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 On May 25, to his surprise, Larry Wilson, National Director of the First Nations Alliance of Churches of Canada was the recipient of Vancouver's Carey Theological College's honorary degree -- the Doctor of Divinity.
Growing up on a reservation he recalls that books seemed to serve a limited cultural purpose. "The value of a page was to start a fire," he says now, with a laugh. But, from a young age, he told himself that book learning was actually his ticket to a new way of life. "If I'm ever going to be somebody, if I'm ever going to leave the reserve, I'm going to have to go to the white man's school and get educated. The professional track he pursued was a religious one. He made it through a bachelor's degree at Briercrest Bible College. He made is halfway through a Master of Divinity degree at Providence Theological College. But a doctorate, he says, "is only something I've dreamt of ."
Carey, a ministry of Canadian Baptists of Western Canada is a seminary which has a Chinese Language Program and is involved with mission work in Kenya and Bolivia, places a strong emphasis on cross-cultural Christian connection. It's honorary degree, at a practical level, is intended by Carey to be a bridge-building tool. "It's a way to narrow the divide between the often cloistered academy and the vast community of people whose knowledge and leadership are worthy of an advanced degree, but whose life experience has not afforded them the opportunity to acquire one. For the theological college it builds," says Carey's Academic Vice-President Barbara Mutch, "an enlarged understanding of what it means to be the whole people of God. In other words, it's a reminder of the fact that the church is a radically diverse group of people."
In his life's work, Wilson is someone who has worked to preserve that diversity, while building a sense of unity. His time in academia was difficult, he says now. His struggle to acclimate to the educational culture caused him to fail and repeat several courses. But he slowly became aware of the fact that like the most ambitious of scholars, he was filled with a deep hunger for knowledge.
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Midway through a Master of Divinity program he was taking, however, it became clear to him that this was not his path. "Although I was on a legitimate path, my motive was wrong," he says. "The pursuit of academics is very healthy. But for me, the way it worked in my life, was to make me work apart from God. That is, it was about my own identity."
It was only once he recognized that he's been carrying around a painful cargo of a deep-seared self- hatred - as an aboriginal man trying to fit himself into a new culture - that he was able to discern what his true calling was. Wilson calls this recognition of (and farewell to) his pain his "encounter with God."
He realized that his work was on the ground, so to speak, building and planting aboriginal churches. First as a pastor, and now as the director of a national aboriginal Christian organization, this is how Wilson has made his mark over the past several decades.
As an aboriginal Christian, he's always felt that native churches, only existed to survive. "That's the mode I've seen. I had an incredible desire to see a strong, healthy, aboriginal church become a reality in Canada. I said, 'You know God, I want to be one of the people who make that happen.'" And that's what he's done.
His latest project is a strategic plan, to oversee the development of twenty strong, healthy, aboriginal churches in Canada by the year 2020 -- all led by aboriginal pastors. He's pulled together what he's calling a Native Leaders Talking Circle, to build the lines of communication across the denominational traditions, and get the ball rolling.
As far as the honorary degree is concerned, he's flattered. But it's clear that it's not going to his head. "I feel so human," he says. "I've had this vision, to bring honor to God and glory to my people. Something has to happen, in history, where we're seen as people with great gifts to offer, rather than people to be helped. People of honor." For his part, Wilson is helping to turn the tide.
www.careycentre.com
www.cmacan.org/cministries.php?pg_id=52
June 19/2008
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