"Today's Pow-Wow.. is our link to the past that helps our people keep our Native Heritage alive. It is a time for our people to be together with other family members, friends and tribes. This is our time to be our own true selves-a time of sharing, laughter, tears, and caring, for all our people. At these times we honor yesterday, live today, and strengthen our future. As Indian people, we travel hundreds of miles across the country to attend various Pow-wows. The distance, time and expense it takes to reach a Pow-wow is not of great concern to the Indian family. For we go to retouch our past, strengthen our present, and teach our young people to be proud of who the Creator made them-an American Indian. We ask ourselves how one can put time or a price tag on the preservation of a people and culture that dates into antiquity. Today's Pow-Wow is a time to keep our life circles strong." - Elder Lillian Hopkins
Objective:
To assist and teach Montana Indian believers and Indian bodies of believers (churches) in a culturally acceptable manner - a method to embrace, accept, understand, and implement the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:18-20 (First Nations Version). “All the authority of the spirit-world above and the earth below has been given to me," he told them. "So now I am sending you into all nations to teach them how to walk the road with me. You will represent me as you perform the purification ceremony with them, initiating them into the life of beauty and harmony represented in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You will then teach them all the ways that I have instructed you to walk.”
Primary Goal:
To publicly acknowledge the Montana Tribes Indian Culture and to demonstrate a servant's heart while striving to introduce the Indian People to the God of the Bible and His Gospel Message of Salvation and convey to Montana Indians that God really does have a plan for their people and their individual lives.
General Goal:
To assist Indian believers in making every effort to clearly communicate the message of the Great Commission in a manner that enables the local New Testament Church to grow and in the process strive to determine the barriers (cultural beliefs) that might keep unbelievers from understanding the spiritual truths of the Bible and come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Strategy:
Attend various powwows on the reservations in Montana and do the following:
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Attend the three-five day powwow events with a servant's heart and be ready to pick up trash on the powwow grounds. We will provide all the tools and trash bags.
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Hand out small bottles of water and cups of coffee - free - no questions asked
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Set up a tent to share the gospel message using "Evangecubes" and "Contextually Relevant Christian Tracts,", Biblically-based and culturally-relevant.
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Hand out contact information and general information on the existing local bodies of believers (churches) on the reservations or urban areas in Montana so they can help or be of assistance to Indian families.
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Teams need to be told that this will be a three to five day total cultural immersion into a unique, surviving, indigenous people known as Montana Indians. Sleeping in tents.
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We hope that the teams that come to do this mission work will provide the funding to perform this Powwow Outreach and Evangelism Ministry. The teams will need to provide for their own expenses.