By Bill Fentum*
Feb. 20, 2008 | FORT WORTH, Texas. (UMNS)

The Rev. Chebon Kernell was raised in two spiritual worlds that some people say have little in common.

He’s a lifelong United Methodist who responded to a call to Christian ministry at age 17. And he’s a Seminole Native American, no stranger to the ceremonial traditions of his ancestors.

"As a minister," he said, "I’ve wondered where to draw the line between the two—or whether it should even be drawn."

That issue and others faced by Native Americans in The United Methodist Church were analyzed Feb. 16 at a "listening post" hosted by the denomination’s Native American Comprehensive Plan.

Kernell, pastor of First American United Methodist Church in Norman, Okla., was among 24 clergy and laypeople invited. Participants spent two hours in small group sessions, sharing stories of evangelism in Native communities.

The Native American Comprehensive Plan, one of five racial-ethnic plans administered by the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, plans to hold similar gatherings across the United States during the next three years. Information collected from the talks will be used to plan a Native American School of Evangelism event sometime between 2009-2012.

Mistrust of the church

No more than 6 percent of the 2.7 million Native Americans in the United States identify themselves as Christian––a statistic often blamed on mistrust of the church.

Mission schools operated on Indian reservations from the late 1800s through the first half of the 20th century, many of them founded by Methodists. Children were forced to adopt Anglo-European culture, abandon their tribal languages and convert to Christianity.

Some participants at the listening post talked about other Native religious traditions that thrive in communities where mainline churches don't.

"They attract larger numbers of young people," said the Rev. David Wilson, chairman of the plan's task force and superintendent of the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference. "That’s partly because those settings celebrate who they are as Native people. Our (United Methodist) church hasn’t always affirmed that."

John Shotton, a member of the First American United Methodist congregation and council chairman of the Otoe-Missouria tribe, said in a keynote address that effective Christian evangelism among Native Americans must start with rebuilding trust––often taking at least two or three years of tireless effort.

Shotton told participants about Jimmy Kenner, a white Baptist preacher from Kentucky who moved to Red Rock, Okla., several years ago to lead a Native church.

"At first," he said, "Brother Jimmy stood out like a sore thumb. But he started going to tribal funerals, even when he wasn’t invited, to show respect. He embraced tribal leadership and told them, 'I understand that you have your own worship style, but I’m here if you need me.'"

That turned the key, Shotton said. Since then, attendance and activity at the Red Rock church has picked up, and Kenner has been asked to officiate at some funerals.

A spiritual people

"We’ve always been a spiritual people," said the Rev. Wil Brown, a member of the Kiowa and Acoma tribes and former director of Native American Ministries for the American Baptist Church. "The task isn’t to introduce God, but to introduce Jesus Christ in a way that isn’t offensive to Native people. It’s a hard nut to crack."

Brown was one of several people outside The United Methodist Church who attended the Fort Worth event. Organizers hope also to draw participants from the Native American Church at future sessions.

Unemployment runs as high as 75 percent on some Native reservations, where high rates of depression, substance abuse and suicide also are reported. During the small group meetings, several people attributed those problems to a lack of pride in Native heritage.

"Each culture God created has something to contribute," said the Rev. Christine Eastwood, pastor of Pickett Chapel United Methodist Church in Sapulpa, Okla.

"God affirmed all cultures on the day of Pentecost, but that got pushed aside. We need to regain it. People shouldn’t have to sacrifice their identity, or feel ashamed of it."

Funding ministries

Native American United Methodists in the Texas Annual (regional) Conference hold worship services on the third Sunday evening of each month at Shepherd Drive Fellowship, a ministry of Memorial Drive United Methodist Church in Houston. They also host an annual Houston Methodist powwow, a social event celebrating Native heritage with music, storytelling and tribal dances.

"We hope to start a fully functional Native church," said Glenna Brayton, who chairs the conference’s Committee on Native American Ministries. "But our immediate goal is just to survive. We’re trying to run an $80,000 ministry on a $6,000 budget."

Brayton said the committee gets most of its funding through the denomination’s Native American Ministries Sunday, planned this year for April 6. However, out of 715 churches in the Texas Conference, only 91 contributed in 2007.

Some "listening post" participants said their congregations would be forced to shut down without help from non-members and local businesses.

"Five whole people are actual members in one of my fellowships," said the Rev. Julianne Judd, a pastor in the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference. "But another 175 people drop in every month or so, and when we’re in need, they’ve been there for us."

More help has come when she least expected it.

When Native American congregations have to disband for lack of support, members aren’t likely to stay in the denomination, said Judd. "The reality is that they’ll find another Native church to go to, whether it’s Baptist, Presbyterian or Catholic," she said. "They’re going to find another gathering of Native people that will let them to be who they are."

Telling our story

The comprehensive plan's task force met the day before the listening post to plan projects for 2008. Those include a Sept. 19-21 Native American Women in Ministry conference and an October followup to a Native writers’ workshop held in 2007.

Last October's writers' workshop, held at the Post Oak Lodge in Tulsa, Okla., encouraged participants to express their Christian faith in creeds, poetry, responsive readings and short stories. Organizers hope to attract youth and young adult writers to the event.

"There are very few Native writers in society at large, even fewer within the Christian setting and even fewer Methodist," said the Rev. Anita Phillips, a Cherokee and the plan's executive director. "We’re still very much an oral people."

The plan's task force seeks to publish a second edition of Voices, a Native American worship guide first released in 1999. The revision would include contributions from the workshop participants.

*Fentum is a staff writer for the United Methodist Reporter.

News media contact: Linda Green, (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

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Resources

Native American Comprehensive Plan

Native American Ministries Sunday

Native Americans and United Methodism

United Methodist Board of Discipleship