wfn.org | Congregation focuses on Portland's Native Americans

["NewsDesk" <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Feb. 10, 2004 News media contact: Linda Green 7 (615)742-5470 7 Nashville,
Tenn. 7 E-mail: newsdesk@umcom.org 7 ALL-NA {051}

NOTE: A photograph and sidebar, UMNS story #052, are available at
umns.umc.org.

By United Methodist News Service*

A United Methodist Church located at the center of where Native Americans in
Portland, Ore., live and work has decided that ministry begins at home.

The 60-member Wilshire United Methodist Church wanted to reach out to the
Native Americans in the community, so the congregation worked with the
denomination's Native American Comprehensive Plan for two years to develop a
native ministry.  

"Our congregation was already looking for a new focus, and we were the church
that had the most interest in Native American ministry," said the Rev. Lois
Wagner, Wilshire pastor.

Nearly 250 tribes - and more than half of Oregon's native population - are in
the Greater Portland area, she said. That fact compelled the Native American
Comprehensive Plan to give the Wilshire church a $8,300 grant to start an
urban native ministry.

"I went to the church to ask that they consider their ministry outwardly and
found them to be ready," said the Rev. Minerva Carcano, Metropolitan district
superintendent.  "They found a native ministry as the answer to their
prayers. They had been asking God for a vision for their ministry, and they
felt that this was it.

"This conference (Oregon-Idaho) has a commitment to becoming as diverse as
the population that we serve and we cannot do that without reaching out in
ministry to Native Americans. It has been exciting that God has opened the
doors. When we open the doors as well as our hearts and minds, God makes
ministry possible in exciting and new ways. He brings the church back to
life," Carcano said.

The Portland area ministry at the Wilshire church is the fifth Native
American urban ministry the plan has helped develop in the past four years.
The plan has provided consulting and financial support for urban ministries
in Albuquerque, N.M., Phoenix, and Greensboro and Raleigh, N.C. It has helped
develop new church/fellowship starts, assisted in cooperative ministries,
strengthened children's programs and developed young leaders.  

"Our goal is not to go to these annual conferences to tell them what to do,
but rather offer our assistance," said Ann Saunkeah, the plan's executive
director, based in Tulsa, Okla.  "Since approximately 65 percent of Native
Americans live in urban areas, the statistics are a reminder of the
importance of developing urban ministry across the church."

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.

The $8,300 grant will enable the ministry at Wilshire to connect with other
native groups in the area, provide a meeting space, support a Native American
Parent Group through child care and enhance the church's involvement with
Native American campus ministry in the area, as well as support the Native
American Youth organization.

Wagner, who is Anglo, said she has been surprised at how widely she has been
accepted by native groups in the area. "I had some hesitancy to attend these
meetings since I am Anglo, and I tried to be careful and not jump in," she
said. Because of her attendance at various Native American functions and
gatherings, native people have become interested and intrigued with what is
happening with Wilshire's ministry, she said.

"Right now, the ministry is integrated with the congregation at Wilshire
because that is what the Native Americans at the church wanted," she said.
"The Native Americans present and involved said they wanted to be a part of
the whole church."

The native ministry is important to the Portland area because it is a place
where native persons can gather and not be put down for their culture, said
Ed Edmo, a ministry member. "We can cook our own native foods, enjoy
fellowship and sing our songs."  

In addition to the weekly gatherings, the Native American ministry has a
fifth Sunday service, where members meet for worship, fellowship and food,
all provided from a native perspective, Edmo said. "The church allows us to
do it our way. It might take a while to get the numbers, but the feeling is
good."

The Native American Comprehensive Plan's task force held its semi-annual
meeting in Portland, Jan. 29-30, and had an opportunity to see the results of
its funding.

"We witnessed a Native American community that has realized that the United
Methodist Church truly does have open doors, open hearts and open minds,"
Saunkeah said. "Our funding of this ministry demonstrates to both Portland's
Native Americans and the Wilshire congregation that ministry begins at home."
# # #
*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.

 
 

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United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org