Protocol Grand Opening of the Niverville to the Nations Ministry Centre

On Saturday morning, May 23, 2009, a Protocol Event took place in the open air on Main Street, Niverville, Manitoba, to officially open the doors of the Niverville to the Nations Ministry Centre.

What, you may ask, is the Niverville to the Nations Ministry Centre?

This name does not refer to any one organization or sphere of ministry, but to a consortium of three ministries, all of which are based in Niverville, and who have a heart for the community, and who also have a heart to reach out to the First Nations of Manitoba, of Canada, as well as to the indigenous nations of the world.


Canada Awakening Ministries has a special focus on Canada's North, and is facilitating a healing the land process in northern Inuit and First Nations communities, wherever municipal and church leaders are willing to welcome the process on the behalf of the local communities where they live. Protocol and being officially invited to do the process (with a significant degree of unity among local gatekeepers and authorities from all spheres of the community) is a high priority for this ministry.


Rising Above is a healing agency with "First Peoples Helping First Peoples." This involves primarily organizing conferences at strategic centres across Canada with a special focus on reaching out to those who have been sexually abused or emotionally wounded at Native Residential Schools with follow-up counselling wherever possible. This ministry is addressing issues head-on where the church as an institution has been the arm of the government in imposing misguided policies on Native people in the past.

The Niverville Prayer Centre is a prayer ministry that is open and available to the community of Niverville and the surrounding region. This centre is there to not only be a spiritual prayer covering for the ministries who share the same building, but to cover in prayer the needs of the community and region as a whole. The intent is to bring together the different spheres of the community in order to pray more effectively for the wellness of the community, the nation, and the nations ("ethnos," or "ethnicities").

Roger Armbruster, director of Canada Awakening Ministries, introduced the Protocol Event on May 23, 2009, in front of the office complex on 106 and 100 Main Street, Niverville, with these words:

"We welcome you to this special ceremony to open up the Niverville to the Nations Ministry Centre. It is our prayer that this centre will be a blessing to the whole community and the region around Niverville."
With Niverville Mayor Greg Fehr and Provencher Member of Parliament and President of the Federal Treasury Board Vic Toews looking on (standing in the foreground), Roger continued:

"We need to connect more, and to talk to one another. We have a mixture of both Native and Non-native people here today. We want to hear from these different spheres to give everyone a voice. We want people to be heard, and to connect, and to get to know one another, so that we can work together."

With onlookers listening intently, Roger continued, "As we look around, and we see the trees beginning to blossom, and to burst forth with new life, there is also something beginning to blossom in the community of Niverville. There is something that is springing into life right on Main Street in the middle of this community with the emerging of what we are calling the Niverville to the Nations Ministry Centre."

The first speaker, the Honorable Vic Toews, Member of Parliament for Provencher, and senior member of the federal Cabinet as President of the Treasury Board, declared:

"It is my pleasure to be here today at this important announcement. I want to welcome, of course, the Mayor, the local MLA, and the First Nations who are here. We are honored to have you present at this announcement.

"Roger Armbruster, and the networks that he has been building with others, have demonstrated that this mission, this task, can be done from anywhere, provided that the right people are in place. I think that Roger is the kind of leader who can build bridges, and working together with the First Nations leadership.

"So this is a perfect place for 'Niverville to the Nations' to be centered. 'Niverville to the World' does not seem strange when you know the dedication of the people to this kind of project. So I want to wish you all the very best in this endeavor."

Vic Toews was followed by Raymond McLean, pastor of the First Nations Family Worship Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, who has also helped to spread the healing the land vision in Manitoba along with Roger. Raymond began:

"It is an honor for us to be here today, and to represent First Nations. With the First Nations people of this land, God has given to us the key to unlock the destiny of the nation. We havn't realized this before until just recently. For about fifteen years, the Lord has really spoken to me about this kind of movement.

"I traveled to many different places, and shared this message that God was going to do something with the First Nations, but I didn't understand it until I met Roger, and then I started to see the vision really clearly as to what God is going to do. And I don't say this in a boastful way, but to give God glory. He has given us the key."

Raymond then referred to a scripture in Isaiah 22:22, as he went on to say, "David was given a key, was given a spiritual authority to unlock the things for his country, for the land of Israel. I believe that when God divided the land to the people groups in the book of Genesis, He divided the land to different nations, and these different nations were given this responsibility to steward the land in different regions. And for North America, the responsibility was given to the First Nations.

"You know, you have got to pray for them, that they will awake to this realization that they have this responsibility. We need to send the message to them to begin to arise, and to wake up, that you have something in your hand that you need to do to mould the destiny in our land for the glory of God.

"Roger has recognized this, and many of you have recognized it as well, and we are so privileged to have this recognition from communities like this. With our church in Winnipeg, we used to call it an "independent" church, but I don't like the word "independent" because it makes you a lone ranger. So we have come up with another word. The word is "interdependent." That means, "I need you, I need this one, and I need that one," so we have connected ourselves with about seven or eight churches in the city of Winnipeg, and these are white churches, by the way.

"They have recognized, and they have prayed for us, so that God would use us to bring about this movement of God that is taking place in our land right now, to unlock the destiny of this nation. Once again, I thank you for recognizing us, endorsing us, embracing us, and I know that God will bless you richly for that."

Raymond McLean was followed by Mayor Greg Fehr of Niverville. He began:

"We have a beautiful day. We have an awesome God that has provided this for us, and I am going to speak on behalf of the community a little bit, and what this means to us here.

"We spend a lot of time as community leaders focusing on 'community wellness.' It's important. I think that we have realized very, very quickly with all the resources and efforts that we put into community wellness that a strong community, a healthy community, is built by healthy homes, and healthy homes are built by healthy individuals.

"The 'health' that we often think of is the physical health, but there is more than that. There are three factors to it. There is a physical health, there is a mental health, and there is a spiritual health. I think that is where the centre that we have here today is going to begin to fill some of that need within the community.

"I think that one of the easiest things to forget, especially in the western world, is the power of prayer, and the difference that it can make. We get very, very comfortable with the mechanisms that we have here when we are blessed, and we forget to remember that we not only need to give thanks for everything that we have received, but also to take all of our challenges to Him. Because that is where everything comes from. That is the source of our power."

The people assembled were all ears as Niverville Mayor Greg Fehr continued, "I believe that what we are going to be looking at is actually a two-fold purpose to our prayer room here. First, for those of us who are enjoying the blessings that we are receiving, it is going to be a good reminder for us as we are driving down Main Street. It is going to be a good reminder of where we came from, and a good reminder, hopefully, that we will remember when we do need that help, when we do need that assistance and that power, that we know where we can come, and we know Who it is that we need to go to.

"And for those in our community that do need that help, that ability to gather together with others, and to express that true ernst of prayer to our God, and to insure that the power and the guidance of the Spirit is able to come--that is what this provides to the community. And again, from a community leader's perspective, the way that this all ties back in together to the overall community wellness is just amazing.

"I just want to wish the continual blessing on this Centre, and what it is that it is going to do for the community, and I trust that we will all remember the purpose of why it is here."

Mayor Greg Fehr was then followed by Kelvin Goertzen, the Member of the Manitoba Legislature for the local Steinbach constituency. Kelvin began:

"It is a pleasure to be here as your member of the legislative assembly on this special day as the Ministry Centre opens. I want to particularly thank those who are involved with the ministries who are under this banner. You have been throughout your lives, and throughout your ministries, have been tapped with a very special purpose, and have been given a direction from God in how to help others.

"And He works through us as individuals, and us as people, but it is up to us to answer that call, and to act upon that call. Many are called, but sometimes we don't listen, and we don't take that direction. You have done that, and it has led us here today.

"The Prayer Centre is particularly important for the community, and, as Roger mentioned, for many other individuals and politicians as well. We appreciate the prayers we get."

MLA Kelvin Goertzen then continued, "I want to thank the community who has supported these ministries, and come together, and made this happen today, and it will be a lifetime legacy. We know that there is a lot of hurt in our world, and this will be a place where some of that hurt can be addressed, not just in our local area in a Prayer Centre, but throughout the world.

"Of course, we celebrate the opening of a building, and that is important, and God has given the resources to the ministries to be able to do that, but it is not just about a building, about the bricks and the mortar. A few days ago, when I was doing my own personal devotions, I came across a verse from I Corinthians 3:9. It says, 'For we are God's servants, all of us working together. We are God's field. We are God's building.'

"And it is an important reminder that we can open these doors, and have nobody inside, and it wouldn't fulfill the purpose, because each of us still are the building. Each of us, because we are God's followers, are the ones who are going to be doing the work, and we need the facilities, but we are still the building. We are still the field of God's creation.

"Thank you very much. Thank you Roger, and all of the ministries for what you are doing, and God bless you in the days ahead."

Roger then introduced the next speakers with these words, "Right now I am going to call Irvin and Dolly Wilson to come. They are from the Peguis First Nation, so they carry with them the legacy of Chief Peguis. And if you know something about history, we can thank God that Chief Peguis was a welcoming chief who welcomed the earliest settlers to this province, and so these people carry a mantle of anointing."

Irvin Wilson then responded, "We thank you, Roger. We are quite honored to be here. We promote strong family values, and I want to have the pleasure to have my wife say the first few words."

So Dolly Wilson then spoke up, "Thank you. It is just an honor to be here today, just standing here, and I was looking yous all over here. You know, there was a time that as a First Nations woman, I could not hold my head up.

"But I am looking at this sign up here, Niverville to the Nations, Rising Above, Canada Awakening...'The leaves are for the healing of the nations.' I was just putting this together as I was looking up there, and I thought, 'You know, Lord, You have lifted me up!' You know, I was raised up--the Rising Above Ministries. The First People Helping the First People! I was raised above for the healing of the nations, so that we can help our people!

"I thought of the MLA from Steinbach that was just speaking from I Corinthians 3:9, that we are the building. We are the building. And I thought, 'Corporately, when I look at all of the cluster that God is putting together here, the different ministries, the different things that are coming together, different churches, different nations, different cultures, different peoples coming together.' You know, this is the only way, people!

"Isaiah 65:8 talks about the 'cluster.' It talks about the mingling of anointings, because it is within the cluster that there is a blessing. And I looked around here, and I saw the different peoples here, different colors here, and I began to think, 'God, You are putting together a people.

"We are mingling our anointings together to have a different impact in our communities, a bigger impact with our nation of people. Because as one individual, we can't do it independently. It is no longer built on individuality, but we are going to have to mingle our anointings, and to come together so that we can have a bigger impact.

"I am just so thankful to be here today. It is an honor to be here, and the welcome that we feel, Roger. It was just maybe three years ago that I met Roger, but at that time, I still had an issue. I still had an issue with the white man. And when he came in when I first met him, I kind of stepped back, you know. I took a step back, and was kind of scared, you know.

"But over the three years that God has put us together, I realized that I could no longer live as a Christian with the issues that I carried. So God has done a tremendous work in our lives."

Dolly's husband, Irvin Wilson, then continued right on from where his wife left off, "One of the things that God has spoken to my heart about is that this is the year to gather them that have the charge over the city, the communities, to draw near, and He is saying, 'Set a mark on those who sigh and cry for the city' (Ezekiel 9:1, 4).

"So He is gathering together a people, a nation, that have a heart for the communities, for the cities and for the nation. I believe that Niverville is a leading community that has brought something to our cities, our nation. I want to thank Roger, and Canada Awakening Ministries, for bringing this to the forefront.

"I believe that this is the year to establish your building plan for the future, and with covenant connections. This is the year that God is gathering together a nation of people that have a heart for the communities and for the cities and for the nation. I believe that when you have a heart for a community, or a city, like Jesus when He wept over the city. He cried for it. I believe it is going to bring spiritual change not only to our communities, but to our nations, and to our people.

"One of the ministries that the Lord has given to us is the family values. One of the goals that we have is to train strong families in our communities, to bring the values back, as fathers and mothers, so that we can impart. We can impart this anointing upon our people, our First Nations people.

"It is the time to gather together people, all nations, to come together. Set a mark on them. Set a purpose down. Start moving this country, this nation, into its destiny. Our nation of people identify God as a great Creator.

"But I believe that as spiritual leaders, we open the door to the King of glory. and we open our hearts and our lives to all nations, and we open the door to this Centre, as the original gatekeepers to this nation, to this country, to these territories. We partner with you. And God bless Niverville! God bless your ministry."

Roger followed up Irvin Wilson's comments by commenting, "Yes, and when that happens, when the King of glory is welcomed, reconciliation starts happening, healing in the home--husband-wife relationships, parent-children relations. We all have needs in these areas. We need the Lord to do something. Let it begin in this community, and let it spread to the North, the South, the East and the West!"

The next speaker was a 19-year-old young man, Josiah Speers, who spoke on the behalf of the Niverville Prayer Centre. He began,

"First of all, I would just like to especially thank Greg Fehr for being here. It just means so much to see the mayor of this town support this ministry. I mean, all of you guys. I had no idea how many would show up, and it just blesses me, almost to tears, to see so many faces. I love your faces, your beautiful faces.

"I just want to take this opportunity to praise the Lord, and just say that He is great, and my testimony shows that just the past year has been an amazing experience just to see God be so real and tangible. And even in all of my failures, and all of my weaknesses, He still holds me, and I can run back to Him. So praise the Lord, and thank you all for being here."

The Rising Above Band then took over the final part of the Grand Opening Event as they shared from their hearts and led in worship. The band that day consisted of First Nations leader Howard Jolly (left), Brenda Martin (centre), and her husband Terry (right) along with their son Josiah Speers (the previous speaker) on the drums.

Terry Martin, who is also the administrator for the Rising Above, shared meaningfully and effectively from his heart: "It has just been a real act of God the way that this office has been made available to us, and it has been a really neat thing. This is a step of growth for the ministry to have an office location here, and be combined or be joined, or working together with another like-minded ministry, and also in the same building as a Prayer Centre.

"It is so meaningful to see so many people come here, and for all of you First Nations people who came from quite a ways away, thank you for coming. It is so good to have you here, and the welcome that you have given us from your people. That is meaningful! That is very meaningful!"

The lead singer of the Rising Above Band, Howard Jolly, is a First Nations leader who has lived for the past number of years right in Niverville, and has been a vital part of the Rising Above Ministry as a singer and conference speaker pretty much since its beginning in 1992. So Howard then shared a few words about the ministry of Rising Above.

"I do want to say that a lot of the stuff that we are dealing with in Rising Above are a lot of things regarding the issues of our people, the core issues in their lives. A lot of times when we look at Aboriginal people, we look at outside things, and a lot of times those things are negative, such as alcoholism, and drug abuse, but a lot of those things are connected to things that are deep within.

"And a lot of those issues are in regards to sexual abuse, and also, too, in regards to the colonization, and residential school issues. We bring those things up, not to put blame on people, but to bring healing, and we really desire for the healing of our people, so we have seen a lot of people healed in their hearts in talking about these things, and in dealing with these things.

"A lot of reconciliation has happened, too, even through the ministry of Rising Above, between white and native people. So it is good to see Rising Above in Niverville here. When I first came to Niverville, I said, 'Who would want to live in Niverville?', you know. And here I am living in Niverville!

"It is good to see the ministries out there. I was just very moved by what the Mayor had to say, and also from the MLA, and Vic Toews, and others, in blessing the ministry here. So the Lord bless you."

Howard Jolly then led the Rising Above Band in a rendition of the powerful song, The Battle Belongs to the Lord!

"In heavenly armor we'll enter the land, the battle belongs to the Lord! No weapon that's fashioned against us will stand, the battle belongs to the Lord!

"When the power of darkness comes in like a flood, the battle belongs to the Lord! He'll raise up a standard, the power of His blood, the battle belongs to the Lord!

"When the enemy presses in hard, do not fear, the battle belongs to the Lord! Take courage, my friend, your redemption is near, the battle belongs to the Lord!"

The chorus after each stanza declared,

"And we sing glory, honor! Power and strength to the Lord! And we sing glory, honor! Power and strength to the Lord!"

While the instrumental music continued, Howard Jolly led out with a powerful prayer:

"You hold all things in Your hands, O Lord! It is to You that we look to, Lord! It is to You that we bow our heads! To You we lift our hands! To You we bow our knees! You alone, Lord, can bring healing to our land! You alone can bring what we need for the earth, Lord, for the feeding of our people, Lord!

"We just acknowledge, Lord, that it is You, and we give ourselves to You, and all this building, and everything that it is for, Lord! Bless it! Bless it in the Name of the Lord! Bless the prayers of Your people, O Lord! Awaken the people, O Lord of this land! Bring healing to this land, O Lord!

"We can't do it on our own! It is not by our might, but by Your might, O Lord! By Your Spirit! And so we give ourselves to You. Have Your way, Lord, we pray! O Lord, have Your way! And all God's people say, Amen!"

Howard Jolly then began to get the audience involved as he led out in a powerful rendition of the song, They Will Know that We are Christians by Our Love!

"We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord, we are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord! And we pray that our unity may one day be restored, and they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love, yes, they'll know that we are Christians by our love!"

Howard then got the people standing together on Main Street to express their unity by singing together, and by holding hands, as he went on to the next verse:

"We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand, we will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand, and together we'll spread the news that God is in our land, and they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love, yes, they'll know we are Christians by our love!

"We will work with each other, we will work side by side, we will work with each other, we will work side by side, and we'll guard each man's dignity, and save each man's pride,

"And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love, yes, they'll know we are Christians by our love!" It was a powerful moment!
After this song, the local Niverville pastors were called to the front, along with a few pastors from other communities (Native and Non-native), and stood together with John Klassen, pastor of the Niverville Chortizer Mennonite Church (CMC), the chairman of the Niverville Ministerial, as he led out in a prayer to dedicate this facility and the ministries associated with the Niverville to the Nations Ministry Centre to the glory of God.

Roger then called two First Nations leaders, Howard Jolly and Raymond McLean, to cut the ribbon to the entry of the doorway on 100 Main Street, Niverville, which houses the offices of the Rising Above and the Canada Awakening Ministries.

On the other side, at 106 Main Street, Mayor Greg Fehr and Niverville Ministerial Chairman John Klassen cut the ribbon to the entry of the doorway into the Niverville Prayer Centre. After the time of worship and prayer, there was a sense that the heavenly gates were opened, and now both the mayor and the ministerial chairman represented Niverville to open the earthly doorway into the Niverville Prayer Centre.

"Thus says the Lord: 'Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build for me? And where is the place of My rest? For all those things My hand has made, and all those things exist,' says the Lord.

"But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word" (Isaiah 66:1, 2).

Since the offices of Canada Awakening Ministries and Rising Above are both focused on Native issues, it was appropriate that First Nations leaders Howard Jolly and Raymond McLean cut the ribbon to open the doorway into that part of the building while local pastors John Klassen, Peter Braun and Keith Kenemy look on.

The doors are opened, and the people were now able come inside for a tour of the offices as well as the Prayer Centre! People lingered around for some time, participating in a time of interacting, fellowship, asking questions, learning more about one another, as well as partaking of coffee, donuts and cake.

This is not the end, but a new beginning! Just as the leaf on the Canadian flag speaks of "the leaves of the tree being for the healing of the nations (ethnos)" (Revelation 22:2), even so the Niverville to the Nations Ministry Centre will be a "cluster" of different anointings that will be more effective in reaching out from their home community of Niverville to bring healing to the nations!