United Nations: Church Fulfills Needs of American Indian Christians

August 24, 2007

Author: LOUIS MEDINA

Source: The Californian

http://www.bakersfield.com/138/story/220523.html

Bakersfield has a rare collective living treasure that is both religious and cultural: The Gathering of First Nations Sacred Circle, a monthly intertribal, Christian service that honors the Bible as much as it does age-old American Indian worship traditions.

“There are only a few sacred gatherings like this around the U.S.,” said the Rev. Ray “Black Buffalo” Wilson, the Cowlitz guest speaker at the latest interdenominational gathering that took place Tuesday.

“Most of us have always attended mainstream churches and we’ve always had to assimilate,” said group elder Juanita O’Dell, a member of the Comanche Nation.

But on the third Tuesday of the month for the last six months, at the East 21st Street church building borrowed from In Jesus Name Ministries, American Indian Christians don’t have to feel like they need to compromise their cultural identity.