Four Corners for Jesus

By Lorena Lynch

November/December 1993

I was not born into a Christian family. In fact, in the 1940s less than five percent of my people were Christian; so my story is similar to that of many others who grew up on the reservation in Arizona, New Mexico, or Utah.

Navajos have much of which to be proud – we know how to survive. Like myself, most of my generation grew up herding sheep. I still speak the Navajo language, weave Navajo rugs, wear traditional dress with moccasins and Indian jewelry, and love my large, extended family. And now I am a Christian, which makes me a better Navajo.

I first went to government boarding school at the age of 12 to begin the first grade. Although I did not know English, I tried to learn it as quickly as possible to keep from being punished. One day I didn’t have lunch money, so some of my friends said, “Go with us to this church at noon and they will give you something to eat.” I met two women who told us Bible stories and fed us cookies and kool-aid for lunch.

Some time later, when our home burned down, I stayed with the two women while it was being rebuilt. They asked me to be their interpreter. It was during this time that I gave my life to the Lord. I left high school during the 11th grade, got married, and moved away. I drifted away from the Lord, but when times were bad, I still remembered to pray. When we moved to Shiprock and my oldest daughter got into mischief with bad friends, I decided to send her to a church school. Yet I asked myself, “Why should I send my child to a church school when I am not even going to church?” So I attended the United Methodist Church in July of 1975 – it was on the same Sunday in which we were introduced to our new missionary pastor, Paul West, and his wife, Dorcas.

During the fall of that same year, Fred Yazzie, our only fully-ordained Navajo minister, was preaching a revival. It seemed that everything he said was meant for me. This is when I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior. The next day seemed so different – I began noticing God’s creation, and saw the trees around my house as though for the first time. I liked my new life, but before long I was faced with many situations in which I had to either reconfirm my decision for the Lord, or go another way.

My first trial was in having all of my jewelry stolen. It was not so much the monetary loss ($4,000) as it was the emotional attachment which had made the jewelry very special to me. Some Navajos believe that turquoise is sacred and protects them from evil spirits and accidents. I simply felt loss and hurt. Our Navajo pastor, Henry C. Begay, prayed for me. My husband insisted that only the medicine man could find my jewelry, so I went with him, but was totally disappointed. From that time on, I trusted only God and he has taken care of me. Jesus is all I need.

In 1977, the Shiprock Church began the Four Corners Native American Ministry as a means of reaching Navajos for Jesus. The reservation is very large (about the size of West Virginia), but our pastor said we could do it: “If we will start and trust the Lord, it will be like a stone dropped into the water. The ripples will expand until the whole lake is covered.” Stella Lee, our first chairperson, explained this to be a prophecy of what God would do if we would but trust him.

We bought a canvas tent; and Pastor Henry preached, many times until one or two o’clock in the morning. He would then drive over 100 miles to return home, sleep a couple of hours, and go to work at the uranium mine. About this same time, work groups helped us build a two-story shelter for abused women and children in Shiprock. We also built a counseling center for alcoholics and a thrift shop. In 1992, we added a day care school. The Four Corners Ministry was growing in several directions, all at the same time.

Many people think Navajos are poor. But everything cannot be measured by money. Navajos are rich. They are rich in traditions, and as more Navajos are becoming Christians, they are becoming rich in faith. As the Four Corners Ministry has grown, we have seen what faith can do. We simply believe God for miracles, pray, and trust him with all of our hearts. We want to move forward, depending on the Lord. Jesus means everything to us and we want to serve him only.

The ministry evolved as Navajo families attended tent revivals, accepted Jesus, and began house meetings to win their relatives to Christ. The house would get too small and they would pool their money to build small, simple fiberboard buildings. After a few years the family would realize that they didn’t know much about running a church; or they would become burdened by their isolation and loneliness, or overwhelmed by church maintenance problems. When they discovered Four Corners Ministry, they found they liked the Christian fellowship, the Bible study, and the instruction on how to build up a congregation, administer a church, and develop their lay leadership. Perhaps most of all, they sensed that they were part of a people who would listen and support them in their ministry.

After 16 years, the Four Corners Ministry has 17 churches. Many of them are 100 to 150 miles away from Shiprock, but each has its own Navajo preacher, a heartfelt joy, and the desire to reach all of our people for Jesus. Today, there are over 220,000 Navajos, and approximately 25 percent are Christian. Over half of our population is 19  years old and under. We have much work to do and more programs to develop – especially for the youth.

The United Methodist Church is still new to us on the reservation. We have one fully-ordained Navajo pastor, one student in seminary. And one student in college headed for ministry. The rest are lay-preachers. Often, Navajo people think all churches are alike and they don’t understand denominations. We thank God for that, but we also know that our church family is United Methodist.

I have learned a lot through the Four Corners Ministry. I used to avoid traveling off the reservation because I was afraid white people would not accept me. But when I was asked to speak at churches in other states, I was surprised and happy to learn that I was accepted. I discovered that we Navajos have much to share, and that people off the reservation are not prejudiced.

I believe we can win our reservation for Christ and even reach out to other tribes by loving the people. We can also be the kind of people who will cause those around us to ask questions about the difference in our lives. We can tell them, “I act like I do because I have Jesus as my personal Savior.”

For years now we have been trying to tell people that we are a “third world’’ country, with our own culture, language, and national sovereignty. We need missionaries to work with us since we are very new to the Christian faith. No one heard us until the Mission Society for United Methodists came out and saw for themselves the problems we face. Immediately, they offered to help, working through the New Mexico Conference and our Four Corners Board.

Navajo Worship

Our people love to praise the Lord. They enjoy clapping their hands; and as they sing you can hear shouts of “Amen” and “Thank you, Jesus.” When Navajos become Christians they want to be in church. Their services go on for two to five hours. If a Navajo preached for only 20 minutes, the people would throw him out. My people want to get filled up. They don’t want to leave church feeling empty.

When our people first enter the church, they go to the altar. It gives me such a good feeling to enter a Navajo church and see the seats empty and the altar full.

Allow me to paint scenes of a recent church service for you. I see an old grandmother with her squaw skirt spread out over her tennis shoes and she is crying out to God. The altar is strange to her, so she prefers to kneel on the hard floor with her face to the ground. When she gets up, I see tears on her face. I don’t know what she prayed for, but I can see she is happy and ready for the service to begin.

The service should have started 30 minutes ago but no one is concerned. The musicians start tuning up their electric guitars. As the altar clears, they begin an old gospel tune. The preacher gets behind the drum set and lets it rip.

After several songs, it’s testimony time. My heart is touched as I listen to a mother who weeps as she speaks about her alcoholic son. There were so many nights she had no idea where he was. But she kept praying for him until he was delivered from that bondage. Now he comes to church with her. An elderly former medicine man tells how he was so sick the doctor sent him home to die, but the church people came and prayed for him and he was healed. Now he wants to praise the only true God, so he volunteers to give a sheep or goat every time the church has a dinner. Others tell of family problems, fear of owls, or loneliness after the death of a relative, and how God has given victory. A shout of “Praise God’’ goes up from different parts of the congregation.

Navajo Christians believe in miracles. In fact, the problems on the reservation are often so bad that only a miracle could help! Another song, and the preacher gets up. He reads the Scripture in Navajo and those who have Bibles follow along with their fingers, often repeating the words after him. The preacher goes verse-by-verse and explains the meaning. By using a lot of home-grown illustrations and by acting out stories, he has the people laughing, shouting, and crying.

Whatever the preacher says, he always emphasizes the power of God. He will mention sin, but there is no need to hammer away at it. His people are already depressed with all that has gone wrong in their lives. They are aware of their sickness of body, heart, and soul; and they have a sense that they are out of harmony with others, with nature, and with God.

God really works in our culture, but you would have to understand my people and see their special need before you could see how God’s grace is present for us. The fear or witchcraft, owls, and dead things are big issues for us.

Even after we become Christians we have to deal with some of these fears, but Navajo preachers understand us. They tell us, “God is good. He cares for you and loves you. He will always be with you and never leave you. When we feel hopeless the preacher tells us, “call out to God and he will save you!” We have trusted God and he has always been faithful to lift us again. On this day we know that God is good to us!

 

You can find out more about the Four Corners Native American Ministry HERE