Representatives from about 15 of the largest tribes in the nation created the Fellowship of Native American Christians (FONAC) during a meeting preceding the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) in Indianapolis.
Native American leaders initiated the fellowship at a 2007 meeting in San Antonio when they decided to create a group to increase networking, fellowship, leadership and ministry opportunities.
They adopted a constitution June 9 and elected Emerson Falls of the Creek Nation of Oklahoma as president. He is pastor of Glorieta Baptist Church in Oklahoma City.
Other officers include Donny Coulter, vice president, who works with First Nation’s people in Canada; Lumbee Timmy Chavis, treasurer; pastor of Bear Swamp Baptist Church in Pembroke, N.C.; Bruce Plummer of the Assiniboine Nation and a missionary and pastor in Montana, secretary; Gary Hawkins of the Creek Nation of Oklahoma, assistant treasurer.
Ledtkey McIntosh, national missionary with the North American Mission Board, encouraged formation of a Native American fellowship to assist in starting a church planting network among Native Americans.
"We see this fellowship as being broader, including information sharing and fellowship," said Mike Cummings, director of missions in the Burnt Swamp Association, an Indian association centered in Lumberton, N.C., with churches in several states. "In creating FONAC, we see it as that place where we all come to find out what the issues are, what the needs are. This will facilitate our coming together as native people and finding out about life in the native community in America."
More directly, the organizers grew from the church planting concept to creating a fellowship "to make some noise about our presence in this denomination," Cummings said. Too often, Indians are "an invisible people."
One of the loudest noisemakers possible came just the day after the Native American fellowship organized when Georgia’s Johnny Hunt, a Lumbee Indian, was elected president of the SBC.
The Native American fellowship will meet in conjunction with the SBC annual meeting each year.
There are just more than 450 Indian churches nationwide, Plummer said. "We want to be Indians reaching Indians."
To date, Plummer said, Southern Baptist efforts have been "relatively ineffective" since less than 1 percent of the Native American population has been reached after 75 years of trying. "We can draw strength from one another and reach Indians rather than white missionaries who traditionally have been doing the work," he said.
The number of identifiable tribes in the United States has dropped from 800 to 500, he noted. There are 6.5 million Indians in the country. As many as 50 million Americans contain a recognizable degree of Indian blood, Plummer said.
Instead of being a part of the missions field, Indians want to be "full partners with you in the missions force," said Larry Locklear, pastor of Island Grove Baptist Church in Lumberton, N.C. (Editor’s Network)
Share with others: