The Women of Faith (UWF) in the East District of Eastern Pennsylvania Annual Conference gathered for their 20th Annual Celebration last October to fellowship, worship, conduct business and to learn about Native American history. The UWF women invited EPA Committee on Native American Ministries (CoNAM) to enact the interpretative blanket exercise, “The Loss of Turtle Island,” as a central feature of their celebration.
The East District women, young and old, actively participated in the scripted PowerPoint exercise which included viewing “The Red Road,” a video of the Land Acknowledgement and Welcome for the 2025 Annual Conference Session.
In planning for the annual event as President of the East District UWF, Joy Frazier collaborated with CoNAM and looks forward as a member of the CoNAM Team to future connections with the UWF and their mission to “act boldly for justice and transform communities.”
Bringing Awareness to Grief and Loss
CoNAM Team Leader, Sandi Cianciulli, who helped to facilitate the PowerPoint journey through the history of loss and grief by removing blankets to visually show the loss of land, is deeply touched by the stories of erasure every time the exercise is enacted. One of the participants in The Loss of Turtle Island, Courtney Bridges, who attends Lansdale First UMC, was fully involved in the exercise and was emotionally impacted by the tragic history of the Indigenous People of the land she calls home and how they lost that land.
Here is her story:
As soon as I walked in the building, I knew exactly where to go. Not because of abundant signage, but because I heard the giggles and laughter of women coming together.
I took some time to read the poster by a clothing rack with small red dresses hanging, lifeless. The powerful visualization served to remind us how many Indigenous women and girls who have gone missing with no one to look for them.
The main activity was presented through various blankets being spread on the ground. Scrolls were handed out, as well as cards with various images on them. We were asked to remove our shoes, and to find a blanket to stand on together. I stood on my brown plaid blanket with four other women and looked at the other blankets, some overlapping our own, and taking up most of the central space in the room. Over 50 women stood in their socks, mingling on the blankets. The first scroll was unraveled and read aloud. One by one, scrolls were read, containing real decrees and articles detailing the historical and systemic oppression of Native Tribes throughout North America.
Every so often we were asked to remove a blanket. As we smushed together, the blankets symbolizing our ancestral land dwindled, and history continued to unfold. The women holding cards picturing small pox blankets, or depicting terrible massacres left us in clumps. Soon, I looked around the room to see only one blanket remaining, and three women left standing. What started as a strong throng of milling ladies, had been reduced to three women on one blanket that none had originally started on, ancestral lands stripped, families lost to colonization, and a long sordid tale of injustices.
With these sentiments in our hearts, the business end of the event unfolded with renewed vigor to implement change in our own selves, sisters, churches, and communities. We took communion together, remembering the life that was laid down for us. The greatest sacrifice the world has ever known in direct juxtaposition with the systematic oppression that still persists – but this time armed with knowledge and brimming with ideas and solutions for the future.
Courtney Bridges is a recent graduate of West Chester University where she majored in Psychology, and minored in Social Work, and Civic and Professional Leadership. It is her honor to have joined United Women of Faith in their efforts towards education and reparations to the Native Tribes who lay claim to the land her community benefits from.
Your Donations Help
Your gifts on Native American Ministries Sunday equip seminary students who will honor and celebrate Native American culture in their ministries. You empower congregations to find fresh, new ways to minister to their communities with Christ’s love.
excerpt from a story by Verna Colliver and Courtney Bridges, Landsdale First UMC
This story shows the impact of Native American Ministries Sunday—one of six United Methodist Special Sundays with offerings—to honor Indigenous heritage and strengthen Native communities. Your gifts support Native ministries, scholarships, and leadership development, ensuring that Native voices and traditions continue to shape the life of the Church. Together, we celebrate culture, empower ministry, and stand in solidarity with Native peoples across the connection.
When you give generously on Native American Ministries Sunday, you help preserve tradition, nurture leadership, and support vibrant Native ministries within The United Methodist Church.
