ABSTRACT SELF-EXPRESSED CONDITIONS, EXPECTATIONS, ASSUMPTIONS, AND EXPERIENCES OF THE ROSEBUD SIOUX IN THE WINNER, SOUTH DAKOTA, AREA THAT ARE OFFERED AS REASONS INDIVIDUALS OR HOUSEHOLDS DO NOT PARTICIPATE IN LOCAL CHURCHES by Ross Slade Reinhiller This dissertation repeats the survey used by the founders of the Willow Creek Community Church (South Barrington, Illinois) and adapted by Robert Gail Stoddard of Rainelle, West Virginia. The survey was conducted in the townships of Ideal and Lamro and the city of Winner, South Dakota, among the Rosebud Sioux Tribal members ascertaining self-expressed reasons for nonchurch participation. This study interviewed 103 people in ninety-seven households. This survey identified different conditions and expectations among the participants according to both age and gender. Among the elderly, chronic health concerns were the major reason for nonparticipation in local churches. The primary reason for nonparticipation among the fifty to sixty-nine-year-olds was the issue of prejudice. This prejudice is both historic and current and results in disillusionment and disaffectedness among the participants in the survey. Primary conditions and expectations expressed by forty to forty-nine-year-olds were the same as the fifty to sixty-nine-year- olds with the additional condition of addiction expressed. Within this age group, men identified racial identity as a major issue for nonparticipation in local churches. Thirty to thirty-nine year olds continued the themes of addiction and identified peer pressure or group acceptance as a reason for nonparticipation. Twenty to twenty-nine-year-olds expressed group identification but also added the enjoyment found in a culture based on partying. This group did not identify consumption of alcohol or other controlled substances as addiction. The teenagers interviewed expressed the condition identified as unchurched. Local churches are not part of the environment and culture in which they exist. Personal feelings toward the church are not negative nor are they positive. The church is a nonentity in their day-to-day lives. By understanding the self-expressed barriers that keep Native Americans from actively participating in churches, Winner United Methodist Church may implement an appropriate response and begin a cross-cultural ministry. DISSERTATION APPROVAL This is to certify that the dissertation entitled SELF-EXPRESSED CONDITIONS, EXPECTATIONS, ASSUMPTIONS, AND EXPERIENCES OF THE ROSEBUD SIOUX IN THE WINNER, SOUTH DAKOTA, AREA THAT ARE OFFERED AS REASONS INDIVIDUALS OR HOUSEHOLDS DO NOT PARTICIPATE IN LOCAL CHURCHES presented by Ross Slade Reinhiller has been accepted towards fulfillment of the requirements for the DOCTOR OF MINISTRY degree at Asbury Theological Seminary ____________________________________ June 20, 2006 Mentor Date ____________________________________ June 20, 2006 Internal Reader Date ____________________________________ June 20, 2006 Dean, Doctor of Ministry Program Date SELF-EXPRESSED CONDITIONS, EXPECTATIONS, ASSUMPTIONS, AND EXPERIENCES OF THE ROSEBUD SIOUX IN THE WINNER, SOUTH DAKOTA, AREA THAT ARE OFFERED AS REASONS INDIVIDUALS OR HOUSEHOLDS DO NOT PARTICIPATE IN LOCAL CHURCHES A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of Asbury Theological Seminary In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Ministry by Ross Slade Reinhiller December 2006 © 2006 Ross Slade Reinhiller ALL RIGHTS RESERVED TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES . viii LIST OF FIGURES . ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . x CHAPTER 1 PROBLEM. 1 Winner 2000-2002 . 1 Winner 2005 . 4 Purpose . 6 Congregational Context . 6 Denominational Context . .11 The Purpose Stated . 13 Statement of Research Question . 13 Definition of Terms . 13 Native American . 13 Church . 14 Churched and Unchurched Person . 14 Methodology . 15 Participants . 15 Instrumentation and Data Collection . 16 Delimitation and Generalizability . .18 Overview of Remaining Chapters . 19 iii CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE . 20 Imago Dei . 20 Sioux Precedent . 26 History . 27 Tribal Divisions . 27 Historical Movement of the Tetons . 30 Teton Lakota West of the Missouri River . 30 Rosebud Reservation . 32 Land Settlement Precedents . 32 The Dawes Severalty Act . 34 White Homesteading . 35 Hardships . 37 Native American Communities . 38 Economics . 41 Addiction . 42 Crime . 43 Education . 45 Prejudice . 47 Religion . 49 Native Religion . 50 Sacred Pipe . 51 Cosmology . 51 Abuse within Native Religion . 53 iv Christianity . 54 Missionary Activity and the Rosebud Reservation . 55 United Methodist Church and the Rosebud . 56 Congregational Context . 57 Cross-Cultural Ministry . 58 Biblical Precedents for Cross-Cultural Ministry . 58 Precursors to the Great Commission . 59 The Great Commission . 60 Fulfilling the Great Commission . 64 The Church in Jerusalem . 65 Gentile Church . 67 Jerusalem Council . 69 Biblical Precedents: Conclusion . 72 Missiological Precedents: Cross-Cultural Ministry . 73 Crossing Cultural Barriers: Differing Worldviews . 74 Culture Defined . 76 Attributes of Culture . 77 Comparison of Euro-American and Native American Values and Worldview Themes . 78 Cosmos . 79 Social . 80 Individual . 81 Incarnational Model . 83 v Engagement Theories and Practices of Cross-Cultural Ministry . 84 Role of the Pastor of the Winner United Methodist Church as Cultural Bridge . 86 Lack of Ethnic and Cultural Diversity in the Religious Community . 88 CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY . ..