Native American dialogue points to issues of trust
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Delores
Twohatchet and her husband, Ron, participated in a Native American
Dialogue sponsored by Saint Paul School of Theology at Oklahoma City
University.
UMNS photos by Boyce Bowdon.
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By Boyce Bowdon*
August 13, 2009 | OKLAHOMA CITY (UMNS)
Churches and seminaries must acknowledge centuries of abuses against
Native Americans before they can work effectively with Indians, a
church leader said.
“Don’t say what happened then is ancient history,” said the Rev. Thom
White Wolf Fassett, former head of the United Methodist Board of Church
and Society. “Those issues are not resolved. We need to deal with the
resentment, anger and distrust that Native Americans feel.”
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The Rev. Thom White
Wolf Fassett
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Fassett spoke as part of an Aug. 8 Native American Dialogue sponsored
by St. Paul School of Theology at Oklahoma City University and the
United Methodist Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference. The Kansas
City, Mo.,-based seminary is starting its second year on the Oklahoma
City campus.
“Most seminaries do a good job preparing men and women as clergy in the
classical English tradition,” he declared, “but the classic English
manner of preaching, teaching and functioning as a pastor does not
necessarily succeed out in Indian country anywhere in the United
States.”
Fassett said church leaders in today’s world need training in conflict
resolution, mediation, economic development, congregational leadership
and transformation that will enhance their ability to relate to people
and to minister more effectively.
Commitment to the ministry
Ministry to Native Americans has always been a focus at Saint Paul,
according to its president, the Rev. Myron McCoy. “We have been
preparing persons for Native American ministry since our school began
in Kansas City,” he told about 100 people who participated in the
event. “Our first graduating class, the class of 1962, included a
Native American.”
McCoy said the dialogue provided “extremely valuable information and
insights that will help us sharpen our focus on preparing persons for
Native American ministry.”
In small-group discussions, participants shared their experiences with Native American churches and communities.
The Rev. Sharon Gomez, part-time pastor of the United Methodist church
in Apache, Okla., said her group agreed with Fassett that ministry must
be culturally relevant.
“All Indians are not alike,” she said. “In the Oklahoma Indian
Missionary Conference, we are several tribes with different histories,
cultures, traditions and ways of worshipping.
“If you listen to our elderly people, especially those who were in
boarding schools way back in history, you will hear them say they were
taught to speak, dress, worship, sing and think like white people,”
Gomez continued. “Our elders have been deceived and abused. We have
been taught that we cannot trust white people.”
Be aware of distrust
She said it is vital that seminaries be aware of this distrust, and not
be surprised if some Native Americans are apprehensive about what the
school offers.
“If representatives from Saint Paul were to come to our annual
conference sessions that would help,” added Gomez, who said she is
thankful for the seminary’s presence in Oklahoma City. “Our churches
would welcome them. But if they are going to stand on the outside and
say in a patronizing way, ‘What can we do for you?’ that will not help
them win our trust.”
Delores Twohatchet, the daughter of a Methodist minister and a former
high school counselor and English teacher, now directs higher education
for the Comanche Nation. Her small group agreed that the dialogue event
was “a good start” in building trust, she said. But it was only a start.
“I want to be able to refer students to come here who are interested in
becoming United Methodist pastors,” she said. “But to offer a good
solid education, the school will have to be committed to having native
professors with doctorates in the fields they teach. They must show us
they care about us and have a real commitment to Native American
theological education.”
Elaine Robinson, academic dean of Saint Paul’s program at Oklahoma City
University, noted that when persons of a dominant culture decide what
someone else needs, what is created won’t meet the real needs.
“That’s why this dialogue helps us,” she said. “What we heard will have
an impact on what we teach and how we teach. It will help us develop
the kind of theological education that does something good for God’s
people and God’s reign on earth.”
*Bowdon is a freelance writer in Oklahoma City and former director of communications for the Oklahoma Conference.
News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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Resources
Saint Paul School of Theology
Saint Paul at Oklahoma City
Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference
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