Missionaries to Native Americans Face Many Challenges

"Picture in your mind's eye Apache souls dangling on the edge of eternity. The situation is desperate. Laborers in this harvest come before the Lord burdened with heavy hearts, having witnessed ... emptiness, yearning, anger, escape, drunkenness, overdose, jail time, divorce, revenge, and heartache. The vicious cycle of a life without Christ is merely a slow suicide. Does anyone care?" ask Scott and Kathy Murphy of the Regeneration Reservation in Fort Thomas, Ariz.

Thankfully, yes. Many do care. A number of Christian organizations devote their time and resources to serving Native Americans in North and South America. AmeriTribes, American Indian Bible Ministries, Native Harvest, and Flagstaff Mission to the Navajo are just a few of the Christian organizations reaching out to tribal people.

There are 2.5 million American Indians and some 550 different tribes in the United States alone, says Huron Claus, president of CHIEF (Christian Hope Indian Eskimo Fellowship) ministries. The Canadian government reports another 800,000 First Nations (indigenous) people within its borders.

Reaching native people presents a series of challenges. First, in the eyes of many, Christianity has been seen as the white man's religion, says Claus, himself a Native American. "As a result, we've had the gospel for 500 years, yet less than 8 percent of our Native people are believers in the Lord."

According to NNM - the Native Ministry division of the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board - many tribal members interpret Christian evangelistic efforts to mean they must give up the heritage that is so sacred to them. In other words, most tribal people believe they have to stop being Native American in order to be a Christian. Because of this misconception, the gospel message is often met with a cold reception.

The most effective means of sharing the gospel in a Native American context, according to NNM, is for Native American believers who have come to trust Jesus as their personal Savior to tell people in their own tribal context how Jesus has made a difference in their lives.

Another challenge, according to Claus, is the number of social issues crying to be addressed. The suicide rate among Native Americans is four times greater than the national average, Claus says. "When we go and minister to Native communities, that is probably the No. 1 issue. I know I've talked with one individual from Alaska who is a leader in a Christian ministry there, and he has lost five members in his family through suicide. As awful as that sounds, you find that in a lot of Native people's lives." Alcoholism and gambling are also prevalent, he adds.

A common misperception, Claus continues, is that when people think of Native ministries, they think of reservation ministries. More than 73 percent of the Native population now lives in cities, yet 90 percent of Native ministries are still directed toward reservations. "It's a shift that really needs to take place," says Claus. "We work with a number of organizations in trying to change that pattern."

Los Angeles has the largest Native American population in the United States, with over 100,000 people. But there are only four Native churches, serving a total of 1,000 Native people. That leaves about 99,000 people to reach, says Claus. Phoenix has the second largest Native population. The city's five to seven Native churches minister to a total of 1,500, leaving 90 percent of Native people to be reached.

When Claus' father, Tom, founded CHIEF, his motivating vision was to see an effective Christian witness in every Native American tribe. CHIEF's focus is in developing a strong indigenous church, through evangelism, outreach, discipleship and providing practical help for personal needs.

"Really," says Huron Claus, "the strong emphasis is on discipleship and leadership training. We had one of the first discipleship training centers in the country in 1986. Now we network with about 3,000 Native churches."

Claus emphasizes that discipleship is a key issue in the church. The average Native church has from 20 to 40 members. "On a number of reservations, people have heard the gospel, and they may have made a profession of Christ, but the follow-up is really lacking."

The most controversial issue in the Native church today, according to Claus, is the use of cultural articles in worship. "It is causing division within the church. Many Native American Christians are wondering, 'What can we redeem or blend for the glory of God and can we do that?'" The positive result, according to Claus, is that it has challenged church leaders to go to Scripture.

Tom Claus adds: "Our Native people are a quiet people, but if they are taught the power of prayer and the power of the Holy Spirit, they will go to their families, tribes and nations and speak boldly the Word of God. Then, our evangelism strategies will be effective not only in the location where we live, but in all the Native villages, reservations, cities and even to the remotest tribes and nations of the world."

On the Reservation

Ann Murphy and her son, Scott, began working with the Navajo people in 1969. They worked with a missionary team to establish a Baptist church and Christian school in a remote area of a reservation at Round Rock. After eight years of ministry to the Navajo, they helped pioneer a new work among the San Carlos Apache, who were yet without a fundamental gospel witness.

When evangelist Lester Roloff visited Ann and Scott and preached on the San Carlos Apache Reservation for the first time, he witnessed sin's devastating effects upon the people. He felt that the Native Americans desperately needed a "regeneration reservation," instead of the failed programs that the government had established.

He used the name "Regeneration Reservation" as he began to travel and challenge God's people with the need to establish this work. A few months before his death in 1982, Roloff put a down payment on 70 acres of Arizona desert with the desire to see a work established that would effectively bring the gospel to the Native American people and disciple them for Christian service.

In 1986, Scott and his wife, Kathy, established Regeneration Baptist Church. Scott, Kathy and Ann now work together with staff with a goal of reaching the Native Americans with the gospel and then training them to minister to their own people.

Their outreach ministry on the Indian reservation includes preaching in older adult center services, backyard Bible clubs, wakes, tribal jail ministry, and detox center services. Each of these outreach opportunities is different. For instance, the services in the jail give workers exposure to a cross-section of the community. They provide extended contact with individuals at a time of struggle and enable relationship building. Church services and family retreats at the Regeneration Reservation enable staff to disciple families.

"Our vision at Regeneration Reservation is to reach and disciple Native Americans for the ministry of the gospel and also to assist in the training of missionary candidates who share our vision of facilitating Native, indigenous leadership in the local church. Ultimately, the Indian people must realize that Christianity is not a white man's religion, nor is the propagation of the gospel to their people best accomplished by outsiders," says Scott Murphy.

Church Outreach

In addition to independent ministries, a number of denominations claim a legacy of outreach to Native Americans. The Church of God, Mennonite, Brethren, and Reformed Church of America denominations each serve, plant churches and evangelize in the Native mission field.

Southern Baptists have been involved in carrying the gospel to American Indians and First Nations people for more than 150 years. There are now approximately 700 Native American Southern Baptist churches across North America.

The NNM (Southern Baptist outreach) Web site states: "Ironically, the majority of our works are on reservation settings while up to 70 percent of these people reside within our cities and urban areas. While we are, in fact, among the most effective evangelical organizations in reaching numbers of Native American people, we cannot be complacent or satisfied with the amount or quality of our ministry. Our work has just begun, and there is much left to do."

The Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA) has for over 70 years shared the message of Jesus Christ with the Native people of the United States. Brent and Lisa Liberda serve as C&MA missionaries to the Pueblo Indians in northern New Mexico.

According to Brent Liberda, "Historically, the Pueblo people have not had the true gospel presented to them in a way that could be understood from their own cultural frame of reference. The Christian message is about divine power for inner spiritual transformation. It is not about a white man's God."

Liberda adds, "The gospel of Christ to the Pueblo Indian is all about becoming completely Pueblo Indian, completely whole people, the people God intended them to be, all the while doing this within the cultural world in which they were created, according to their own particular needs, according to their potential in God's sight, which is nothing less than the power of God to save."