Native American

Faith Stories
Sisters Daniele (left) and Danica Bell take part in the potato dance, where pairs of dancers with hands held behind their backs hold a potato between their foreheads and try to dance to the beat of a drum without letting the potato fall. The dance, part of the Native Moccasins Rock gathering in Bon Aqua, Tenn., was sponsored by Native American Ministries of the Tennessee-Western Kentucky Conference of The United Methodist Church. Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.

Celebrating 25 years of Native dance, art and friendship

Annual Native Moccasins Rock event attracts Native American and non-Native participants seeking to better understand and recover Indigenous skills and stories.
Church History
Mark Sirak (left), a resource interpretative specialist and historian, recounts to members of the Northeastern Jurisdiction Commission on Archives and History the 1776 landing of Gen. George Washington’s troops at what is now Washington Crossing State Park in Titusville, N.J. The tour was part of the group’s annual gathering, which coincides with this year’s 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Photo by John W. Coleman, UM News.

Church historians explore racial and revolutionary past

As the U.S. prepares to celebrate 250 years of independence, a jurisdictional gathering explores American and Methodist history, past racial oppression and present social challenges.
Mission and Ministry
The Rev. Laurie Bayen (left) reads the Sermon on the Mount from an Indigenous version of the New Testament while standing alongside the Laguna de Santa Rosa, a 22-mile-long wetland in Sebastopol, Calif., that was once inhabited by the Southern Pomo and Coast Miwok people, during a field trip for the Sacred Ground program. Sacred Ground is a mobile outdoor walking/spirituality app developed by Bayen, a United Methodist pastor. It combines creation care and Indigenous history with calls to action. Pictured with Bayen, from left, are Cheryl LaSalle, Charlotte Fisher, Carol Wegner and Pat Schoch.

Connecting with creation on Sacred Ground

United Methodist pastor launches mobile walking/spirituality app to spotlight creation care and Indigenous history and to encourage action.
Local Church
Lisa Bowser (left), lay leader of Marshallton United Methodist Church in West Chester, Pa., speaks with Christian Boehnke as church members Neal Bowser and Jonah Eckert work in the background to renovate a disability access ramp at St. John United Methodist Church in Bridgeton, N.J. St. John is the fifth-oldest historically Native American church in the denomination. The two congregations have been sharing in ministry and fellowship since 2024 as part of Marshallton’s efforts to address racial injustice toward Indigenous people its area. Photo by David Eckert.

Church addresses historic injustice to Indigenous neighbors

A white Pennsylvania congregation has adopted a land acknowledgment statement and is walking alongside a Native American church in ministry and fellowship.

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