I have some thoughts swirling around in my head that I wanted to share. There’s a sweet conundrum Luis and I are facing as domestic full-time workers – and it has little (surprisingly!) to do with finances. The question that repeatedly comes up is “How is what you are doing different than ‘regular’ church ministry?”
In talking to Luis about how to communicate what I was thinking, I feared I was being too melodramatic and intense. But then I was reminded I can’t “whitewash” the truth of what has happened to Native communities to make it more palatable for believers. And so if this comes across as intense, it’s because it is intense.
Historically, Indigenous people have been looked at as savages. American’s tried to “kill the Indian out but leave the man.” American’s ripped the language and the culture away from the Native communities. They tore families apart, and the most horrendous abuse and cultural genocide happened in the name of God. This isn’t some far back history. This was happening even just 50 years ago. There are people alive today that experienced some of the most atrocious acts imaginable. Our own Yakama Nation holds Fort Simcoe which was one of those boarding schools aimed at forcing the Indian out of the child.
Christians are not well received in most Native communities. The American government has not kept one single promise to the Native communities. It is no shock that Native people don’t trust the White Man.
Christians have shoved a white-washed Gospel down the throats of Native people for centuries. Demeaning their culture and way of life. American’s regularly refuse to acknowledge that these Native communities are Sovereign Nations: with their own laws, governments, languages and culture.
As Foursquare workers, we acknowledge the heartbreak of the past and want to work to restore relationships with Christians and the Yakama Nation. We want to show through our actions and kept promises, that Jesus loves them and that Jesus calls them to Himself as they are. He doesn’t want to beat the Indian out and leave a white man. God created the Yakama people to worship Him in their unique way. God wants this nation for Himself.
So herein lies the question, why is what we are doing on the reservation missions? Workers are sent to a place where there isn’t a church. While there are many good and healthy churches in the area, there is not yet a Foursquare church that reflects those of the Yakama Nation. Our assignment is to bring Jesus to the people here and make disciples. This disciple-making process will naturally lead to a church planting movement on the reservation, and we dream of one day seeing an expression of the Church — which is uniquely Yakama and spoken in their language.
Elizabeth Horn 