Working Toward Christian Unity, With Peter Noteboom

Last month, Peter Noteboom retired from his position as General Secretary of the Canadian Council of Churches, after 27 years with the organization, including nine years in that leading role. 

The Canadian Council of Churches (CCC) is a broad and inclusive ecumenical body, representing 26-member churches from various Christian traditions. The Salvation Army is a founding member of the CCC, which has been around since 1944. 

As he looks back on his years with the council, Peter shares his thoughts on why Christian unity matters so much and how the church can better use its voice in society, plus personal highlights from his tenure, reflections on The Salvation Army’s contributions to ecumenism and more.

Learn more about the Canadian Council of Churches

Transcript

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Kristin Ostensen  

This is the Salvationist podcast. I’m Kristin Ostensen. Welcome to the summer edition of the podcast. We’ll be back to our regular schedule again in September, but this week we’ve got a special interview with Peter Noteboom. Last month, Peter retired from his position as General Secretary of the Canadian Council of Churches, after 27 years with the organization, including nine years in that leading role. For those who may not know, the Canadian Council of Churches—or, CCC—is a broad and inclusive ecumenical body, representing 26-member churches from various Christian traditions. The Salvation Army is actually a founding member of the CCC, which has been around since 1944. As he looks back on his years with the council, Peter shares his thoughts on why Christian unity matters so much and how the church can better use its voice in society, plus personal highlights from his tenure, reflections on The Salvation Army’s contributions to ecumenism and more.

 Hi Peter, and welcome to the Salvationist podcast. It's great to have you today.

Peter Noteboom  

Thank you. It's good to be here.

Kristin Ostensen  

Yes. Well, I'm looking forward to talking about the Canadian Council of Churches and all the wonderful work it does. And I'm conscious that the folks listening to this podcast might not even know that The Salvation Army is a founding member, so it's obviously something that's important to us. But for one of our corps officers or a lay leader, member of our denomination, maybe someone who's not really engaged in ecumenism before—what's your sort of “elevator pitch”? Why is ecumenism important?

Peter Noteboom  

You know, just like those other key texts of, you know, to love your neighbour, or the Sermon on the Mount, or the evangelism texts in John 3:16, there's also that text of Jesus' prayer that his disciples might be one, and that's one of the core things. It's not an optional thing that Jesus says when praying for his disciples shortly before, you know, he heads to the cross and the resurrection. It's one of his core messages to his disciples. So, it's not optional for us. It's really God's prayer for us, that we might be one. In our founding texts of the Canadian Council of Churches, we also refer to the texts in Ephesians, where it's about one Lord, one faith, one baptism. So, those are pretty strong guidelines from the Scriptures and from our traditions that point us toward Christian unity, and so that's really what the Canadian Council of Churches is all about.

Kristin Ostensen  

No, that's good. And yeah, as you say, it really isn't optional. Those are some pretty key texts, and so with that in mind, what would you say are some key initiatives for the CCC?

Peter Noteboom  

Yeah, well, there's one that jumps out immediately, and that is about Christian unity. Every year, we work with an international team to bring to Canada the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which is an opportunity in almost every major city across Canada, but hopefully also in more and more smaller communities across Canada, where Christian churches can come together and pray, have a service of prayer, a service where we honour one another's different Christian traditions, where we pick up on a particular theme or verse of the Scriptures together, where we reflect sometimes on a particular country situation. And through those annual experiences of shared prayer and service and worship, we come to develop a deeper sense of unity together. That's, let's say, the flagship thing of the Canadian Council of Churches. But most of our work, really, is convening tables of dialogue and action on topics that churches care about. There are many of them, all related to topics that we care about, too, and it's those tables where we build a culture of unity, where we try to work on things productively and meaningfully in a way that we do it as a shared ministry.

Kristin Ostensen  

Yes, I imagine a lot of people listening would be familiar with the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. I know that plenty of Salvationists have engaged there. And over your many years with the CCC, where do you think The Salvation Army has been most engaged and contributed to ecumenism and the work of the CCC?

Peter Noteboom  

Well, there's some really obvious things. When we're in those Week of Prayer for Christian Unity services, and we hear a band, then we know The Salvation Army is there. 

Kristin Ostensen  

That is true!

Peter Noteboom  

And it's a really important, wonderful component of those services. But more importantly, in a similar way, what's also unique about The Salvation Army is your incredible social outreach and social action and social engagement, your community connections. You know, I remember learning very early on in my career that The Salvation Army was the largest provider, non-government provider of social services, direct social services in Canada. And so when we're talking about key topics like poverty or human trafficking, or ending sexual exploitation, or housing and homelessness, nobody brings as much experience to the table as The Salvation Army does, and so that's just an incredible contribution that The Salvation Army makes to the ecumenical movement in Canada.

Kristin Ostensen

Yes, absolutely, it's one of our slogans: Heart to God, Hand to Man. Now, you've been with the CCC for 27 years, and elsewhere have described your role as General Secretary as the “best job in churchland.” I'm wondering, what first led you to ecumenical work, and what has kept you in the work for the better part of three decades?

Peter Noteboom  

Somehow, very early in my career, my three themes of faith, justice and learning have always been wound tightly together, and when I first saw a position description on a bulletin board for Associate Secretary, Justice and Peace, at the Canadian Council of Churches, I thought, there's no way I could ever qualify for that position. But I went ahead and applied, and I was invited to step into that role in 1999, and it's been a really wonderful place for me since then to unfold my career, to put it that way. I've been so blessed by the people from many different Christian traditions who have shaped my justice work, my spiritual life, my sense of what faith is, how to connect that to Canada and to Canada's place in the world. Those are all just really important things to me about justice, faith and learning. And so you know when you can do that at the Canadian Council of Churches as General Secretary, which is again a different level than as Associate Secretary of Justice and Peace—I don't think there's any other place where you can connect with 25 other member churches and their leadership, several observer churches, important affiliates who also share our basis and purpose, our way of being in the world, and carry out that work together in a spirit of co-operation and collaboration. It's just an incredible blessing to be in that space, and to be formed and discipled by those people, by those leaders.

Kristin Ostensen  

Yeah, I can see how incredibly powerful that would be, drawing on so many traditions and so many faithful people in that space. When we think about the place of the church in broader Canadian society now, I think sometimes there might be a sense that the church has less of a voice than it used to, maybe less of an influence than it once did. In what you've observed, do you think that's the case? And how would you say the church's place in Canada has changed, perhaps over your years of involvement in the CCC?

Peter Noteboom  

I have some mixed feelings about that sense. It's a feeling that I recognize, that I sometimes hear that, you know, the place of Christian churches or of faith is smaller and smaller, is diminishing in Canadian society. So, I wasn't around, you know, 50, 60, 100 years ago, so I don't know exactly how it was. Certainly, the churches had more people attending and might have had a more prominent role in some of the decision making, for good and for ill, right? The government of Canada asked Canadian churches to run the residential school system, the Indian residential school system, and that didn't turn out so well. So, having the ear of the prime minister, or being a partner in government, wasn't necessarily a good thing for churches back in those days. But even today, I don't think there are any other identities that are as large in Canada as the Christian identity. I wonder whether the Christian churches together is the largest social movement in Canada. I think it might be. I don't know who else might be in competition for that role. So, I think we do have an incredibly important place to play in civil society, and a role to play in civil society, and I think that we need to own that history and step into that role, bringing our faith to the public square in ways that are relevant and meaningful, but also practise good listening and humility.

Kristin Ostensen

Yeah, that's a good point, you know, that Christians do make up, I believe, still the largest religious group in Canadian society. So, maybe the question then becomes, How can the church be more effective in sharing its voice? And how can we be meaningful agents of change in this country? 

Peter Noteboom  

I think we know that that integrity of walking the talk is the most important thing. Anytime that, you know, we mix up power with a witness or testimony or faith or convictions, that there's some danger goes along with that. So, walking the talk in humility—of listening well, of being in conversation with people who are marginalized, who are being with, not for—I think that's really important. I think it's also really important that, you know, we do our research. When I think about the work of Project Plowshares, Canada's peace research institute as part of the Canadian Council of Churches, they have incredible influence in the defense policy of Canada and the government of Canada. They're frequently quoted in major media sources advocating for a different kind of place of disarmament and peace rather than war and militarization, and investing in that research, so that when they come to the decision-making tables, they have really valuable things to say. That's also really important. But then we also have to remember our history. We have made some big contributions to Canadian society. I think about health care, and when churches were alongside the labour unions advocating for the Canada Health Act back in the 1960s, or strengthening Canada's public health care in the early 2000s through the Ecumenical Healthcare Network. We have to remember that history, we have to build on it, and then bring it to the next round of the conversation. So, I think those are, you know, those are important ways that the ecumenical movement, the Canadian Council of Churches, needs to keep front in mind, walking the talk, doing the research, remembering our history, and bringing it to bear for the challenges of today.

Kristin Ostensen  

Yeah, I appreciate you bringing out those examples, and that sort of word of caution, too, right? That, at times, we have been agents for perhaps not positive change, unfortunately. And I wonder, just picking up on that theme, as the Council of Churches, how are those priorities kind of determined? What sort of priorities can we rally around?

Peter Noteboom  

Right, you know, we have a set of criteria that we often take out every three years when we do some triennium planning processes, and they're usually about: What can we do better together than alone? What are some topics where the gospel voice or the gospel call is especially clear and meaningful? What are some topics where we have some experience and can actually bring something to the table? What are some topics that are especially meaningful for people today? I mean, I think about artificial intelligence today. Don't think we should be on the sidelines of that. We need to be participating in that conversation in many different ways, and of course we do in some way. So, I think there are criteria for that. But maybe more importantly, there's also just a way of working that's paying attention to difference, that is building an affection for those differences, that acknowledges and builds on unity wherever we can find it, that practises listening and humility, but also speaks as clearly as we can manage together.

Kristin Ostensen

Thinking about your last nine years as General Secretary, what have been some of your key priorities, and where do you think you've been able to move the council forward?

Peter Noteboom

You know, I think I have to give a shout out to the young adults. That's really been, for the last five or six years, maybe even longer, a priority of the Canadian Council of Churches—to join young adults in their faith journey, to invite young adults into a faith journey, to learn from young adults in their faith journey. And so, we've started an assistantship program where we always have two or three people, maybe a third of our staff who are young adults who are busy learning alongside us and we're busy learning alongside them. We restarted a youth governing board member program, so we always have three or four directors who are young adults who are providing direction for the Canadian Council of Churches. When the governing board meets, we always include now a special session with young adults where we listen and learn, and pray together. That's super valuable. I would say the young adults is certainly one area of priority, for sure. And I mentioned recently to a colleague that one of the things that I'm also passionate about is kind of organizational design. So, designing the organization to have an impact, to address the priorities that we choose we want to do together and that kind of can make a difference; and so building out that organizational capacity, including the communications and fundraising platforms and building a constituency—that's been another area of focus for me in my leadership. And then the other one is just widening the circle, and by that I mean, you know, inviting in churches who are newer to Canada into the ecumenical movement, who might come from a place where the ecumenical movement is especially strong. I'm thinking especially about churches from South Asia, where the ecumenical movement in India is, Sri Lanka is very strong, and they come here expecting to participate in a strong ecumenical movement here. And so, widening the circle, so that the Mar Thoma Church, the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church—that they also can find a home in the ecumenical movement and contribute. That's also been really important and good for me.

Kristin Ostensen 

Yeah, absolutely. You know, I think in our denomination as well, prioritizing the youth voice is so important, and it's great to hear that the involvement there has increased so dramatically. And looking back on, you know, the past decade or even beyond, can you share one or two experiences that really stand out to you, that demonstrate the heart of the CCC? You know, those kinds of moments that just underscore: this is why what we do matters.

Peter Noteboom 

You know, I'm a bit of a softy. When we're in a governing board meeting and we're at the end of the day and we take out the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity service, and we pray it together in the chapel with everyone, all participating, all singing, all praying, all doing the liturgy together—I'm always teary. Those are always unforgettable moments to me. And I think that moment of prayer and togetherness, a special spirit across those different traditions—I think the ripple effects of that are substantial. When we end our meetings and we, you know, spontaneously stand in a circle, hold hands and sing the doxology, there's something super special about that. Some people might say that it's—what do you call it? A kumbaya moment. I like them, and I think they're really important. And those ripple effects go into the other parts of the work, whether that's doing truth and reconciliation work together, or that's strengthening health care in Canada together, or that’s, you know, opposing militarization and working for peace and discernment, practising unity—those ripple effects off into those other topic areas. They come from shared prayer, shared theological reflection, shared worship.

Kristin Ostensen  

It really is so important, and I think, especially in this age of polarization, division—it's so much easier to fall into division, and I think in the church as well, of course, it can be easy to focus on our differences. So, what do you think is the key to creating and maintaining unity in the church?

Peter Noteboom 

One of the first things that I learned from one of my predecessors, Janet Somerville, is that friendship is the first principle of ecumenism, and I've learned from the Quakers that when Jesus calls you friends, you know, it has a very special connotation. They're called the Religious Society of Friends. So that friendship, that affection for diversity, that's what carries us through from one meeting to the next, from one generation to the next, across traditions, within traditions—because the differences, politically, are as much within traditions as they are between traditions. It's those friendships and that affection for diversity, that love for diversity that carries you through and gives life to the movement.

Kristin Ostensen  

Yeah, no, that's very true. We're all friends first, and we're friends in Christ. I love that.

Peter Noteboom

That's it. 

Kristin Ostensen

Yeah, that's absolutely true. And as you're wrapping up your time with the CCC, is there any final word or message that you would like to give to the Canadian church?

Peter Noteboom  

Yeah, that's a good one. I'm afraid, in addition to being a softy, I'm also a little bit of a big dreamer kind of person. So I think about the beginning and the end. I think about our history—we have to remember our history and the contributions we've made to justice and peace and social engagement in Canada. I think we need to do that remembering together with the young adults and bring those experiences in and learn from their insights of faith and spirituality, and bring both, you know, that historical perspective and today's practice of the church as it lives in the lives of young adults, and bring that together forward in a word, or a practice, or a gesture of hope and light and justice. 

Kristin Ostensen  

Well, thank you so much for your time today. It was wonderful to catch up at the end of this long tenure of yours, and all that you've contributed to ecumenism in Canada. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us, and God bless you today.

Peter Noteboom

Thank you. It's been a pleasure to speak with you, and yeah, I just want to express my gratitude to The Salvation Army for all it's taught me. Thank you.

Kristin Ostensen  

Thank you. 

Thanks for joining us for another episode of the Salvationist podcast. While we’re on summer break, catch up on past episodes at Salvationist.ca/podcast. We’ll see you again soon in the fall.