Anglican Indigenous Network (DGM Module 2-4)

http://ain.anglicancommunion.org/

Created in 1991, the Anglican Indigenous Network (AIN) is an international network in the worldwide Anglican Communion. The aims of the AIN are:

Our Aims:

• We are indigenous minority peoples living in our own lands.
• We are committed to the Anglican tradition while affirming our traditional spirituality.
• We have discovered that we have many things in common: a common spirituality, common concerns, common gifts, common hopes.
• We believe that God is leading the Church to a turning point in its history and that the full partnership of indigenous peoples is essential. Therefore we pledge to work together to exercise our leadership in contributing our vision and gifts to transform the life of the Christian community.

This website provides a history of the AIN and links to other resources. It is not exclusively Indigenous, but is an expression of the struggle for Indigenous identity within the Anglican Communion. This struggle has led, recently, to the appointment of a national Indigenous Bishop whose role it is to provide episcopal ministry to First Nations Anglicans in Canada.

One of the more intriguing links on this site is the “Stories of the Night Sky” Project for First Nation, Metis and Inuit Youth aged 16 to 19 news item. A portion of the description of this project follows:

In recognition of the UNESCO International Year of Astronomy 2009, The National Association of Friendship Centres will work toward developing a website to showcase First Nation, Métis and Inuit “Stories of the Night Sky” from across Canada. Fourteen young people will be chosen to participate in this project, one from each province and territory. Status or Non-status First Nation, Métis, or Inuit are all invited to apply. Each participant will have online media training to develop their interviewing and camera skills; we don’t put you out there alone, there will always be someone available to you for guidance.

The perks: you get to keep the camera, there is a small stipend when your part of the project is completed, and your work will be on a web site dedicated to “Aboriginal Stories of the Night Sky” that will play a part in the preservation of Aboriginal languages, traditional knowledge and culture.

David