Introduction

Following Jesus? How so?

Jesus was born a Jew and remained a Jew. Jesus helped but never tried to convert those of other ethnicities. We are indigenous people of America, neither Jews nor Hebrews. One aspect of following Jesus is being true to our own Native cultures as Jesus was true to his. As a Jew of the 1st Century C.E., Jesus lived under the Roman imperialism or colonization of the time, even as American Indians of the 21st Century C.E. live under the Anglo-American imperialism or colonization of this time.

Decolonization is a major theme of the Bible. Declaring the purpose of his life, Jesus read from the Prophet Isaiah: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor" (Luke 4:18-19). This is a powerful statement of decolonization. In identifying a host of evil spirits with the name "Legion" (Mark 5:9; Luke 8:30), Gospel writers draw a parallel between colonization and demonic possession, portraying Jesus as the great decolonizer. The overarching purpose of Mid American Indian Fellowships is the decolonization of colonized peoples.

Cultural Immersion and Restoration

Decolonization of colonized peoples, of necessity, includes the promotion and restoration of indigenous cultures. Aside from continuing to do what we are doing, establishing more Indian Fellowship groups as we are invited to do so and working in every way to augment and/or restore American Indian community, the Mid American Indian Fellowships Council has voted to move in the direction of establishment of a land-based center for indigenous cultural immersion and restoration, where we will focus on balancing and restoring the People in relationship to Creator and to the Land through immersion in and restoration of Language; Oral Tradition; Ceremonies and sustainable, culturally relevant Agriculture.

We are looking at the land-based cultural immersion and restoration center in terms of direction rather than a goal with a time-frame. A major challenge is funding. In the meantime, we are working with what we already have. Some associated with Mid American Indian Fellowships are already living on their own small parcels of land. Many are already working to restore aspects of the culture. If you would like to be involved with indigenous cultural immersion and restoration, let us know.