The Holy Spirit and the Eagle Feather: The Struggle for Indigenous Pentecostalism in Canada(16 Advancing Studies in Religion)

Pentecostalism is one of the fastest-growing religious movements in the world. In Canada, it is the most rapidly growing Christian group among Indigenous people, with approximately one in ten Pentecostals in the country being Indigenous. Pentecostalism has become a religious force in many Indigenous communities, where congregations are most often led by Indigenous ministers – an achievement that took many decades. The Holy Spirit and the Eagle Feather traces the development of Indigenous Pentecostalism in Canada. Exploring the history of twentieth-century missionization, with particular attention to the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada’s Northland Mission, founded in 1943, Aaron Ross shows how the denomination’s Euro-Canadian leaders, who believed themselves to be supporters of Indigenous-led churches, struggled to relinquish control of mission management and finances. Drawing on interviews with contemporary figures in the movement, he describes how Indigenous Pentecostals would come to challenge the mission’s eurocentrism over decades, eventually entering positions of leadership in the church. This process required them to confront the painful vestiges of colonialism and to grapple with the different philosophies and theologies of Pentecostalism and Indigenous traditional spiritualities. In doing so they indigenized the movement and forged a new identity, as Indigenous and Pentecostal. Indigenous Pentecostals now occupy key roles in the church and serve as political, cultural, and economic leaders in their communities. The Holy Spirit and the Eagle Feather tells the story of how they overcame the church’s colonial impulses to become religious leaders, as well as agents for decolonization and reconciliation.

About the Author :
Aaron A.M. Ross is lead pastor at Richmond Pentecostal Church in British Columbia.

Review :
“The Holy Spirit and the Eagle Feather is an impressively thorough history that importantly fills out the historical record on the spread of Pentecostalism through local Indigenous communities in northern Ontario while simultaneously connecting the local histories to a larger religious shift across North America. The book is well written, engaging, and filled with information only recorded in hard-to-access archives, until now.” Kimberly Marshall, University of Oklahoma and author of Upward, Not Sunwise: Resonant Rupture in Navajo Neo-Pentecostalism “The Holy Spirit and the Eagle Feather is a well-researched historical treatise of Pentecostalism among First Peoples, Nations, and bands in Canada. Once you have begun reading this book, you will be unable to put it down! The author’s ‘quiet voice’ has relevance and immediacy to the challenges of Canada. Truth never changes, but it must be packaged culturally and generationally to make it relevant with knowledge that is consistent with reality. Combining insight and foresight, Aaron Ross not only perceives tendencies common to cross-cultural workers, he is able to pinpoint those meanings for the reader. His work will retain a lasting validity that can be studied, and restudied.” Rev. John E. Thohate Maracle (Mohawk Wolf Clan), Former Chief of the Native American Fellowship of the Assemblies of God USA “Ross very skillfully dissects and explains the complex and changing relationship between Canadian Pentecostal settlers and Indigenous peoples. I cannot recommend this book too highly. … The Holy Spirit and the Eagle Feather successfully answers Michael Wilkinson’s tireless call for Canadian Pentecostal scholars to shift their insular emphasis from the well-travelled areas of settler theology, education and history to the less-visited corners, closets and maybe even cellars of the Canadian Pentecostal experience.” Faith Today "A book like this was long overdue! It is a challenge to do justice to a review of The Holy Spirit and the Eagle Feather because of the important contribution of its historical value and its critical interrogation of the legacy of colonization in the missionary work of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC) with Indigenous peoples. At heart, this book celebrates the uniqueness of Indigenous Pentecostalism, a Pentecostalism that remains deeply Indigenous in its character, even as it wrestles with the colonial legacy of Pentecostal missions to Indigenous peoples." Journal of Religious History "The Holy Spirit and the Eagle Feather makes crucial contributions to our knowledge of the Canadian experience, provides an engaging narrative account, and offers deft refinements for our understanding of how to methodologically interpret the Euro-Christian–Indigenous encounter. It should be of pressing interest for any scholars of Canadian religious history, scholars of Pentecostalism, and anyone interested in Indigenous Christianity." Studies in Religion / Sciences Religieuses “Ross’s book had its genesis in the 2012 letter of apology, forgiveness and reconciliation issued by the leadership of the PAOC and responded to by its Aboriginal Ministries Guiding Group (successor to the NLM). It has been a mission of love in which he engages in re-missionizing his own denomination to a better understanding of its historical relations with the Indigenous people whom the Northland Mission set out to reach. The book he has written addresses most if not all the points of apology by fleshing out what really happened, what was done wrong, and why it was done the way it was. Therein lies both the importance of this book and Aaron Ross’s courage in writing it.” The British Columbia Review “This book is an unusual contribution to studies of Pentecostalism because it digs deep into an abundant archive kept by missionaries from outside…. Its undoubted merit is the insight it provides into the mindsets of those missionaries and their bureaucratic burdens … [A]n underlying conviction filters through the author’s carefully balanced style, namely that – with the usual proviso about good intentions – this Canadian Pentecostal church did not, perhaps could not, succeed in untying or sundering the convoluted knots which bind the aboriginals and Euro-Canadians of Northern Ontario to one another.” Religion “[The Holy Spirit and the Eagle Feather] digs deep into an abundant archive kept by missionaries from outside … . An underlying conviction filters through the author’s carefully balanced style, namely that – with the usual proviso about good intentions – this Canadian Pentecostal church did not, perhaps could not, succeed in untying or sundering the convoluted knots which bind the aboriginals and Euro-Canadians of Northern Ontario to one another.” Religion “Ross’s book had its genesis in the 2012 letter of apology, forgiveness and reconciliation issued by the leadership of the PAOC and responded to by its Aboriginal Ministries Guiding Group (successor to the NLM). It has been a mission of love in which he engages in re-missionizing his own denomination to a better understanding of its historical relations with the Indigenous people whom the Northland Mission set out to reach. The book he has written addresses most if not all the points of apology by fleshing out what really happened, what was done wrong, and why it was done the way it was. Therein lies both the importance of this book and Aaron Ross’s courage in writing it.” The British Columbia Review “With thorough, detailed, systematic historical documentation throughout, the book is important and perhaps even seminal in its contribution to research [and] may be the first work to explore the topic of indigenous Pentecostal ministry.” Pneuma