for some deeper understandings and an appreciation of who we might be as a Church today:
Unity.

Unity was essential in the early Christian Church for demonstrating Christ’s message to the world. During times of persecution, unity was seen as vital and non-negotiable, as Christians shared their lives and faced death together. Early Christians relied on one another, even across class divisions, wealth, and diverse cultural and religious backgrounds. They held a sincere belief in the Gospel message, which was first spread through oral tradition (word), and they found that gathering for the Eucharist brought Christ’s real presence into their midst.

Early Christians understood this, and they succeeded in creating a powerful testimony of one heart and soul in the Gospel. This was clear in their shared practices: radical generosity and common devotion to Jesus’ teachings, despite their different backgrounds. This unity wasn’t a forced conformity but a deep, Spirit-led bond rooted in shared purpose and love, which was crucial for fulfilling their mission.

The breaking and sharing of bread at the early Eucharist connected people to each other, to the Lord, to the community, and to God’s will for a mission of reconciliation with all people and all creation.

Let me leave you with these few features of the early Church for your reflection. May they bless you in your personal journey and in the vocation to which you are called within your local parish community.

Key Aspects of Early Church Unity:

1. There is no party spirit. All supposed “human strengths” or gifts, such as knowledge, spiritual power, and heavenly wisdom, are humbled before grace and love.

2. Christians identify with the suffering Lord and will suffer and sacrifice personally and for the sake of others out of love for him.

3. There is hope in the face of adversity and death because Christians believe that God has prepared a way and conquered death.

4. Christians will strive for unity in the Body of Christ. Ecclesia (or gathering with a common mind) is the highest value.

5. Christians love. The love of God is reflected in the ways they love others.

Let me leave you now with John 17:21, in which Jesus prays for future believers, asking that they “may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

May Jesus’ prayer be fulfilled in us, this year and beyond.

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Our fellowship day began with a Communion service followed by a cold-plate luncheon. The afternoon sessions included a “get-to-know-you game”, which was a lot of fun. A few other games were played, giving all women a chance to receive small gifts.

Our focus was “Shine Your Light”, and being so close to Thanksgiving, we were given the opportunity to acknowledge our blessings. The shining light of blessings, fun, and friendships — new and old — made it truly a fellowship day.

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It was planned by The Rev’d Charlie Cox, rector of the Parish of Grand Bank and the Parish of Fortune-Lamaline, and The Rev’d Robin Trevors, rector of the Grand Falls-Windsor-Bishops Falls Parish.

Rev’d Trevors facilitated the conference.He explained, “Charlie and I have been trying to set up this for the last two years, a ‘faith enrichment program’ for men of the Deanery.”

Rev’d Trevors outlined the focus of the weekend. “I chose the theme, ‘Yesterday, Today, and Forever’ for the weekend gathering, looking at the divinity of Christ and how He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

He added that it was also an opportunity for introspection for the men to look within.

“The weekend gave us the opportunity to look at our lives in the light of yesterday, today, and forever: not only our personal lives, but also our church lives and make a correlation of what we were, who we are, where we are heading, and how we are going to get there.”

Rev’d Trevors said he felt the men were blessed. “The music has touched their hearts very deeply and I think the experience they had was a very positive one.”

One participant, Tom Banfield, agreed entirely with that assessment.

“The leader opened up to us who God is and what He means to us. He challenged us to look at ourselves in comparison to what God has to offer. I, for one, went away looking at God regarding where I am in my spiritual thoughts; my heart was blessed when I left church Friday night.”

Banfield added, “The second day of the conference showed us again that God is one we can depend on, a God who loves us and leads us day by day. All He asks of us is that we would surrender ourselves to Him and allow the power of the Holy Spirit to lead us from day to day.”

Rev’d Cox summed up his feelings on the weekend this way. “The energy in the room during the men’s weekend was very encouraging and inspiring. The gathering gave us the opportunity to not only fellowship with one another but also to reflect on who we are as people of God.”

All the delicious meals were prepared by the Anglican Church Women of Fortune, and Grand Bank.

The weekend ended with a joint service at All Saints’ in Fortune, with Rev’d Trevors as guest preacher.

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For those of us who love (or even despise) the Church, it’s not hard to find the same patterns emerging. There is no shortage of opinions and no trouble to be immersed in the turmoil of the troubled witness the lack of Christian unity brings.

Writing Christmas and Easter messages is hard for me.

On one hand, I absolutely love the central message of both: a God who loves, a God who dwells with us, and a God who goes beyond words to prove that love. A Saviour who brings hope of resurrection and new hope every day.

On the other hand, my ministry, indeed my relationship with Jesus, if it is to be authentic, brings me face to face, heart to heart with wounded people, at home wounded countries, starving children, oppressed women. Face to face, heart to heart with those who dwell in darkness.

Our God, our Jesus teaches us this: Words are not enough. He came from “There to Here” to be with us, trusting that his birth in time and his eventual self-giving of Life would teach us that very thing. Words are not enough.

This Christmastide, I share with you my own desire to have an authentic relationship with my Saviour, and invite you to likewise invest time in self-examination, drawing back from the noise to let God find you and calm you down…, perhaps even to allow an image of you yourself in Bethlehem, reaching into the manger, lifting up that Holy Baby, and when he smiles at you, Give him your heart.

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