My Life – Part 1
I recently realized how very deeply I was drawn to the ideas that within the emerging journey long before I had ever heard about it. This got me thinking about how much my own history predisposed me to the ideas. So, at the risk of being self-involved, I thought some of you might be interested in how I got to where I am in the first place.
It seemed like I was born in liminality in many respects. Living on the Canada/US border, I was born in the US to a Canadian family. While many dismiss my dual citizenship as mere legality, I have always been deeply appreciative of both citizenships, something I have intentionally chosen not to relinquish. Though I have spent most of my life in Canada, embodying many of its cultural elements, I hold firmly to the fact that I am equally a citizen of the United States, drawing from both in my identity.
Additionally, my father, an Anglo-Italian married my mother, a French Canadian*. Therefore, my childhood memories are filled with bi-cultural and bi-lingual treasures that deeply inform my sense of appreciation and sensitivity to culture. When my parents experienced a personal faith encounter, they left the Roman Catholic Church for an evangelical congregation. Do not understand here that I am saying that authentic faith cannot be found in Catholicism, but rather that in the case of my parents, they hadn’t. I am deeply grateful, therefore, that despite the attitudes of many in my childhood church, my parents allowed me to attend Mass with my Mémère (grandmother) on many occassions.
The church I grew up in was a fairly conservative, evangelical congregation, part of the Evangelical Covenant Church of Canada. While Brian McLaren has said the ECC in the US is best poised to explore the emerging church conversation, my home church would not have exemplified this. They reflected typical rural, evangelical conservatism, though, I must say, at its best. They modelled loving community, solid commitment to Scripture, active participation in missional movements (to their best undestanding) and much more. They continue to love and support me today.
My father, a teacher, took a position at a local Christian school the first year I entered school. The school was run by a very conservative Mennonite community, where many of the girls didn’t go past the 8th grade. When “the English” joined (teachers like my father and students like myself), several of the more conservative families pulled out. While those who remained were still quite conservative, I attended a school that helped expose me to some of the best of Anabaptist theology, something I had never even heard of.
Additionally, the school became the place where students from many different demoninational background and cultures attended. It was through fellow students, combined with that fact that most small rural churches couldn’t afford a youth pastor, that I began attending a youth group in a neighbouring town. The group was made up of kids from many churches, but was part of the local Pentacostal church. Here is began my first exploration of the charismatic tradition, with both its beauty and flaws. It was through youth at this church that I first heard about Youth With A Mission (YWAM), but that is for a later post.
My unique cultural & national heritage, combined with my fairly broad exposure to Christian traditions, predisposed me to consider a broader view and question some of the assumptions many people take for granted. It has been something that I feel serves me well in dialoguing across cultural and traditional/denominational boundaries. However, it also serves to distance me for any singularly defining heritage, something that can be lonely and even confusing, something I hope to explore in my next post.
Much more could be said here, including the significance of living in a remote house in a naturally beautiful region, surrounded by nature; including the importance of a very close immediate family on both sides; including the deep importance of the women in my family to me (not to suggest the men were not important); etc. Each are important in who I have become.
Should you have any questions or even observations, they would be very welcome.
My next post in this series will explore my decision to join YWAM and my early years of involvement in the organization.
*I have recently learned of distant Metis heritage. I don’t mention it in detail for lack of pride in it, but rather from not wanting to claim a cultural identity I had little to no defining contact with. I would take great pride to call myself part of the First Nations community, but feel it would be inappropriate and selfish for me to do so.
