The following article will be published in SCM’s UK publication, Movement Magazine.

‘Let justice roll like a mighty river’ (Amos 5:24)

It was last Christmas in Vancouver when I met my first British SCMer.

As we shared stories after church, this awesome young woman revealed a common perception that SCM Canada is, well, ‘out there’ - a bunch of liberal, sex-crazed and perhaps-not-so-theologically-grounded radicals in the midst of the worldwide movement.

Before I could refute her well-intentioned stereotypes, she cornered me: “And wasn’t it SCM Canada who performed Song of Songs partly naked?”

Well, I have to confess to that (that was a West Coast local unit I was involved with). We did perform Biblical erotica at a feminist Valentine’s celebration, some of us were not entirely clothed, and on top of that we handed out pomegranates (the forbidden fruit, after all) and condoms wrapped with the icons of Catholic saints. We assure you, however, that it was entirely scriptural. Really.

Although many of us in the Canadian movement tend to enjoy talking about sex, politics and religion (three inappropriate public topics, insist my parents), there is much more to our movement. After years of decline (or waiting on God’s call, depending on your perspective) SCM Canada is growing again and there’s a lot we’re excited about.

We have local units (the grassroots base of the movement) popping up on new campuses every year, and more and more people joining national programmes such as our annual human rights pilgrimage and national conference.

Thanks for this invitation to speak about SCM Canada - and we hope to learn more about you as well! Let me take you on a bit of an introductory tour.

SCM Canada was founded in 1921, after splitting away from the YM/YWCA movement (one founder commented that the Y had become ‘capitalist lackeys’). At the radical edge of the Canadian ‘social gospel’ movement, the sizable SCM pushed in these early decades for a more just order in Canada. We fought for public health care, social programs and workers’ rights.

At the outset of World War II, SCMers were among the few voices decrying the mass internment of all Japanese descendents in Canada, in what are now regarded as concentration camps. Over the following decades, SCMers spent their summers in Work Camps, living together, sharing everything, and labouring in factories during the day. This radicalized a generation of activists in the ecumenical movement. Many from this generation went on to become church heads, ministers and politicians (for better of worse), and are our biggest support base today.

Over the years, we started international solidarity projects with Nicaragua, Cuba and the Philippines, as well as Solidarity Summers, an intentional sustainable living experiment - sadly, however, these great projects have not survived today.

With this proud history of being on the margins, SCMers began questioning some previous taboos among even leftist Christians - in particular, issues of sexuality and gender. Reading the Gospels from a liberation perspective led to a feminist analysis, and also embracing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people into the movement, proclaiming that the Bible is neither homophobic nor intolerant; Jesus is, rather, a source of liberation for all.

With that in mind, we try to organize our movement on principles of grassroots democracy, non-hierarchy and welcome. Rooted in local units on campuses nation-wide, our movement is like a federation of autonomous collectives. When we meet at National Conference every year, each participant (regardless of seniority or position) is given more than a full vote. We use a decision-making process dependent on consensus. It makes for tedious or heated meetings sometimes, but prevents the coercion of majority-rules.

We have two national Co-Coordinators who visit local units, provide resources, and administer the movement’s national projects, which include an annual human rights pilgrimage to a U.S. torture training base and a new LGBT campaign, Queer & Christian Without Contradiction.

Conference is an exciting time of gathering, prayer, good food, and exploring radical topics of concern to our movement. This year, we’re exploring the collapse of our ecological and political systems and ‘unearthing ways that work.’

It’s not all doom-and-gloom, though the apocalyptic storm clouds seem imminent in these times. Will we survive these ‘end times,’ when the fabric of life itself is being torn apart, and perpetual war becomes the everyday? How will we right the egregious wrongs committed by church and state against the Indigenous peoples in this land, whose culture has barely survived Euro-Canadian imperialist genocide? What is the ‘new heaven’ and ‘new earth’ promised in Jesus (Rev 21:1)?

In fellowship, prayer, pilgrimage and solidarity, many of us in SCM Canada find sources of strength and rootedness that help us continue, even though today we are few in number. Spurred by Jesus’ revolutionary message, we are discerning and praying our way into a future in which God’s justice reigns.

David Ball is local unit coordinator with the Student Christian Movement of Canada in Winnipeg, Manitoba.