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Executive Council Asked to Endorse New Episcopal Coalition for Indian Ministries

Episcopal News Service. November 8, 1989 [89219]

The Presiding Bishop's Blue Ribbon Task Force on Indian Affairs, created during an Executive Council meeting in South Dakota in May 1988, asked the council to endorse a new structure -- the Episcopal Coalition for Indian Ministries.

The task force, composed of 10 Indians and five non-Indians, has met three times since the Presiding Bishop asked them to "develop a design for a comprehensive, cohesive, and coordinated Native American ministries model that adheres to the principles of Native American partnership and diocesan autonomy, a model that is guided by the Mission Imperatives."

Bishop Craig Anderson of South Dakota, who chaired the task force, told the council that it is time to move beyond the stories of despair and survival to a ministry of "growth and fulfillment." He added, "We have a Third World in our back yard, a silent apartheid in our country, .... Native American spirituality has a call for us -- to discover anew a sense of the Incarnation." He further stated that the coalition will provide the structure, integrity, and support for such a contribution to the life of the church.

The bishop introduced Owanah Anderson, national staff officer for Native American ministries, calling her the best spokesperson for the concerns addressed by the task force. Ms. Anderson argued that ministry with Native Americans is different "because we identify with our tribes" and this "sense of nationhood is where we are grounded." Episcopal ministry with Indians goes back 400 years, to the Jamestown Commitment, the basis for the first permanent English settlement in North America. "Since 92 percent of American Indians are still unchurched, we would have to conclude that the commitment hasn't done so well," Ms. Anderson told the executive council.

Although 30 dioceses have some kind of work with American Indians and there are still small Indian congregations scattered across the nation, Ms. Anderson said that most Indians "fear abandonment by the church." She illustrated her contention with the closing of Episcopal chapels on several reservations in the West but said the recent reopening of one chapel "was a clear sign of hope that the Episcopal Church still cares."

The task force concluded that Indian ministries needs facilities but also trained and qualified leaders, both lay and clergy, as well as programs in evangelism, education, and communication. It asked the Presiding Bishop to appoint an implementation committee to develop the mission and goals statement, the bylaws and structure, and the policies and procedures, and to define the membership for the coalition in 1990 so that the coalition can be operational in 1991. The coalition would absorb the work of the National Committee on Indian Work, which supported the conclusions of the task force at its September meeting.

In response the council expressed its commitment to implement the recommendations and "urge other church bodies to join" it in doing so.