"No relationship is perfect, but there are some very good examples that have led to Six Nations appreciating the Mennonite community," says Adrian Jacobs, Turtle Clan, Cayuga Nation of the Six Nations Haudenosaunee Confederacy. "Especially their willingness to have dirt under their fingernails faith. Not pie in the sky, but grounded and connected-to-the-earth kinds of faith."
Adrian's own relationship with Mennonites would not begin until later in life.
He grew up on the Six Nations of the Grand River reserve, steeped in traditional Haudenosaunee ceremonies and teachings. "My father was traditional and my mother was Anglican," reflects Adrian. "They didn't agree on that spiritual pathway, but they loved each other and cared for each other."
At the age of 20, Adrian became a Christian and decided that he had to leave his traditional upbringing behind to focus on his new faith journey. "But I was never really happy with that," recalls Adrian. "I began to really think it through as a follower of Christ, should I really be rejecting my own people and our way of thinking?"
Adrian found other like-minded Indigenous Christians who were walking a similar path. "Creator made us who we are. And it's not something that necessarily Jesus is asking us to give up or put away, but we can follow him as we have been created and made here in this world. So that's the journey that has really brought me full circle back to understanding the place of my identity as a Haudenosaunee person, but also reconciling that with my followership of Christ in Christian faith as well."
Adrian's weaving of his traditional culture with his Christian faith culminated in a unique opportunity in the midst of the Caledonia land dispute in 2006 that made national headlines. "During one of our pastors prayer meetings, a representative of Mennonite Central Committee Ontario came and talked about an opportunity for somebody to educate their 26 Mennonite churches that were in the Grand River Tract," says Adrian. "When I read that job description, I said, 'That's me! I think I could do that job.'"
Adrian successfully applied for that job with MCC educating the Mennonite churches on the history of the Grand River tract (also known as the Haldimand Tract). In 1784 the British Crown granted the land on six miles on either side of the Grand River to Six Nations as thanks for supporting the British side during the American Revolution. Over the decades and centuries, however, Canada broke their promise and sold off that land they granted to Six Nations. Today, only 5% of the original Haldimand Tract is Six Nations’.
Adrian was having lunch with Rick Hill, an Elder and traditional Knowledge Keeper at Six Nations, when Rick asked a curious question: “Do the churches pay property taxes?”
To this, Adrian responded, “No, they don’t.”
“That’s great,” said Rick. “Wouldn’t it be great if we had a spiritual covenant with the churches where they could acknowledge Six Nations jurisdiction over their church lands, they could pay a token lease payment—which was the original idea of leasing the land when we first got it in 1784—and they could continue their spiritual work and if they ever decommissioned, the land could revert back to Six Nations.”
"You claim to be the conscience of the government. Well, here's your chance to lead the way!"
The churches Adrian spoke with resonated with Rick’s terminology of “spiritual covenant,” which resonated with both traditional Haudenosaunee and Christian spirituality—a living testament to respect, responsibility and harmonious coexistence.
Pam Albrecht, a member of Stirling Avenue Mennonite Church where Adrian first presented the idea of spiritual covenant back in 2007, reflected on the growing energy to engage in this work within the Stirling over the years: “A commitment to, and a desire to move forward with reconciliation was something that felt universal for those who participated in the process.” They also grappled with the legacy of colonization, recognizing that their faith had been used to justify colonialism and the ongoing harm of colonial systems.
“My encouragement all the time to the churches [is], ‘you claim to be the conscience of the government,’” says Adrian. “Here’s your chance to lead the way! Here’s your chance to move forward with doing the right thing, and maybe the government will catch a drift that that’s possible, and maybe they should be doing that as well.”
In 2024, after years of dialogue, Stirling Avenue Mennonite Church committed to ongoing token lease payments to Six Nations, a significant and timely step toward acknowledging historical injustices. Three Mennonite Churches in Manitoba, where Adrian had also worked for years in spreading the message of spiritual covenant, also recently committed to token lease payments to local Indigenous organizations.
In June 2024, Adrian, alongside MCC staff Scott Morton Ninomiya and Laurie Warkentin, organized a Strawberry Thanksgiving and Communion event—combining both Haudenosaunee thanksgiving ceremony and Christian communion. Over 150 people from various denominations and the Six Nations community gathered, reaffirming their commitment to justice and collaboration. “It’s what Rick talked about,” reflected Adrian. “Six Nations and the churches meeting together in a place of unity, a place of pursuit of justice, tangible action being taken and celebration.”
Listen to the full story on Undercurrents here: https://mcc.org/our-stories/ep-27-spiritual-covenant-adrian-jacobs
