COMMITTEE ON NATIVE AMERICAN MINISTRIES
Mary T Newman
The Tennessee Conference’s Committee on Native American Ministries (CONAM) is co-chaired by Pat Bryan and Debbie Fitzhugh; the committee’s coordinator is Mary T Newman. Inclusivity is evident as approximately half of the members are Native American.
You can see us coming! We maintain a 6’ x12’ enclosed trailer that’s visible on the roads and at events. The attention-getting logos on the trailer provide opportunities for conversation and the trailer is stocked with everything needed for informational booths at events. We also maintain pages on the tnumc.org site and moccasinfootprints.org.
Our 15thannual Native American Resource Day was held the first Sunday of March at Blackman UMC in Murfreesboro. During this time, we had a traditional Native American meal, presented audio/video resources, and provided speakers to engage the participants. We had large displays and book resources. Every church received a binder full of re-printable materials.
Approximately 40 churches in the Tennessee Conference gave a monetary offering to the Native American Ministry Sunday (NAMS), one of the denomination’ssix Special Sundays. We count that as fruitful for God’s Kingdom. The total collected denomination-wide was over $6 million. Half of the money received within an annual conference stays in the conference and half is used for seminary scholarships and other educational endeavors.
Recognition and celebration of NAMS is a challenge. While it’s on the church’s calendar to follow Easter, it is also in the same time frame of Golden Cross Sunday and Mother’s Day. We stress in our statement that NAMS can be celebrated any time of the year.
We acknowledge that there are individual churches with their own personal ministries with Native Americans. CONAM gladly offers resources, displays, and speakers to all churches. Our committee has developed or gathered resources that can be used for services, study groups, youth and children’s groups, or as part of an ongoing opportunity for understanding through education.
Held every August, Native Moccasins Rock (NMR) is a weekend of interactive learning. 2017 was our 16thyear; the Memphis Conference helped sponsor the event. Our leadership is internationally and nationally known. From babies to grannies, NMR is an intergenerational event with activities for children, youth, and adults. Breakout sessions are by age groups.
NMR’s culturally based workshops in arts and music attract participants. Interactive workshops are drawn from traditional skills and taught by dedicated leadership. Everyone comes together for speakers and evenings of music and dance. We end with a powerful prayer circle. We share tears of joy and sadness and lift up in prayer those who have crossed over. NMR is based on fellowship and friendship. CONAM members share who we are in Christ, our connectional system of the UMC, and celebrate opportunities to form relationships. Understanding through education remains one of our primary goals.
The Tennessee Department of Health’s Faith-Based Health Initiative reaches out through local churches and community organizations. Realizing their work with ethnic groups was not up to standards, we were able to bring them into relationship with CONAM as we partnered with the Native American Indian Association (NAIA).
At the NAIA’s powwow, the largest in the state, CONAM sponsored a health fair. We wereone of the first denominations to have this relationship. Initially, their words were “someone always wants something for themselves”. Our reassurance was “we just want to share”. We were blessed with materials from the health department and materials from Indian Health.
In 2017, we continued our relationship with Meharry Medical College and enlarged our health fair by including the dental tent, staffed with 17 students and presiding instructors. We also had a booth at Middle Tennessee State University’s powwow/festival. Every year comments such as, “We didn’t know the UMC is involved”, and “I am United Methodist and didn’t know”, reminds us that there is more to do to grow the connection and enlarge the circle of God’s Kingdom.
We have dedicated committee members committed to CONAM’s work. These individuals also have personal ministries. Wes and Pat Bryan have contacts across the U.S.During their travels, they plan stops at reservations and churches. They drop off school supplies, new coats, and so forth. Mary T Newman serves with United Methodist Women (UMW) through their Program Advisory Group. A partnership was developed to receive coats, clothing, and hygiene supplies which are then delivered to the Cherokees on Qualla Boundary. Children, youth, and families are covered in prayer and as Jesus said, “Let the little children come”, we pray HIS love is a message shared with those who struggle in ways that humble us.
CONAM continues to stand on our Social Principles. Environmental concerns and socio-economic challenges have come to the forefront with the water protectors at Standing Rock who took a stand to protect the water in the Missouri and Cannonball rivers from the Dakota Access Pipeline. Although the land seemed in dispute, Federal Tribal Law states that unless a treaty is nullified, land remains Indian land even though the size of a reservation changes. Hygiene supplies collected in our conference were shipped to South Dakota.
The rates of suicide among children and youth are still on a rise. Partnering with Native American Comprehensive Plan (NACP) and the Southeastern Jurisdiction Associationfor Native American Ministries (SEJANAM), we continue to be in prayer and work toward raising the level of awareness so we can all call upon our great Creator God for discernment and healing.
The Tennessee CONAM is known as one of the top four strongest CONAMS in the U.S. Members continue to participate nationally in leadership training opportunities. We are also blessed to be part of the leadership teaching teams for NACP and SEJANAM. Serving on NACP, Mary T Newman has been a part of quadrennial planning and leadership training. She is also chair of the South East Regional Native American Caucus (SERNAC), the regional jurisdictional caucus and therefore a member of Native American International Caucus (NAIC) We continue to walk the red road of ministry.
The committee continues our current relationships within the Native American community, the local church, and the secular community. We strive to create news paths of understanding through fellowship and friendship which continues to establish trusting relationships. Claiming Acts 17:26, we know that Godunderstood the concepts of tribes. Jesus was, is, and always will be a tribal man. Thus we say, “We know a tribal man who would love to know you”.