RESOURCES
First Nations Version: An Indigenous Translation of the New Testament
by Terry M. Wildman and First Nations Version Translation Council
Many First Nations tribes communicate with their original tongues’ cultural and linguistic thought patterns. The First Nations Version (FNV) recounts the Creator’s Story―the Christian Scriptures―following Native storytellers’ oral cultures. With its simple yet profound beauty and rich cultural idioms, this way of speaking still resonates in the hearts of First Nations people.
The FNV is a dynamic equivalence translation that captures the simplicity, clarity, and beauty of Native storytellers in English while remaining faithful to the original language of the New Testament. Whether you are Native or not, you will experience the Scriptures in a fresh and new way.
Native American Contextual Ministry: Making the Transition
by Casey Church (Author), Ray Martell (Editor), Sue Martell (Editor)
Casey Church is convinced that if Native American churches are effective and fruitful, they must take advantage of the Native cultural context. He believes that they must do whatever is necessary to help lead every lost Native person to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. As a result of his research on organizational change, barriers to change, and the best approaches to making change, Dr. Church can help pastors and church leaders better understand the transitions and changes they will face when they transition to a Native American Contextual Ministry.
Dr. Church introduces ideas and approaches for making change and transition achievable without anxiety and fear. Learning about the process of change and growth will provide ‘handles’ that pastors and church leaders can use to manage change and transition to create the Native church of the future. Explicitly written to encourage those ready for change, this book contains personal experiences, specific situations, proven approaches, and practical advice for pastors and laity to approach change and transition confidently.
Holy Smoke: The Contextual Use of Native American Ritual and Ceremony
by Casey Church (Author)
Church argues that discipleship among Native peoples is best undertaken as a spiritual journey that has at its core biblical instruction and mentoring by individuals and families that model a lifestyle that reflects transformation in Jesus Christ. When accompanied by the ‘contextual’ use of Native rites such as the Sweat Lodge Ceremony, the Pipe Ceremony, and Powwow dancing and singing with the drum, participants who go through these ‘rites of passage’ experience an increased sense of spiritual well-being and self-esteem through this authentic Native expression of their Christian faith. The book illustrates deep reflection and integration of biblical teaching in the preparation and practice of these Native rites, transforming the old embedded meanings of these rites, while retaining their distinctive familiarity for participants. Church shows how the integration of biblical instruction, the practice of a biblical lifestyle, and contextual sacred and ceremonial rites in alcohol recovery and family camp ministries have together led to recovery and spiritual development in Christ. We commend this book to anyone who has a serious commitment to making disciples in Native American communities.
– Sherwood Lingenfelter, Senior Professor, and Judith Lingenfelter, Affiliate Professor, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA.
Native American Rites of Passage: The Process of Change and Transition
by Casey Church (Author)
The Christian message and discipleship training have often come with the cultural baggage of the non-native Christians who have worked among Native populations. While spiritual formation is the ultimate goal of presenting Christ’s message, the message has often been rejected as the White Man’s Gospel. This study examines traditional Native American rituals and demonstrates how these rituals can deepen Native American identity and help Native Christians grow in Christ.
The study is presented within the context of two Native American ministries: The Brethren in Christ Alcohol Overcomers program and Wiconi International and its Family Camp. These contextual ministries have started to help Native Americans see how their forms can have new meaning in helping them become stronger Christians. When accompanied by the contextual use of Native rites such as the Sweat Lodge Ceremony, the Pipe Ceremony, Powwow dancing, and singing with the drum, participants who go through these rites of passage experience an increased sense of spiritual well-being and self-esteem through the authentic Native expression of their Christian faith. This revised version of Church’s doctoral dissertation will benefit anyone who has a serious commitment to making disciples in Native American communities.
The Everlasting People: G. K. Chesterton and the First Nations
by Matthew J. Milliner (Author), Casey Church (Foreword), David Iglesias (Contributor), David Hooker (Contributor), Amy Peeler (Contributor)
What does the cross of Christ have to do with the thunderbird? How might the life and work of Christian writer G. K. Chesterton shed light on our understanding of North American Indigenous art and history? This unexpected connection forms the basis of these discerning reflections by the art historian Matthew Milliner. In this fifth volume in the Hansen Lectureship Series, Milliner appeals to Chesterton’s life and work―including The Everlasting Man, his neglected poetry, his love for his native England, and his own visits to America―to understand and appreciate both Indigenous art and the complex, often tragic history of First Nations peoples, especially in the American Midwest. The Hansen Lectureship series offers accessible and insightful reflections by Wheaton College faculty on the transformative work of the Wade Center authors.
Christ Is Building His Native Church: Strategies and Methods for Planting Indigenous Churches by Joseph Jolly (Author)
This monograph is a review of cross-cultural principles which examines the strategies and methodologies of planting indigenous churches as a resource for Native leaders, incumbent missionaries, and missionary candidates who are or will be working among the Native Indian people of Canada. Beginning with an overview of the origin of the three distinct groups of Aboriginal People in Canada and their unique cultural differences, a historical review of the Indian people’s first encounter with European explorers and Christianity is provided, showing the failure of European missions to establish indigenous churches owing to their policies of assimilation, paternalism, and colonialism.
The birth of the national native church and its mission is next re-counted, focusing on the Native Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, Inc (NEFC) as a model. Significant attention is given to the definition of indigenous church principles, known as the three self-principles, which follow the Pauline pattern of establishing independent churches. A fourth self or self-theologizing principle is offered, explaining contextualization and the steps in developing a Native theology. The remainder of the study focuses on cross-cultural communication principles and provides a strategy for Native evangelism, with recommendations on Mission/Church relations and qualifications for the church planter.
Rescuing The Gospel From The Cowboys: A Native American Expression of The Jesus Way by Richard Twiss
The gospel of Jesus has not always been good news for Native Americans.
The history of North America is marred by atrocities committed against Native peoples. Indigenous cultures were erased in the name of Christianity. As a result, to this day few Native Americans are followers of Jesus. However, despite the far-reaching effects of colonialism, some Natives have forged culturally authentic ways to follow the way of Jesus.
In his final work, Richard Twiss provides a contextualized Indigenous expression of the Christian faith among the Native communities of North America. He surveys the painful, complicated history of Christian missions among Indigenous peoples and chronicles more hopeful visions of culturally contextual Native Christian faith. For Twiss, contextualization is not merely a formula or evangelistic strategy, but rather a relational process of theological and cultural reflection within a local community. Native leaders reframe the gospel narrative in light of post-colonization, reincorporating traditional practices and rituals while critiquing and correcting the assumptions of American Christian mythologies.
Twiss gives voice to the stories of Native followers of Jesus, with perspectives on theology and spirituality plus concrete models for intercultural ministry. Future generations of Native followers of Jesus, and those working crossculturally with them, will be indebted to this work.
One Church, Many Tribes
In this captivating chronicle of the Native American story, Richard Twiss of the Rosebud Lakota/Sioux sifts through myth and legend to reveal God's strategy for the nation's host people.
With wit, wisdom and passion, Twiss shows God's desire to use the cultures of First Nations peoples--in all their mystery, color and beauty--to break through to those involved in New Age mysticism, Eastern religions, even Islam.
One Church, Many Tribes is a rallying cry for the Church to work as one so that the lost may learn to walk in life with beauty, along the path of the Waymaker.
Culture, Christ, and the Kingdom Seminar: A Biblical Foundation for Contextualized Ministry Among First Nations People by Richard Twiss
*no description given at this time
Mission and the Cultural Other: A Closer Look by Randy Woodley
A decolonial critique of a too often failed missionary enterprise. Rev. Dr. Randy Woodley, a former missionary and missiologist, writes both as an insider and an outsider. As an Indigenous person, a missionary among Native Americans, and a decolonial theologian with over thirty years of experience in various missionary movements, he has seen the best and worst that American mission has to offer. Before change can be made in a guarded system such as Christian mission, the critique must be pervasive and cut to the core of the problem. To truly understand the weakness of modern mission, we need to hear from those who have been its casualties.
Indigenous Theology and the Western Worldview: A Decolonized Approach to Christian Doctrine by Randy Woodley
This volume by a Cherokee teacher, former pastor, missiologist, and historian brings Indigenous theology into conversation with Western approaches to history and theology.
Written in an accessible, conversational style that incorporates numerous stories and questions, this book exposes the weaknesses of a Western worldview through a personal engagement with Indigenous theology. Randy Woodley critiques the worldview that undergirds the North American church by dismantling assumptions regarding early North American histories and civilizations, offering a comparative analysis of worldviews, and demonstrating a decolonized approach to Christian theology.
Woodley explains that Western theology has settled for a particular view of God and has perpetuated that basic view for hundreds of years, but Indigenous theology originates from a completely different DNA. Instead of beginning with God-created humanity, it begins with God-created place. Instead of emphasizing individualism, it emphasizes a corporateness that encompasses the whole community of creation. And instead of being about the next world, it is about the tangibility of our lived experiences in this present world. The book encourages readers to reject the many problematic aspects of the Western worldview and to convert to a worldview that is closer to that of both Indigenous traditions and Jesus.
Journey to Eloheh: How Indigenous Values Lead Us to Harmony and Well-Being by Randy Woodley
The pursuit of happiness, as defined by settlers and enshrined in the American Dream, has brought us to the brink: emotionally, spiritually, socially, and as a species. We stand on a precipice, the future unknown. But Indigenous people carry forward the values that humans need to survive and thrive. In Journey to Eloheh, Randy and Edith Woodley help readers transform their worldviews and lifestyles by learning the ten values of the Harmony Way. These ten values, held in common across at least forty-five Indigenous tribes and nations, can lead us toward true well-being: harmony, respect, accountability, history, humor, authenticity, equality, friendship, generosity, and balance. By learning, converting to, and cultivating everyday practices of Eloheh--a Cherokee word meaning harmony and peace--we have a chance at building well-being and a sustainable culture.
In this riveting account of their own journeys toward deepening their indigeneity and embodying harmony, Edith, an activist-farmer, and Randy, a scholar, author, teacher, and wisdom-keeper, help readers learn the lifeways of the Harmony Way. The journey to Eloheh holds promise for all of us, Indigenous or not.
We know the Western worldview is at odds with a sustainable Earth, a just common life, and personal well-being. Together we can convert to another way of living--one that recognizes the Earth as sacred, sees all creation as related, and offers ancestral values as the way forward to a shared future.
First Nations Version: Psalms and Proverbs
Discover the rich tapestry of human emotion and divine wisdom with the First Nations Version Psalms and Proverbs. The latest volume from the critically acclaimed First Nations Version translation brings the ancient Sacred Songs and Wise Sayings of the Hebrew Scriptures to life through the vibrant, poetic imagery of Native American oral storytelling.
Discover Psalms and Proverbs Reimagined Through the Poetic Language of Native Storytellers:
Father Sky is telling us the story of the shining-greatness of the One Above Us All. The starry tent above us shows the beauty that Creator’s hands have made. Day after day, the story is told, and night after night, their wisdom fills the sky. Even though the skies above have no spoken words, all creation has heard their message.
Psalm 19:1-3
From the strength of your heart, put all your trust in Grandfather, and do not hold yourself up with weak human thinking. As you walk the road of life, make every step a prayer. Grandfather will then make your eyes straight and your paths safe.
Proverbs 3:5-6
Whether you're seeking solace, strength, or spiritual insight, the First Nations Version Psalms and Proverbs will guide you with its profound expressions of praise and trust in the Creator. Step into the harmonious blend of ancient wisdom and indigenous tradition to discover a spiritual experience that speaks directly to your heart.
Birth of the Chosen One by Terry Wildman
Adopted from the Gospel of Luke, Birth of the Chosen One is a unique retelling of the birth of Jesus told in the tradition of Native oral storytellers.
Featuring stunning Native American art, Birth of the Chosen One is a powerful picture book that illuminates the Christmas story in a fresh and new way.
Native American Pentecost: Praxis, Contextualization, Transformation by Corky Alexander
This important study examines the significance of traditional Native American practices in Pentecostal worship and observes how members of the Native American Contextual Movement integrate these practices. Alexander suggests missiological implications of traditional Native American practices in Pentecostal worship and church life. He addresses the development of the powwow movement and pan-Indianism as an important sociological phenomena paving the way for inter-tribal ministry. He surveys the history of Native American ministries in the Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee) and traces the development of a pneumatological Pentecostal theology of religions and the use of sacred objects in Pentecostalism. By using participant observation, personal interviews, and case studies, Alexander investigates examples of active contextualization and discovers how contextualized traditional practices enhance Native Pentecostal worship and mission. The study focuses on six traditional practices that are being contextualized in Native Pentecostal churches: language, smudging, drums and rattles, dance, talking circles, and ceremony. Alexander argues that implementing these contextualized practices in Pentecostal worship reduces syncretism and moves people closer to God.
Native: Identity, Belonging, and Rediscovering God by Kaitlin Curtice
Identity, soul-searching, and the never-ending journey of finding ourselves and finding God. As both a citizen of the Potawatomi Nation and a Christian, Kaitlin Curtice offers a unique perspective on these topics. In this book, she shows how reconnecting with her Potawatomi identity both informs and challenges her faith.
Curtice draws on her personal journey, poetry, imagery, and stories of the Potawatomi people to address themes at the forefront of today's discussions of faith and culture in a positive and constructive way. She encourages us to embrace our own origins and to share and listen to each other's stories so we can build a more inclusive and diverse future. Each of our stories matters for the church to be truly whole. As Curtice shares what it means to experience her faith through the lens of her Indigenous heritage, she reveals that a vibrant spirituality has its origins in identity, belonging, and a sense of place.