. . . in
25-year snap-shops.
Where have we been? Where are we headed?

1807
David Thompson was putting what
is now western Canada on the map—literally. His love for the outdoors and his
skills with surveying equipment
combined in a calling to explore the mountain ranges of the northwest with
his surveying equipment and draw maps of
where he went. He took his Indian
wife and thirteenchildren everywhere
he went.
The greatest love of David Thompson’s life was Jesus
Christ. Everywhere he and his family walked and canoed, he would tell the
story of Jesus’ love, planting seeds in the hearts and minds of hundreds and
thousands of Indian peoples that their Creator sent His Son to be their
sacrifice for sin.1
This year, 1807, he surveyed the homelands of the Flathead Indians
of what is now southern
Alberta and northern
Montana. David noted in his memoirs that his stories of Jesus excited the
entire tribe. These people were on a search for truth, a search that would
culminate twenty-five years later in one of the most riveting speeches a Native
Indian man has ever made!
1832
Flathead Indian Rabbit Skin Leggings and three
other men decided to make the
treacherous trip from their homeland to Saint
Louis Post (now St. Louis,
Missouri) to find what David Thompson had referred to as the Book of Heaven.
After walking 1600 miles they were greeted by General William Clark (of the
Lewis and Clark Expedition), then ushered to the priest with their request. They
were received with the greatest hospitality and shown pictures of the Virgin
Mary and of the saints, but they were steadily denied their oft-repeated request
for the Bible.

Their journey had been so exhausting that two of these Native men died from
their hardships. The other two after a time became discouraged and prepared to
return to their far-off home. Just before leaving the city a feast was prepared,
speeches were made, and the general and others bid them God-speed on their
journey. During the addresses at the close of the feast Rabbit Skin Leggings was
asked to respond. He spoke with conviction and grave
disappointment:
“We came to you over the trail of many moons from the land of the setting
sun beyond the great mountains . . . we came with an eye partly open for our
people who sit in darkness; we go back with our eyes closed.
“We made our way to you with strong arms through many enemies and strange lands,
that we might carry back much to them. We go back with our arms empty . . . Our
people sent us to get the white man’s book of heaven . . . You took us where
they worship the Great Spirit with candles, but the book was not there. You
showed us images of the good spirits and pictures of the good land beyond, but
the book was not among them to tell us the way.
“We are going back the long, sad trail to our people of the dark land. You make
our feet heavy with gifts, and our moccasins will grow old and our arms tire in
carrying them, yet the book is not among them. When we tell our people after one
more snow in the big council that we did not bring the book no word will be
spoken by our elders or our young men. One by one they will go out in silence.
Our people will die in darkness . . . they will have no white man’s book to make
the way plain. I have no more words.” 2

1857
Word of this speech spread quickly.3 In
a few years numerous missionaries from
north-eastern US and England began coming
west to tell the story of Jesus
and the life He offers. One of them, James
Evans, invented the Cree
syllabics and began translating
white man's Book of Heaven into Cree.4 By
1857 the Cree Bible translation was completed! A missions
movement
was well underway among Native people from lands that are now Quebec to Alberta.
Family devotions became a wide-spread tradition. Literally thousands of Indian
families burned the fetishes of their traditional spiritism and embraced the
gospel of God’s grace. New believers were discipled. Churches were established.5
1882
Sadly, the memories of the life that Jesus gave their parents and grandparents
began to fade. Gaps in missions strategy resulted in fewer and fewer Native men
becoming equipped to pastor their churches. The missions tradition of Native men
starting the churches and turning them over to the new missionaries wasn’t
working. There were no Native-directed fellowships of the churches. With the
founding of the dominion of Canada (1867) and the Indian
Act of Canada (1876) came a major
blow to Native dignity. According to the Indian Act the definition of personhood
was the absence of Native Indian heritage (on page 2). The baton of Native
leadership was not being passed from second generation leadership to the third.

1907
Darwinism and liberal theology was infiltrating into colleges and seminaries
that had been producing evangelical missionaries committed to the inspiration of
Scripture, evangelism, discipleship and church planting. This downward spiral of
Native missions and church life became even more dismal when the Canada
government began requiring (by law) Native children to leave their parents and
attend residential schools. Mainstream mission policy reinforced this by
providing staff for the schools. Many of these schools became known for their
stories of abuse.
1932
Christianity among Native Indian people across Canada reached the lowest point
yet. This year you could count on the fingers of one hand the number of
missionaries who were telling the love of Jesus and teaching the Bible among
Native peoples. You could possibly count on the fingers of your other hand the
number of Native people in Canada who were born again Christians. Spiritual
darkness ruled the North once again. The revival stories of the latter 1800’s
were only a memory told by everyone’s grandparents.

1957
By now the light of God’s grace was once again shining beams in a few
communities across central Canada. A couple of missions were started. The remote
community of Weagamow Lake, Ontario had recently experienced a major spiritual
awakening with the majority of the community accepting the life that Jesus
offers. “Has Jesus given you life
yet?” was the question they asked one another as they visited in their
homes a few years previous. The Good News spreads; Native men emerge as leaders
of their fellowships. Eventually a group of Native pastors birth the larger
fellowship of Native churches that were springing up across Canada.
1982
By now there were ten evangelical missions across Canada that had covenanted to
partner together to reach Native Indian peoples in North America with the gospel
of Jesus Christ toward the establishment of a strong and reproductive Native
church. The partnership was known as IMCO—Inter-Mission Cooperative Outreach.
These mission agencies had about 700 missionaries, all committed to evangelism,
discipleship, and leadership development for the churches being established in
Native communities and urban centers across Canada, Alaska, and parts of the US
and Mexico. The Native Evangelical Fellowship of Canada was in the process of
passing the baton from its first generation to its second. Every year many
hundreds of Native people and families were accepting the life that Jesus
offers.
2007
Today, a full two
hundred years after explorer
David Thompson first shared the story of Jesus’ love with the Flatheads, there
are probably some 100,000+ Native people living across North America who’ve
accepted the life that Jesus offers.
This is the twenty-first century. We’re living in post-colonial times! Colonized
people around the world are assuming their Indigenous Peoples identity,
independence, and self-governance. This is of God. Christian Native leadership
increasingly recognize their God-given responsibility to initiate ministry,
partner strategically and “go for it!” With the world getting smaller and
knowledge increasing at an accelerating rate, First Nations leadership is
pioneering new structures to equip leaders to more effectively reach the
exploding First Nations population for Christ. Remarkably, one IMCO director
estimates that IMCO ministries could comprise as little as less than half of
what God is doing to build His church among First Nations communities in Canada.
“Whiteman’s Book of heaven” is being acknowledged as a book just as relevant to
First Nations life and times. IMCO leadership is transitioning to at least fifty
percent Indigenous leadership repre-sentation around the IMCO table. Together
IMCO is committed to adjusting our methodology while remaining firm in our
passion for the spread of the life Jesus Christ offers. And
this time, by God’s grace, we are partnering together to prevent the baton being
dropped again between the second and third generations. Amen.

FOOTNOTES
1 David attended a school
where the aim of the founders included training "solid
Christians."
2 Young, Egerton. Stories
from Indian Wigwams and Northern Campfires. Originally published in 1893.
Reprinted (1974) by Coles Pub. Co., Toronto. Pgs. 88-92.
3 Ludwig, Charles. Jason
Lee. Mott Media, 1992. P. 40.
4 Shipley, Nan. The
James Evans Story. Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1966.
5 Nix, James. Mission
Among the Buffalo. Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1960.
__McLean, John. The
Indians: Their Manners and Customs. Toronto: Williams Briggs, 1889. Pgs.
287-350.
Note: More links coming soon. (drw, 10/19/07)
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