Native American women answer call in different ways
Feb. 22, 2006
NOTE: "Close Up" is a UMNS special report on current issues. Photographs, audio and related stories are available at www.umc.org.
A UMNS Close Up Report By Denise Johnson Stovall*
As a United Methodist woman in ministry, Josephine Deere describes her lifetime of service and work as "a fantastic journey."
Deere, 60, works as a lay missioner for Fife Memorial United Methodist Church in Muskogee, Okla., in the denomination's Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference.
"As I look back on my journey, it is hard to mention just one or two who have been my mentors, as there are elders who continue to encourage me," Deere said. "... There are those whom the Lord has already called home."
In the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference, she has seen churches grow in numbers and become active programmatically under the leadership of women lay ministers. "You can feel the Holy Spirit working," she said.
The Rev. Lois G. Neal, a retired pastor in the conference, emphasized the importance of women answering God's call. "Women (should) accept their call because as women, we have a personal call," she said. "I tell women, 'You have your own calling to fulfill.'"
Neal and Deere have been trailblazers for Native American women in ministry, and they look forward to the day when Native American women will be more accepted as pastors and even elected into the church's highest office, that of bishop.
Lay missioner
Part of Deere's call came when she was asked to serve as a lay missioner at her local church in 2000. A lay missioner is a certified lay speaker who has been assigned to fill the pulpit by the district superintendent or the local church pastor. When she accepted the position, "there were just a few women across the conference serving as lay speakers or pastoring local churches," she said.
Interest has grown since then, and Deere said that women lay missioners outnumbered the men at a recent lay missioner seminar.
The laywomen at Fife Memorial have an active United Methodist Women organization. "The mission project that the women have undertaken is to crochet baby hats, booties and covers for Hastings Indian Hospital," Deere said. "Numerous times, new mothers don't have anything to take their newborns home in. The hospital has been very appreciative of this project."
Deere's impact has been felt beyond her congregation and conference. Eager to serve the denomination on the national level, she was elected a director of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries as well as recording secretary of the board's Women's Division.
Deere represented the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference on the Board of Global Ministries' Native American Comprehensive Plan Task Force and served as chairperson of the Denominational Presence Committee, formed to be a resource for annual conference committees on Native American ministries.
"I was able to meet a lot of people and work with numerous conferences with their committees," she said. "All of the jurisdictions now have some type of native ministries organization."
'Lonely journey'
Neal, the first clergywoman to be appointed a district superintendent of the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference, has been a mentor to Deere in the church. Neal agreed that ministry can be a "fantastic journey." But it is also "a long, lonely journey."
"In talking to Josephine, I can recall I used some Scripture about males and females having different gifts," Neal said. "I encouraged her not to give up. I emphasized commitment and sacrifice. In order to fulfill that calling, God calls people in so many different ways.
"I count it a blessing to know so many of the women in this conference, and I tell them sometimes they will have to travel that journey alone. But the sacred calling can be gratifying.
"For me, I can say (the ministry) was such a sacred call," said the retired clergywoman from her home in Shawnee, Okla. "I tell other Indian women that if I could survive at my age, other women could do it too."
A pastor's wife, Neal went to seminary education in her late 40s, when her husband died. Whether as a pastor or laywoman, she has served the church and its predecessor denominations for more than 50 years.
A native bishop
Despite the gains made by Native Americans in the church, one goal has eluded them: the election of a native person as bishop. Native American leaders have been candidates in episcopal elections in the church's U.S. jurisdictions, but so far none has been elected.
In the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference, Neal said, "It is our dream that a qualified woman can become bishop. But it is going to take time."
Bishop Ann B. Sherer, who leads the denomination's Nebraska Area, said the United Methodist Council of Bishops is aware of the growing concern by Native Americans that no one representing their ethnic group has been elected to the episcopacy.
"Diversity in the episcopacy enables a leadership team that suggests to many different communities that they are welcome in the United Methodist Church," Sherer said.
"Because we are serious about being a hospitable church, it is essential that we have a leadership team in the Council of Bishops that reflects the diversity of this nation and of the world."
Deere said she also regrets that "our church has never had a Native American bishop, male or female."
"As we look to the future of our denomination," she said, "it is the vision, dream, and hope that our denomination will embrace a Native American bishop.
"In looking at the churches in our conference, one of the biggest hurdles to overcome is simply being a woman behind the pulpit," Deere continued. "In some of our churches, it is hard to be accepted as the pastor since this has predominantly been a male position. Since my conference is strictly Native American, of course, this is where I am coming from.
"However, I do think that our churches in the total denomination need to truly embrace the (United Methodist Church's) initiative statement of 'Open Doors, Open Hearts, Open Minds' when it comes to accepting whomever God has called into the ministry, no matter (the) ethnicity or sex."
*Stovall is a freelance journalist based in Dallas.
News media contact: Linda Green, (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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