Native Americans establish congregational development fellowship
8/17/1998 News media contact: Linda Green · (615) 742-5470 · Nashville, Tenn
BUFFALO, N.Y. (UMNS) - The governing members of the churchwide plan for United Methodist Native American ministries have established a fellowship aimed at helping develop new Native American congregations.
At their Aug. 13-16 meeting, the 22 board members of the Native American Comprehensive Plan approved a $30,000 fellowship for a native person to research and develop new Native American congregations and to revitalize existing ones. The fellowship will begin in 1999 and will fund work at a United Methodist-related institution.
The Native American Comprehensive Plan emphasizes congregational and leadership development, Native American spirituality and native involvement in the total life of the United Methodist Church. The task force's mission is to help United Methodists no longer view Native Americans as a mission of the church but as partners in ministry. The church's General Conference, its top lawmaking body, mandated the plan in 1992 and continued it in 1996.
The United Methodist Church has done much to train native people in forms of congregational development, but there has been a missing link, according to the Rev. Sam Wynn, comprehensive plan chairman. "The church's training has not been culturally sensitive to the concerns of grass roots native people in the Christian faith."
Areas where greater sensitivity is needed include:
· how to do evangelism to native people;
· how to establish ministries with youth;
· how to present the gospel to people with appreciation for their identity and integrity;
· how to address policy and governance in the life of the church.
Native-oriented congregations are essential because "the church historically has tried to impose on Native Americans a Western European understanding of what it means to be Christian while forgetting about the cultural differences of native people," Wynn said. In addition to cultural differences, Wynn said, there also are tribal distinctions that need sensitivity and affirmation.
There is an increasing need for outreach to traditional Native Americans who have "been excluded" by the Native American Christians, said the Rev. Alvin Deere, executive director of the Native American International Caucus in Oklahoma City. He wants to see the research that will be compiled used to open dialogue of "the commonalties between Native American spirituality and Christianity."
In other actions, plan members voted to strongly urge the church, through the United Methodist Council on Ministries, to keep the Native American Awareness Sunday as one of the denomination's "special Sundays," to provide opportunities to educate United Methodist churches on Native American ministries.
If the joint committee of the General Council on Ministries and Finance and Administration decides to recommend that the denomination eliminate Native Awareness Sunday at the 2000 General Conference, "we ask that the present monies, including prior claim monies, be included in the world service monies for Native American ministries," said the Rev. Billie Nowabbi, of Okmulgee, Okla., and chairwoman of the plan's congregational development component,
Plans for two events that will enhance ministries to native people and affect them in life-changing ways also were developed further.
A national symposium on AIDS in the Native American community will be held Oct. 15-17 in Oklahoma City. The conference will help Native American pastors and lay people develop skills in dealing with AIDS patients and their families, allow personal testimonies of Native American AIDS/HIV victims and develop a network for sharing resources.
Five states -- Oklahoma, Alaska, Arizona, Washington and California -- have heavy Native American populations affected by AIDS and HIV, according to the Rev. David Wilson, leadership committee chairman and staff member of the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference.
"We hope this symposium will educate Native American people about the effects of AIDS in our committees," Wilson said.
A national meeting to benefit chairpersons, committee members and conference staff people of Native American ministries will be held April 30-May 2 in Tulsa, Okla. The conference, "Linking the Past to the Present -- Looking to the Future," will focus on strategizing about where native people will be after the year 2000.
Comprehensive plan members also:
· recommended the continuation of the Native American Comprehensive Plan into the 2001-2004 qaudrennium;
· voted to encourage the churchwide program agencies to begin incorporating money into their budgets to help undergird the ministries of the Native American Comprehensive Plan for the next quadrennium;
· developed priorities of ministry for the next four years;
· agreed that 1998 is the third and last year the plan will provide funding to the Northern Arizona Native American Ministry;
· agreed to providing funding for a Native American Film Resources Library that will be networked through Ecufilm and will become a churchwide resource on native people;
· set Feb. 4-7, 1999 in Charlotte, N.C., for their next meeting;
· set the fourth quarter of 1999 for a national Native American Lay Speaking School;
· set the last quarter of 2000 for a Native American School of Evangelism; and
· visited Four Corners United Methodist Church, a Native American congregation on the Cattaraugus reservation in the Gowanda area, south of Buffalo.
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