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“Dr. Axworthy, I presume?”
With these words I greeted the Hon. Lloyd Axworthy—former Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs and a towering figure in Canadian public life—whom I found wandering the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg. He was looking for the Our Whole Society conference, hosted by the Canadian Interfaith Conversation, where he was slated to deliver the afternoon keynote. As one of the conference organizers, I had the privilege of introducing him, and so I was glad for this chance to chat informally with him first.
In the days leading up to the event, I had been working my way through his recently published (and, let’s be honest, somewhat plainly titled) memoir, Lloyd Axworthy: My Life in Politics. As someone who lives and breathes political history, I was absorbed by his reflections on Canadian politics and global affairs in the 1980s and ’90s. (On the international stage, Axworthy is perhaps best known for his leadership in advancing human security and peacebuilding—most notably through his role in creating the Ottawa Treaty to ban landmines, a landmark achievement in global disarmament and humanitarian action.)
But what truly stood out for me were the roots of Axworthy’s public service, which he attributes to his deep formation in the Social Gospel tradition, thanks to the pastoral care of Reverends Lois and Roy Wilson at Atlantic Avenue United Church in Winnipeg.
The Wilsons espoused the tenets of the Social Gospel—a Christian movement based not only on personal faith but also on social reform,” Axworthy writes. “It was a compelling message for me growing up in the North End of Winnipeg ... with its diverse populations of working-class families, pockets of poverty, and newcomers mainly from Eastern Europe.” (p. 16)
During his keynote, Axworthy spoke about how the world’s faith communities can and must work together in humility to weave a resilient social fabric. This is the kind of faith he learned from the Wilsons: a faith that acts, that heals, that persists, even when past efforts have fallen short.
“Faith,” he said, “is not a spectator sport.”
This, I submit, is the very faith we are called to keep today.
As I write these words, people in the United States and throughout the world have just witnessed the passage of a budget reconciliation bill that runs contrary to every value Lloyd Axworthy and the Social Gospel stand for. Rather than healing the sick, it guts Medicaid. Rather than feeding hungry schoolchildren, it slashes lunch programs. Rather than welcoming the stranger, it pours billions into expanding detention infrastructure (concentration camps in all but name), staffed by a militarized force tasked with keeping them full of those who have been unfairly scapegoated.
And these injustices are paraded as the sole “Christian” political option.
Axworthy’s life and legacy remind us that there is another way—a politics of hope rooted in humility and the desire to serve, as opposed to arrogance and the lust for power. This alternative vision of public life is not about domination. It’s about compassion. It’s about building a society where dignity is shared, not hoarded; where faith is lived out through justice, not preserved through cruelty.
As I read the scriptures of my Christian tradition, this is the faith I find described. This is the calling I hear.
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Before he left the conference, Dr. Axworthy signed my copy of his book with these words:
“To Ron Kuipers, my best wishes. Thanks for the great ‘intro’. Keep the faith.”
Those last three words are deceptively simple yet represent a mountain of meaning. Let us strive to honour them, friends, for we are not allowed the luxury of giving up.
Shalom!
Ron Kuipers
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