Keeping Navajo Churches Alive
This summer Village Missions began serving the Navajo Nation. We accepted Albert and Katie Johnson as Village Missionaries and began providing salary support to them as they serve the Twin Mesa Bible Church.
The Twin Mesa Bible Church is located near Kykotsmovi, AZ. I tried to find the actual location of Twin Mesa on Google Earth, but looks like I will need some GPS coordinates.
God’s leading to the Navajo Nation began for me in, of all places, Chicago. I was attending my first meeting of the Association of North American Missions, held at AWANA headquarters near Chicago. My roommate was Nelson Betoney, a Navajo pastor. As I explained to Nelson the ministry of Village Missions—that we send a couple to a church requesting leadership and provide salary and other forms of support to the couple so that they are able to minister effectively and full time, Nelson’s interest grew. He said to me, “The Navajos do not need more churches. But many of our Bible College trained men do not go into the ministry because of the high unemployment on our reservation. Our pastors must work full time in order to provide a living for their families. So many of our churches are weak or are without a pastor. It sounds to me that Village Missions would be a good fit.”
My own visits to the Navajo Nation confirmed what Nelson told me. I met extremely sharp young men who had graduated from Indian Bible College, yet were not in full time ministry because of the economics. I met Pastor John Trujillo, pastor of the Red Lake Grace Bible Church, who works full time as a custodian in order to be able to pastor his church.
In many ways, the situation is not that different in Anglo country churches. Churches tend to languish when the pastor has to work in addition to the ministry. They struggle to find a pastor who is committed to their church and area and not looking simply for experience until he gains a “desirable” suburban church. Village Missions’ approach in which we provide effective support and accountability and yet the independence of the local church is maintained has proven extremely effective. God has used our approach in the Hispanic church we serve in Avenal,
We are not so naïve to think that this ministry will be easy. Navajos, rightfully so, are ready to move on from dependence upon mission organizations. I believe the independence of the local church under Village Missions will be a good fit but they will have to learn to trust us. Many of the Navajo churches may never reach the self-supporting level but some of our Anglo churches will never reach that level. In a future blog, I will explore the idea of whether a church can be an indigenous church and still receive financial support. For some understanding of the debate read this article by Marvin Olasky in World Magazine.
Our approach will have to be sensitive to the Navajo culture. We’ll have to depend on Nelson, Albert, and other mission organizations such as UIM International, as well as our own sixty years of experience in keeping country churches alive. Yet I believe that great potential exists for spiritually vital Navajo churches to exist.
If you would like to see some pictures of our Navajo ministry go to http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=6031&l=b013e&id=604744023
I have also provided a link if you would like to give toward this project.
March 26th, 2008 at 5:30 am
I was visiting a friend many years ago and saw first hand the poverty of the people in Navajo land.
My greatest frustration these days is not having the funds to support Missions as I would like. The OPM cut my pension by $340.00 a month and they say that they have paid me to much each month since my husbands death in August 2001. They want that overpayment back! (over $20,000) I have appealed their decision and am still waiting for their reply.
I attend the VM church in Bowdoin ME and know how very important the ministry is to struggling churches.
Thank you for the excellent article. The pics brought back memories.
Sincerely,
G Card