Churches dream big together

What began 30 years ago as a student ministry group of the OU Wesley Foundation by former Native students is today a thriving church, First American UMC, pastored by Rev. Dr. Justine Wilson.

The group came together to support Native American students during their education. The church still offers a campus ministry for Native students, but it offers much more.

This church formed with the vision of offering a different experience for Native Americans in the UMC. After conversations with the bishop, the church was provisionally approved, with the expectation that the ministry embrace the totality of Native culture.

After a few locations, the congregation bought an eight-acre parcel of land in Norman and built the first phase of a church. The plan was to move on to phase two, three, and four - but like many United Methodist churches, the space the church is using is still at phase one.

This location is a blessing, since the large land tract allows First American UMC to not only host Sunday services, but also to hold ceremonial gatherings, traditional prayer services, and more.

The challenge of the location is that, since stopping at phase one, the indoor facilities are small. Phase one included a fellowship hall, offices, and a kitchen. Since the building was built, the church’s activities have outgrown the facilities.

“We do everything outside,” remarked Wilson. “We cook outside, we dance outside, we eat outside.” With weather in Oklahoma as unpredictable as it is, this means First American UMC needs an indoor backup.

McFarlin UMC, also in Norman, serves as a weather backup for First American UMC. While this is a working solution, it is not ideal, since First American UMC could do so much more with its own dedicated facilities.

Wilson and the congregation at First American felt the outsized impact the Covid pandemic had on Native Americans. Many elders were lost to the disease. In addition to those losses, youth and family programming were disrupted, and have struggled to come back.

Wilson didn’t see this as a time to shrink - instead, she saw this as an inception point. She saw it as a time to honor the elders who did not live to see the vision of the finished church.

“We need to go big,” she said. “The weight of those aspirations, and those dreams and visions of what could be. Not all of our elders have made it through, but they have given that to us, as a sacred trust.”

Enter McFarlin UMC in Norman. While the churches have had relationships historically, it has often been one of simply sharing resources.

When Rev. Wendi Neal, associate pastor at McFarlin UMC, met Wilson, they instantly bonded. “We met in fall 2022, and we became friends,” recalled Neal. “We found that we have a shared mission and vision of serving the community.”

Neal continued, “We talked about what it means to have a mutually beneficial partnership and relationship where we’re sharing with each other and learning from one another and growing together.”

Neal also pointed out that the two churches are only about two and a half miles from one another. “In this post-General Conference era is a new era for the United Methodist Church; there’s so much to look forward to and dream big about.”

The two churches have decided to partner for a fundraising dinner featuring a Native feast at 6:30 p.m., Oct. 14. Using McFarlin UMC’s facilities, members of First American UMC will prepare, by hand, food that they harvested themselves, including wild bison and wild onions, plus multiple traditional Native foods.

On top of the delicious meal, attendees will have the opportunity to learn from a panel of speakers spanning three generations of OIMC faith leaders. The speakers will talk about what it means to be both Native and Christian. They will open the conversation up to all of those present.

With the meal and speaker panel, attendees will also have an opportunity to bid on silent auction items - many of which are handmade, as in gifts for the upcoming holidays, and services.

One service is a live painting by Chickasaw artist Brent Greenwood, which will be sold at the end of the event.