For several years, a few Michigan churches have spearheaded the effort to build a ministry center here on the Fort Peck reservation. Since it is nearing completion, a meeting was planned for those who had invested in it, as well as for local tribal leaders.
Even though these leaders couldn’t attend, it was important that we met with them and let them know they were invited. We wanted to include them and made the effort. This is crucial because tribal people have a deep sense of community. Unlike the majority of self-dependent, individualistic Westerners, Native communities are like families. In fact, the word for family in Dakoda is tiospaye, which includes not only blood and marriage relations but also the idea of community as an extended family. Community is a universal concern for nearly all people groups, especially for marginalized peoples facing the likelihood of cultural extinction — it’s a core value. Identity and strength are found in unity.
A hundred and fifty years ago, the Bureau of the Interior (now the Bureau of Indian Affairs) began enforcing boarding school-era western education on reservation communities and offered individuals large acreage on reservation lands on the condition that the land be continually occupied and worked. While this may sound good to entrepreneurial Westerners, it was an effective death blow to Native communities because to take part, families had to leave their communities and spread out. Sadly, this land which was allocated to Native Americans by treaty was soon forfeited by most in their desire to live collectively in communities again. Ultimately, they lost their land to the continual flood of Amero-European immigrants.
Since our arrival nearly two years ago, many of the less fortunate members of our community have been at our door seeking either work, food or both. (We have made several good friends this way.) Noticing that they all appeared to be between the ages of 20-50, I checked with a friend, formally a member of tribal governance, and learned that the tribe has food support programs for seniors, veterans, the disabled, and families with children, but for some reason, there are no programs for the age group so frequently seen at our door. I suppose this demographic is thought to be either self-supporting or to qualify in one or more of the other four groups.
We hope that by employing the few and feeding the many, by helping without judging or discriminating — all the while being fully aware we may be enabling some and helping others — we are building trust and participating in tiospaye. We pray this will help us earn trust, enough trust that when we do share the good news of Jesus’ death and our ‘resurrection-hope’ some might believe and put their trust in our Lord Jesus.
I once read that Christians should move into “dark” areas where there is little or no Christian witness, where they could show compassion and empathy and give practical support, where they could seek to win their neighbor’s trust before sharing their story of coming to know the Christ and how He changed their life. This new year could be distinctly different. You could commit to doing the seemingly impossible (Matthew 19:26) and commit to changing a whole community.
Cindy and I once lived in a different tribal community where the culture demanded that we had to be either adopted, expelled or killed. That’s not the case here in the U.S. Anyone can move to a new community. We did, and you could too. Numerous communities throughout the U.S. need mission-minded individuals to move in and represent their Savior. Among them are numerous reservations, and many of these are in Montana. Why not join us in this great work of winning your tiyospaye for Christ?
Thank you for your continued prayer and support.
