wfn.org | UMNS# 05126-Native Americans celebrate new Phoenix fellowship

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Native Americans celebrate new Phoenix fellowship

Mar. 1, 2005	 News media contact:   Linda  Green * (615) 7425470*
Nashville {05126}

NOTE: Photographs are available at http://umns.umc.org.

TEMPE, Ariz. (UMNS)-Seeing a growing need in the Phoenix area, a United
Methodist initiative is nurturing a new Native American congregation.

The United Methodist Native American Gathering, one of the newest
fellowships for Native Americans, has been meeting for three years. The
United Methodist Church's Native American Comprehensive Plan has played
a major role, providing the fellowship with funding support.

The new fellowship in Phoenix is one of six urban ministries funded by
the Native American Comprehensive Plan in the past five years, according
to Ann Saunkeah, the plan's executive director.

Created by the 1992 General Conference, the plan emphasizes Native
American spirituality, congregational and leadership development, and
involvement in the life of the United Methodist Church. The denomination
has more than 18,000 known Native Americans among its 8.2 million U.S.
members. Many are members within the Oklahoma Indian Missionary
Conference, but native United Methodist ministries can be found from the
tip of Florida to Alaska.

The plan is guided by a 19-member task force that held its semiannual
meeting Feb. 11-13 at the temporary site of the United Methodist Native
American Gathering in Tempe. There, the task force witnessed the work
the fellowship is doing.

"The main reason we met near the church was to come and support this
ministry and to meet some of the people and offer our support," Saunkeah
said.

The plan awarded the ministry a $25,000 grant two years ago to help it
get started, she said. The funds came from the plan's congregational
development committee, which helps new church starts. In February 2004,
the plan awarded $159,000 in grants to 11 programs for the year.

Many native ministries begin as cottage ministries and small groups, led
by a layperson and sometimes taking the form of a ministry of presence
or fellowship, Saunkeah said.

Phoenix and the surrounding area are home to several Native American
tribes as well as a growing number of Native Americans who have moved
there for employment. Native American laypeople organized the fellowship
in response, said the Rev. David Wilson, plan chairperson and
superintendent of the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference.

The fellowship meets on the campus of Cook Theological School, a
ministry of the Presbyterian Church USA. The Rev. Larry Norris, a United
Methodist clergyman, is the interim pastor and also serves as vice
president of Cook.

The congregation holds weekly church services and Bible studies, and it
has an active youth and children's group, said Betty Westin, a member of
the Creek tribe, founding member of the fellowship and certified lay
speaker. The fellowship averages about 25 people from the Phoenix area.

"Our goal is to become a church someday," Westin said. "That's what we
are working towards, but it will take more people to get it done."

Receiving funding from the plan has helped, she said. "It helped us to
get started, and it also gave us encouragement and support. The plan has
been very, very helpful by providing resources and training
opportunities for the fellowship.

"The lay persons at the church continue to be very excited about their
progress, and they were excited to have us come and have a meal with
them and to enjoy their presentation," she said. "And our members were
excited and pleased with what we saw."

"I appreciated the persistence and commitment of the current leaders in
getting the word of God out to native people in the Phoenix area," said
Carla Sineway of Grand Rapids, Mich., a Chippewa and member of the
plan's congregational development committee.

"The young people at the church ensure that the ministry will continue
to grow," she said.

The 2004 General Conference continued the Native American Comprehensive
Plan with $1.1 million in funding for 2005-2008. The money will support
efforts to:

·	strengthen existing native congregations, ministries and
fellowships, and develop new ones;
·	provide native leadership development training; and
·	strengthen contributions of native leaders, congregations and
fellowships to the denomination.

The plan also is focusing on increasing the involvement of youth and
young adults in church life during 2005-2008.

The plan's coordinating group comprises Native American representatives
from the church's five U.S. jurisdictions, Alaska Missionary Conference,
Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference, Native American International
Caucus and National United Methodist Native American Center. It also
includes a youth and a young adult.

In other business, plan members focused on projects for 2005-2008. Three
events are planned for 2005 and 2006, aimed at preparing people for
Native American ministry in the annual conference.

Regional events begin this fall to train committees on Native American
ministries in the annual conferences. The first event will be Oct.
14-15, at a location to be announced.

Native American representatives to churchwide boards and agencies will
meet July 8-10, to discuss their role in advocating for Native American
ministries.

A Native American Lay Speaking School will be Feb. 17-19, 2006, at
Scarritt-Bennett in Nashville, Tenn. The event is for Native American of
all ages interested in becoming local or certified lay speakers,
according to Saunkeah. The presenters are all Native Americans, and a
special emphasis is placed on Native American culture.

Other events include a gathering of youth and elders and a gathering of
clergy and lay Native American women.

The plan's officers for 2005-2008 are the Rev. David Wilson, Oklahoma
City, Choctaw, chairperson; Daphine Strickland, Jamestown, N.C.,
Lumbee/Tuscarora, vice chairperson; and Diana Fitzpatrick, Norman,
Okla., Ponca/Chickasaw, secretary.

The Native American Comprehensive Plan receives donations as an Advance
special (#982615) of the United Methodist Church.
# # #
This story was adapted from a press release by the Rev. David Wilson,
superintendent of the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference and
chairperson of the Native American Comprehensive Plan.
News media contact: Linda Green, (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

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United Methodist News Service
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http://umns.umc.org