Acknowledging the Territory: For Use in Non-Indigenous Communities of Faith

Jesus calls us into the world to love one another as we are loved by God.

As we came to this land, First Nations people welcomed us, sustained us, and taught us. We did not understand them when they shared their vision. In our zeal to tell them the Good News of Jesus Christ, we were closed to the value of their spirituality.

We confused Western ways of culture with the depth, breadth, length, and height of the gospel of Christ. We imposed our civilization as a condition of accepting the gospel. 

As a result, the image of the Creator in us is twisted and blurred, and we are not what we are meant by God to be.

In our journey toward reconciliation, we acknowledge, this day, that we gather for worship on the traditional territories of the Saugeen Ojibway* and the other Indigenous peoples who preceded them—the original nations of this land—and we acknowledge with respect their history, their spirituality, and their culture.

*Adapt for your context.