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Hoosier United Methodist News Archives
| Hoosier United Methodists together |
September 2005 |
Tree of Life connects mission volunteers with Native Americans
By Sandra Brands
A UMNS Feature
When Jessica Ostrawski had her first mission experience at Tree of Life Ministry on Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota, she became a convert to the outreach program. She was one of three people from Cascade United Methodist Church in Deerwood, Minn., responding to an invitation to join a group from the larger Minnetonka (Minn.) United Methodist Church.
"Within probably two days of being there (at Rosebud), I fell in love," Ostrawski said. "I knew I wanted to make arrangements for people at Cascade to go on a Tree of Life mission trip."
Tree of Life is a ministry of the United Methodist Church's Dakotas Conference to the people of four Dakota reservations. It began in 1990 on Rosebud Reservation, and it hosts Volunteer in Mission groups from across the United States. Over the years, it has grown to serve Crow Creek and Lower Brule reservations in South Dakota, and Spirit Lake Nation near Devil's Lake, N.D.
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Part of Tree of Life's mission is to promote understanding and respect between the Native Americans being served and the visiting volunteers. |
Though each ministry varies according to the community's needs, most projects involve building or repairing homes on these South and North Dakota reservations. The Crow Creek and Lower Brule Tree of Life ministry is working with homeless veterans. Plans are under way to buy a motel and convert it into housing for homeless veterans.
VIM teams arrive weekly, said the Rev. Mina Hall, who served as Tree of Life's executive director until June, when she was appointed to Flame of Faith United Methodist Church in Fargo, N.D. Teams come regularly come from Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., Georgia, Alabama, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota, Kansas and Ohio.
"These are not all United Methodist teams, though the majority are," Hall said. "Tree of Life works with all denominations, all government entities." The ministry has coordinated activities for teams from Lutheran, Baptist, Episcopalian and nondenominational churches as well as nonprofit organizations such as Habitat for Humanity.
But Tree of Life isn't just about helping people. It's about building relationships - within the teams and with the people living on the reservations. Part of Tree of Life's mission is to promote understanding and respect between the Native Americans being served and the visiting volunteers.
To promote that understanding, part of the Tree of Life experience includes nightly cultural and education activities, such as performances by a drum and dance group, an overview of native dress, artwork and games. Native American pastors visit to talk about their ministry. Some speakers describe the effect of the missionary school education on the tribes. And sometimes, tribal elders will hold sweat lodges and explain the spiritual significance.
The evening experiences are "a way to connect to the native culture with those coming in," Ostrawski said. "Unless you understand native culture, it's hard to understand why your work is so important."
And the work is important, she said. "The people, the culture, the environment, doing a stateside mission - it's very important. I've seen poverty. I've been to Jamaica, but it was a spiritual awakening to be at Rosebud."
For some, Ostrawski said, exposure to the poverty and rural lifestyle of reservation residents fed into their existing prejudices, but for others, it was an eye-opening experience. "They would say, 'Oh, I've treated Native Americans so poorly. I never realized what they've gone through.'
The short-term VIM trips to Tree of Life have a twofold impact, Hall said. "You're helping people, but you're also building your own community. You are also building you own faith. When you hold devotions together, great things happen," she said.
The work is a step toward healing the scars of the past - mission schools, and the subjugation of an entire way of by a dominant culture, Hall said.
For more information, go to http://treeoflifenewsletter.org/. Some financial support comes through The Advance for Christ and His Church, a second-mile giving program of The United Methodist Church. Details on giving to the Advance - Tree of Life is Advance No. 123615 - are available at http://gbgm-umc.org/advance/.
Sandra Brands serves as editor for print and electronic publications for the Minnesota Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church. Quotes from Shere Wright were contributed by Michelle Harvey Erpenbachin of the Dakotas Conference.
Last updated on 25 Apr 2008