Native American leader: Reservations offer mission field in plain sight

GRANBURY—Indian reservations are home to some of the highest substance abuse rates in the United States, but a Native American Christian leader believes they could become the seedbed for the nation’s next great spiritual revival.

“Strong indigenous leaders are the key to Christian transformation on Native American reservations,” said Joe Donnell executive director and founder of Warriors Circle, a South Dakota-based nonprofit organization committed to equip and empower Native American leaders to transform their communities through the gospel.

Raising up disciple-making leaders in each tribe

Mark Littleghost (left) and Tanner Sager were among the Native American Christians who recently visited the Granbury area at the invitation of The Church on Thistle Ridge.“Native Americans are justifiably suspicious of anyone other than other Native Americans,” said Donnell, a member of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate tribe who grew up on three reservations in South Dakota.

“And because there are so many different tribes, the cultures sometimes conflict. That’s why we’re trying to disciple people from each tribe to take the message of Christ to their particular tribe.”

Donnell and six other Native Americans recently visited Granbury at the invitation of The Church on Thistle Ridge. They gave testimony of their Christian faith in several churches and other venues. They also spoke about the poverty Native Americans face on the Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations in South Dakota.

Judi West joined Joe Donnell of Warriors Circle in meeting with several Texas Baptist leaders during a recent visit to the Granbury area. (Photo / Courtesy of C.C. Risenhoover)Donnell and Judi West met with Texas Baptist leaders including Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Director David Hardage, Associate Executive Director Steve Vernon and Glenn Ward, director of missions for Paluxy Baptist Association.

Drug cartels target reservations

Mexican drug cartels have targeted reservations throughout they United States and Canada, because they discovered many Native Americans feel that they are caught in a web of hopelessness, Donnell explained.

“Drug dealers dispense their poison like candy, preying on people whose pride has been stripped away by dependence on the government,” he said. “And, unfortunately, when it comes to churches sharing the gospel of Christ with Native Americans, it becomes a matter of out-of-sight, out-of-mind. Native Americans aren’t in the spotlights of most churches for spiritual or physical needs like many other ethnic groups, but they are a mission field that is in plain sight.”

‘Jesus Christ is the only true answer’

Most people have only a vague sense of the serious past and present injustices suffered by Native Americans, Donnell asserted.

“Nothing can be done about the past, but something can be done about the future,” he said. “Welfare certainly isn’t the answer. Jesus Christ is the only true answer. So, we desperately need to train Native Americans of faith to share their faith with their own people.

“There is a remnant of strong Christians within the various tribes, but they need training on how to present the gospel. And, if they’re trained properly, that remnant can with God’s help one day become a majority.”

Only about 3 percent of residents on reservation identify as born-again Christians, he said.

Seeking to build classrooms and dorms

Warriors Circle is in the process of raising funds for a classroom building and two dormitories—one male, one female—to house Native Americans for training in Christian discipleship. The group also is setting up a scholarship fund, since none of the 30 people in each training session will have $1,500 required for room, board and tuition.

In North and South Dakota, winter temperatures fall to a minus 20 degrees, and many Native Americas on reservations freeze to death because of substandard housing and a lack of propane, warm clothing, coats and blankets, Donnell said. Children and the elderly particularly are susceptible, he added.

The suicide rate on some reservations is three times the national average, and as much as 10 times the national average on others, he said. Forty percent of those suicides occur among people ages 15 to 24.

“What we’re doing numerically may seem small when it comes to spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ,” Donnell said. “But on the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit proved what could be done with a small group of disciples. I pray that we can emulate what they did.

“There are some 5.2 million American Indians and Alaskan natives in this country, which represent only 1.7 percent of the population. But the Holy Spirit can do supernatural things with a small group of people.”