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Missions To Native Americans

Past & Present By Chad Bragg. Missions To Native Americans . Introduction. It is estimated that at the time of Columbus’ first journey there were 12 million Missions to the natives began almost immediately upon the arrival of Europeans Missionaries very ethnocentric

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Missions To Native Americans

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  1. Past & Present By Chad Bragg Missions To Native Americans

  2. Introduction • It is estimated that at the time of Columbus’ first journey there were 12 million • Missions to the natives began almost immediately upon the arrival of Europeans • Missionaries very ethnocentric • Native Americans thought to be unable to grow in the faith unless they adapted European culture. • Mission work often thwarted and relegated as secondary due to war, expansion, and survival in the “New World”

  3. First Nations Tribes

  4. Early Missions History Spanish (Catholics): Southwest French (Jesuits): Northeast

  5. Early Missions History English (Puritan): East “Fearful whites… concluded what they had suspected all along: that no Indian could ever be trusted. Contagious fear led to blanket condemnation of all natives; the missionaries could not counteract the anti-Indian prejudice fed by wartime hysteria” (Bowden, 132).

  6. Missions – 18th Century • After King Philip’s War - opinion of the Natives had turned to disdain and fear • Because of dwindling native population complacency over conversion of natives grew • Almost unanimous consent that natives needed to be “civilized” before they could be converted

  7. Missions – 18th Century 18th Century New England Missionaries 1710 - 1749 1711 - 1779 1723 - 1792

  8. Missions – 18th Century Other18th Century Missionaries 1741 - 1808 1718 - 1747 1721 - 1808

  9. 19th Century • At the end of the 18th century, the Revolutionary War all but halted missions to the natives • After the war, treaties were made and constantly broken by the United States Government. • Tribes were moved from one place to the next to make way for the expanding claims to land of the non-natives • 1830: Andrew Jackson pushes Indian Removal bill through congress – most of the tribes remaining in the east forced to move west • Natives living in the West resisted acculturation and some physically fought against westward U.S. expansion • 1869: President Grant created Board of Indian Commissioners to oversee U.S. relations with natives (headed by Christian layman from 13 different denominations) Government Relations

  10. 19th Century Missions • Infancy of a new nation – American culture more solidified • Baptist missionary, Isaac McCoy worked with natives in the Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky area • John Stewart & James B. Finley, Methodist missionaries, involved in missions in Midwestern states • Agencies such as the American Indian Missionary Association (Louisville, KY), and the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions sponsored missionaries and set up schools to train natives • Missionaries continued to expect natives to adapt to American culture • Natives began to practice more syncretistic Christianity

  11. 20th Century • Many natives continued to be syncretistic – adapting Christian and native aspects into the practice of religion • Missionaries begin to loosen up on their assimilation tactics • Pan-Indianism movement: tribes work together seeking “to preserve alternative, more meaningful life-styles” • Native-American Church: syncretistic church, practices the use of peyote, membership estimates around 250,000

  12. Current Situation • In 2006, there were just under 700,000 First Nations individuals in Canada, over 2% of the population. • In 2005, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that about 1.5 percent (roughly 4.5 million) of the U.S. population claimed to be of American Indian or Alaska Native descent. • Many of the Native American Tribes are considered unreached or “unknown” on Joshua • About 33% live on or near reservations. Most of the rest live scattered about in major cities.

  13. Missions Today

  14. Missions Today • Missionaries need to be aware of the history • Mission work cannot be ethnocentric • Must be aware of the culture and avoid syncretism • Important to establish indigenous workers • “The American church needs to stop viewing First Nations people as simply a mission field and see them as valued and needed members of the Body of Christ” (Twiss, 20). • Missionaries should humble themselves before God and Native Americans.

  15. Resources • Twiss, Richard. One Church, Many Tribes. 2000. • Edwards, Jonathan. Memoirs of the Rev. David Brainerd. 1822. • Wyss, Hilary E. Writing Indians. 2000. • Knapp, Henry M. “The Character of Puritan Missions: The Motivation, Methodology, and Effectiveness of the Puritan Evangelization of the Native Americans in New England.” Journal of Presbyterian History 76:2 (1998)

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