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Native Americans seek audience with Council of Bishops

Oct. 10, 2005

By David Wilson*

ARLINGTON, Va. (UMNS) — As the National Museum of the American Indian celebrated its first anniversary, Native American United Methodists met in the area to discuss promoting the native presence in the denomination.

Directors of the United Methodist Church’s Native American Comprehensive Plan toured the museum during their Sept. 23-24 meeting in Arlington. While the museum speaks of the presence and contributions of Native Americans to the world, the plan speaks to their presence and contributions to the United Methodist Church, said Ann A. Saunkeah, the plan’s executive director in Tulsa, Okla.

Concerned about the lack of understanding across the church about the progress and challenges in Native American ministry, directors of the plan’s guiding task force decided to seek an audience with the United Methodist Council of Bishops in 2006 to present a “State of Native Americans Ministries” address.

“The Council of Bishops is a body that advocates for all across the church, and it is our hope that they can help prepare and educate the church at large concerning native ministry,” said Jean Norwood of Millsboro, Del.

“There is much for the general church to learn, and it is our hope that the council will allow us time to help them understand more about our ministries,” she said.

During the Arlington meeting, the 19-member task force also discussed events that are being developed through 2008. The coordinating group comprises Native American representatives from the church’s five U.S. jurisdictions, the Alaska Missionary Conference, the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference, the Native American International Caucus and the National United Methodist Native American Center. The group also includes a youth and a young adult, key players in the plan’s focus to increase the involvement of those demographic groups in church life during 2005-08.

Created by the denomination’s legislative assembly in 1992, the plan emphasizes Native American spirituality, congregational and leadership development, and involvement in the life of the church. The United Methodist Church has 19,000 Native Americans among its 8.3 million U.S. members, and nearly 63 percent live in urban areas. The denomination has more than 200 Native American churches, ministries and fellowships in the country, and 30 are in urban areas.

“We are not a mission, we are in ministry in the United Methodist Church,” Saunkeah said. “We have models and resources to offer to the general church, and we are anxious to share those models and resources with others.

“We have a lot to offer to the church at large,” she said. “... I think the general church needs to revisit and look at how Native American small churches function, especially how we nurture and build community. The church needs that kind of model, and we have those successful models.”

One of those models is the relationship and nurturing of elders and young people, who have always been an integral and important part of the life of native peoples, Saunkeah said. “Our elders have prepared and trained younger people in the local church, and that is very important to our lives.”

Task force members also made plans for upcoming events that include training members of committees on Native American ministries in annual conferences. The training will prepare committee members — many of whom are not Native Americans — to assist in and strengthen Native American ministry in the annual conference.

The plan’s directors also voted to meet only once a year in order to be better stewards of the denomination’s funds, and it will extend its yearly meeting an additional day. The 2006 NACP meeting will be in September in Oklahoma City.

Additional business included:

  • Finalizing plans for an Oct. 21-22 committee training on Native Ministry in Nashville, Tenn.
  • Planning the third Native American Lay Speakers School, scheduled for 2006 at the Scarritt-Bennett Center in Nashville. Beginning and advanced courses will be available and taught by Native Americans from across the church.
  • Providing funding for transportation assistance for 10 youth and young adults to attend Exploration 2006 in Jacksonville, Fla.
  • Planning a gathering of Native American clergy and laywomen in 2007.

*This story was adapted from a press release by the Rev. David Wilson, superintendent of the Oklahoma Missionary Conference and president of the Native American Comprehensive Plan.

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

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Resources

Native American Comprehensive Plan

Native Americans and John Wesley

Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference

National Museum of the American Indian