Start Something Native WJEF Studio CD, Native Student Artists order at wjefstudio.bandcamp.com. Start Something Native Ready for Your Next Step? Thank you for seeing and honoring the Native students on your I’m so excited that you are interested in starting something campus. We can’t emphasize strongly enough that the best tool Native on your campus! We’ve compiled this handbook as a we have for helping you start something Native is coaching. primer on Native ministry. It essentially has two parts. First is a Coaches have Native ministry experience and training to help you set of quick lessons on the most essential things to know about set goals and problem solve in your own context. Our coaching Native culture and history. Second is a collection of some of our program has a track record of not only growing the number of favorite ministry tools. This handbook should not be seen as a students in your small group, but also developing them as replacement for, but a supplement to, the Start Something New leaders. Please set up your first coaching appointment today. We handbook. While we tried to condense our best stuff into just a are excited to work with you to create a space on your campus few pages, the very best tool available to you as you begin the where Native students can follow Jesus while honoring their process of starting something Native is to meet with one of our cultures and traditions! Contact [email protected]. coaches. To get connected with a coach contact [email protected]. I pray that Jesus will connect you with Native students who are excited to enter into His story of hope and that Jesus will give you strength, grace and joy in the journey ahead. Start Megan Krischke Something Native InterVarsity Director Native 21 2 Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown for historical perspectives. Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (or any other books) by Sherman Alexie, as well as The Lakota Way or other works by Joseph Marshall. Shalom and the Community of Creation by Randy Woodley for a Contents perspective on Native theology, as well as One Church Many Tribes or anything else by Richard Twiss. What Should I Call Them? . 3 Movies and TV Shows: Smoke Signals is a classic, and some movies made for a non-Native A Colonial/Missionary History of Hawai’i . 6 audience, such as Wind River, The Spiritual Significance of Seeing the Native Songs My Brothers Taught Me, or the TV show Students on Your Campus . 8 Longmire. Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner), and Recommendations for Connecting with Tanna are examples of indigenous cinema with an indigenous audience Native Students . 10 in mind. Can I Hang a Poster? A Script for Music, etc.: check out Broken Walls, Sihasin, A Tribe Called Red, Approaching Your Campus . 12 Supaman, Buffy Sainte-Marie, and Northern Cree. The 1491s on YouTube are hilarious. The Five Thresholds for Native Students . 14 Native Call to Faith . 16 Finally, InterVarsity partners with other organizations with a similar approach to A Simple Protocol for Opening Prayers . 19 Native ministry. Further Resources for Native Ministry WJEF, Would Jesus Eat Frybread? and Next Steps . 20 Conference held non-Urbana years. Find out more on facebook. CRU Nations. CYAK, Covenant Youth of Alaska. NAIITS, the North American Institute for Indigenous Theological Studies, a source for many of our mentors as well as a great place to look if you are interested in graduate studies. 3 20 “What Should I Call Them?” Leader: May you bless their efforts to revitalize their language and their This is one of the most frequent questions we hear from folks culture. intimidated to interact with Native people. Confusion over terminology PEOPLE: Creator, hear our prayers. is not just a matter of political correctness, and it’s not an accident. Our treatment of Native peoples is an unpleasant reality that we would Leader: May we and all the people who live in and visit these lands rather not have on our national resume. Thus, many Americans have remember that we are guests. PEOPLE: Creator, hear our prayers. never learned about the tribes who do or used to live in their area, or met real Native people. So it’s not your fault if you don’t know what to Leader: May all the Tongva people know that they are loved by a good call them, but it is time to start learning. and powerful Creator. PEOPLE: Creator, hear our prayers. No Really—What Should I Call Them? TOGETHER: Creator of every tribe, nation and tongue, may you richly There are 566 Native tribes/nations recognized by the US federal bless the Tongva people. Amen. government The best term when referring to a Native person is to use her/his nation: “My Ojibwe friend,” “He’s Choctaw of Oklahoma,” “I While Native names, lands, and peoples are all around us, we are typically not think she’s a Spokane Native American,” etc. Find out what your Native accustomed to being aware of them. This is complicated by the fact that friend calls his/her tribe, since many tribes are referred to both in their original meanings for names were translated badly or lost, inhabitants may be tribe’s language and in a colonial language (take Anishinaabe, the Native gone or were moved, and those Natives currently in the area may be from elsewhere. Doing a good job of protocol will take a little study (for some tips, word, for Ojibwe, the French word—tribes in the Minnesota area). If you see Resources, next section). Even better than this prayer is to also develop are referring to a mixed-nation group, “Native people,” “Indigenous relationships with Native people who can personally welcome you to their land. people,” or “First peoples,” are good terms to use (“people” is general, Start Something “peoples” denotes multiple tribes). “American Indian” is an historic term Native used in many legal documents, and many Native people still refer to themselves casually as “Indians” (or “NDN” while texting!), but we recommend that if you’re new to the community, especially when you Resources for Native Ministry are first meeting someone, “Native” is a better term. The Start Something Native website has these articles (some in greater depth) as well as many other resources “Native Hawaiian” (once used we couldn’t fit into this booklet: native.intervarsity.org. to refer to Hawaiian Nationals Direct questions to [email protected]. before the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1893) A great place to start is to learn about Native people around you. Check is not a term for everyone from out an internet resource like native-languages.org/states or native- Hawai’i, but refers to the land.ca, then browse wikipedia or tribal sites for more details. Here are a indigenous Polynesian few (short) lists of ways to learn. inhabitants of that land also known as Kanaka Maoli Books: (through bloodline). “Pacific The Inconvenient Indian by Thomas King, and 19 4 A Simple Protocol for Opening Prayers Islanders” or “Pasifika” are part of a larger group including other Polynesian, Micronesian and Melanesian Islander groups (but not, for You may have heard the term “protocol” in Native American contexts. These example, including island nations like Indonesia or Japan). Other are customs of etiquette that honor and build relationships. One way that we peoples in Hawai’i, such as Filipino and Japanese immigrants, may have can make a start in this in InterVarsity is to open events that we hold with a prayer which honors both God and the original people of the land that He been there for generations, but would be referred to by the community placed there. Here is an example from an IV conference in Anaheim, CA. The in Hawai’i as “locals.” Like Hawaiians, Natives in Alaska would also shaded portions should be customized for your situation. There are some notes prefer “Native Alaskan” to “American Indian,” but as you learn more at the end that can help you. you should refer to your friend’s tribe or village. Leader’s Introduction: As we continue to get settled in and prepare for What About ‘Native American’? what God has for us this week, we’d like to take a moment to recognize and remember the Native brothers and sisters who are the first peoples “Native American” is a misnomer in that of these lands. The Tongva people have inhabited Southern California there was no America for anyone to be for over three thousand years. We’d like to honor them, thank God for native to when colonists first arrived on this them and pray for them. Would you stand and join us in this responsive continent. Canada gets it better with “First prayer? Nations.” However, “Native American” is generally a socially-acceptable way to refer Leader: Creator, thank you for the Tongva people who lived on this land to folks who possess a dual national for over three thousand years. citizenship and sense of belonging—to PEOPLE: We recognize that it is a good both a tribal nation and to the United gift that we can come and meet on their States. Such folks may identify primarily lands. with their tribal nation, or may have a bi- cultural sense of identity. Leader: Forgive us, who are immigrants to this country, for so often forgetting, that we Are There Native People Where I Live? are guests of the First Nations people of North America. Most Americans have heard of (or seen PEOPLE: Please help us to live on these portrayed on TV/movies) some of the big tribes from the Plains and lands with respect.