 Presbyterian Leaders’ Forum  Friday, January 22, 1999
A Message from the PLC Chair It was a rare privilege to participate in the New Year’s Eve Watch at the Papago United Presbyterian Church, Sells, Arizona, 60 miles west and south of Tuscon on the reservation of the Tohono O’Odham Nation. From 10:00 p.m. until midnight, young and old, married and single, Native American and Caucasian, participated in games and fellowship. After joyously ringing in the New Year, with many soundings of the large old church bell, we gathered for a post midnight potluck supper.The fellowship of this event was the high point of a short-term mission work trip by 10 members of Wichita’s Eastminster Presbyterian Church, during which we completely renovated three Sunday School classrooms and office, all of which had badly deteriorated after years of a leaking roof and disuse. This was the third trip in two years made by Eastminster members. The plight of the Papago Church is diagnostic of failed policies and changing mission priorities of the PCUSA over the last 40 years. In the 60’s and early 70’s, with adequate denominational funding the Presbyterian witness on the Papago reservation was significant. With three pastors, a congregation of over 200, and eight preaching points across the reservation, the church had a full program of ministry to the 20,000 residents of the reservation. Over a period of ten years in the 70’s and 80’s, denominational funding was gradually withdrawn without developing adequate alternate funding for sustaining the ministry. For ten years, until the mid-90’s, the church was without pastoral leadership or funding, and survived only through the perseverance of its laypeople. In recent years, several Presbyterian churches learned of the needs of this struggling church and responded to the opportunity for mission among these wonderful people. Within the last year, Presbytery has supplied two Native American Commissioned Lay Pastors, who can provide the leadership necessary to redevelop a vital ministry to the Tohono O’Odham Nation. Eastminster and six other churches are now supporting the Papago church with money and work groups to rebuild its ministry. This network of partnerships among congregations should develop into a model for effective mission in the next millennium. This is a land and people of sharp contrasts. The PUPC sanctuary is cold on winter mornings and it is hot in the summer — so the preacher must compete with an antiquated and noisy swamp cooler. The natural beauty of the high Sonoron desert across the vast Papago reservation is punctuated by purple mountain majesty. Just ten miles away is Mt. Kitt, site of perhaps the most sophisticated astronomical research center in the world. A consortium of a dozen major educational institutions operate nearly as many separate observatories, including the World’s largest solar telescope. The sophistication of astrophysics underscores the simple needs of the Papago people which have never been greater. They are not blessed with sustainable sources of employment and it is estimated that 90% of those who live on the reservation are afflicted with diabetes. All the problems of the inner city are manifest on this sparsely populated reservation — poverty, drugs, alcohol, teenage gangs, and an influx of illegal aliens. The Papago Christians are initially shy and reserved, yet relationships blossom into warm, encouraging friendships once they learn you come to them in the name of Christ, and that you will return again to work with them and for them as they seek to serve Him among their people. We have been blessed and are called to be a blessing by proclaiming the good news of the gospel and showing Christ’s love for every tribe, tongue, and nation. Let us hope and pray that this new year will produce renewed passion within the churches of our denomination to become not only mission minded, but actively involved with the work of ministry among people of other cultures within our own land and throughout the world. Robert Howard |
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| The Presbyterian Layman Jan/Feb 1999 | ||
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