Native American Ministries grants, made possible through offerings on this special Sunday, can support ministries as unique and creative as the tribal affiliations of the congregations that put them to work.
Contributions on Native American Ministries Sunday help develop and strengthen Native American ministries within each United Methodist annual conference and provide scholarships for Native Americans pursuing ordained or licensed pastoral ministry.
When the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference (OIMC) first visited the Standing Rock Reservation to distribute UMCOR school kits, a wrong turn led their mission team to the Little Eagle community, where they observed several challenges faced by residents, including high unemployment and poverty. Through this wrong turn, which turned out to be God’s right turn, the OIMC established an ongoing relationship with the community.
Conferences and Congregations Establishes Relationships with Communities
An OIMC mission team brought holiday joy to the students at Little Eagle Grant School last Christmas through its annual Christmas mission trip, now in its fourth year. The project provides Christmas gifts to K-8th grade students at the school, located in a remote area of South Dakota. A second grant for OIMC supported another mission to the Standing Rock Reservation to distribute school kits earlier in the year.
Great-Spirit UMC in Portland, Oregon, and the Native American Cooperative Ministry (NACM) in Pembroke, North Carolina, both applied for grants to provide food for their communities. Great-Spirit provides a Sunday dinner every week and NACM delivers food to mostly Lumbee community members. Their plan incorporated a host of volunteers to plant and harvest two vegetable gardens and make the food deliveries with a personal touch.
A Navajo congregation in Cortez, Colorado, requested help to support their pastor and his work. Native Grace UMC is seeking to build sustainability while serving intergenerational Navajo families just outside the Navajo Reservation, which is next door in Montezuma Creek, Utah. The Navajo pastor shares the love of Christ through the lens of Navajo language, culture and spiritual practice.
Honoring the Gifts of Native People
United Methodists are called to recognize and honor the gifts and contributions made by Native Americans to our society and church. The United Methodist Church acknowledges a gap in understanding Native American life and culture, while affirming the sacredness of Indigenous peoples, their languages, their unique identities and their contributions to the church and the world.
Half of what is collected on this special Sunday will stay within the annual conference of the churches that collect the offering to help sustain regional and local Native American Ministries.
Celebrate the ministries, communities and congregations of Native Americans across the U.S. with an online gift to Native American Ministries or drop a gift in the offering plate of your local church when the offering is taken.
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.
story by Christie R. House, consultant writer and editor with Global Ministries and UMCOR.
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.
