Indigenous Peoples’ Day is a holiday in the United States that celebrates and honors Indigenous American peoples and commemorates their histories and cultures.
In honor of this holiday, we share images from the recent ARUMC Native American cultural & mission trip to areas of the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference in and around Oklahoma City, which was funded by a generous grant from the Methodist Foundation for Arkansas.
Rev. Dan Read, senior pastor of Salem UMC and chair of the ARUMC Native American ministry committee, led and organized this trip, which included 17 clergy and laity from churches across the Arkansas Conference.
Rev. Read shared, “I was motivated to form an ARUMC trip to Oklahoma as a result of my work with our Committee on Native American Ministry to serve Native communities and connect Arkansas United Methodists to Native culture and their unique expressions of faith. Once we found that we would be sharing a bishop with the OIMC, it became even more important to connect across conference borders.” Hence, the cultural and mission trip was planned.
You will see photos of the group from Arkansas visiting the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference offices and learning about the history of this history by Rev. Margaret Johnson, Assistant to the Bishop, and Rev. Donna Pewo, Director of Connectional Ministries.
The team visited three different OIMC churches, including Angie Smith Memorial UMC, where they treated us to tacos made with fry bread; Mary Lee Clark UMC, where the youth served the team lunch and we worked with them on their food pantry space; and Norman First American UMC, where we worshipped and enjoyed a bountiful potluck.
Among other destinations on the immersive trip, many on the team were moved to tears when visiting the First Americans Museum. The Standing Bear Pow Wow in Ponca City was another highlight of the trip, made extra special by the Ponca Indian UMC, which hosted a picnic for us at the Pow Wow.
Rev. Read shared, “We were able to pack so much into such a short time in part because of the tremendous hospitality of the pastors and congregations in the OIMC. Every one of the participants, including myself, left changed through cultural awareness and the connections that we made with fellow United Methodists! “
Rev. Pam Lamb, pastor of Bay UMC, was part of the team who attended, shared, “The immersion trip to Oklahoma was a check off of a lifetime dream for me. I grew up hearing stories of a grandmother who was native American and often felt great compassion for those who walked the trail of tears. Fortunately, this grandmother married white and was somewhat accepted. Yet as she passed away she was not buried in the same cemetery as my grandfather. When I met the congregations and pastors of the OIMC I was totally in awe! Of the beauty, honesty, and humility that they shared. The things that I grew up learning from family about nature and caring for the earth were obviously passed down from the generations before. Those same values that were instilled in me had come full circle. The peace and fulfillment I saw in the people of OIMC, their love for the creator, country, and their family was the reconnection I needed to find with my own journey to Jesus.”
Rev. Read added, “I plan to continue to foster the connections that we made with congregations and pastors. I know we will have many more opportunities to lead other Arkansas United Methodists into Oklahoma. I am already dreaming of how we might provide an opportunity for youth from our congregations to experience a similar trip.”
For more information about an immersion trip to the OIMC, please contact Rev. Dan Read at dan.read@arumc.org.
