Land Acknowledgement for First Congregational Church of Bellingham
Presented on July 14, 2024
We are gathered on the traditional homeland of the Coast Salish People.
This land was taken by force through the Point Elliot Treaty of 1855.
We recognize that the systematic, genocidal campaigns perpetuated by governments, churches, and colonizers led to the forceful removal of Indigenous People from their land across North America.
We hold in esteem the strong and resilient sovereign nations that have survived the violent dispossession of their homelands resulting in ethnic cleansing. We acknowledge, with humility, that these acts are directly tied to the health and economic disparities that exist today.
We offer our deepest respect and gratitude for our Indigenous neighbors, the Lhaq'temish (Lummi Nation) and the Noxwsʼáʔaq (Nooksack Tribe), for their enduring care and protection of our shared lands, waterways and the animals that depend on them.
As a Christian community, we are called by God to take action to repair our relationships with tribal nations and to support efforts by tribes for repatriation, sovereignty, and stewardship of the land.
