Out of the seventh annual WinterTalk Jan. 28-Feb. 2, at the Seminole Nation, Okla., has come a celebratory statement offering to the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion the strength and faith of the Native American peoples.

The statement, signed by the 53 participants from 22 tribes and nations, and 26 dioceses, pledges the courage of "the sons and daughters of many proud and independent sovereign peoples" to realize "our vision of a renewed church healing a broken world." The signers extended the "hand of friendship ... and love" to all who would "share ... the burden in order to build a new community."

The Rt. Rev. Steven Charleston, Bishop of Alaska, was the facilitator of the National Indigenous Peoples Congress, called "WinterTalk" from traditional tribal winter meetings. "It was a really wonderful meeting, joyous," he said. "It was about letting people express hopes and vision - and really listening."

The native peoples, he said, have "a vision of ourselves as free people, self-reliant, taking responsibility for our own futures." With this vision, Bishop Charleston said, came the news of the conference: "An affirmation of commitment to the Episcopal Church. [The people are] so passionate in their commitment. It is a source of strength to the church."

Each year's conference has a different theme, built upon the work of previous meetings, said the Rev. Carol Gallagher, one of the conference designers. Many of the sessions were about defining native peoples' identity and place within the church, questioning "Where do we go?" and "Who are we?" within the church. "We are moving out of the missionary model," Ms. Gallagher said.

Owanah Anderson, director of Indian ministries for the Episcopal Church, said different tribes conducted each day's morning and evening worship services.

In demonstration of the conference's "respect [for] the spiritual traditions, values and customs of our many peoples," sacred ceremonies of the tribes' heritage were "integrated with the liturgy." For example, Ms. Anderson said, "The Navajo Blessing Way" became a part of Morning Prayer. "Bishop Plummer [of the Diocese of Navajoland] touched our tongues with corn pollen." Water was used in ceremonies of representatives of both the island Hawaiian people and the desert Paiute, who brought water from their sacred Pyramid Lake in Nevada.

"One year all the people brought earth from their homeland, and we mixed it together. I still have my baggie," she said, chuckling at the blend of ancient veneration and modern plastic. "The earth is sacred to all."

Ms. Gallagher remarked upon "the amount of joy and laughter shared in the very diverse community from the Arctic Circle to Hawaii." She said storytelling of the history of the different peoples helped to unite the group. The larger meeting also broke into smaller groups according to interests such as those of urban Indians, women and youth.

The question of a "self-responsible unit," a non-geographic diocese or a new province has long been under discussion by Indian Episcopalians. The Rev. Canon Martin Brokenleg of South Dakota, while not attending this year's WinterTalk, sent a paper recounting the history of the idea.

The recent creation by the Maori people of a special free and equal relationship with the Anglican church of New Zealand served as a stimulus to discussion. "But that process took about 20 years," he said, adding that creating a non-geographic diocese in this country "would require some heavy thinking."

Fr. Brokenleg explained that a church becomes "enculturated, taking on the forms, the thought-world, of the local population." He said many Anglo-American societal ideals which have become part of Christianity are in fact foreign to Native peoples. By contrast, "the highest Lakotah value is 'Be a good relative.' This they entwine with Christianity."

The differences between white and Indian ways, he said, is comparable to the conflicts described in the Book of Acts between Jewish Christians and Greek Christians. "We understand the enrichment each brought," he said.

One topic mentioned by Bishop Charleston, maintaining the identity and cohesion of the native tribe in an urban setting, is shown in the ministry of the Rev. Dewey Silas, a deacon at St. Luke's Church, Milwaukee, Wis. He is working to draw together native people belonging to several parishes in the city for a weekly service, not to "take people away, but to have a native service later in the day."

The task would not be easy. At the conference, he said, "They gave us a format that was good for reservation people, but not urban people. But a lady in Oregon wrote me an encouraging letter, from Four Winds."

One of the articles in the Statement says: "We embrace the wisdom of our elders who are caregivers of God's creation." Deacon Silas said, "We have to find elders to explain the [old] ways. They have to teach us what is lost."