Wesleyan Native Ministries empowers Native leaders across North America to transform their communities through compassionate outreach, economic and community development, leadership development, and church resourcing and multiplication.

Our History

The history of Wesleyan Native Ministries goes back to the mid-1930′s, when our founding director, Rev. Neal Phipps, responded to God’s call to share the love of Christ with the Lakota people on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

With the help of his friend Rev. John Kearns, he started a church in the village of Pine Ridge.  It was made out of an old log house with a dirt floor and was purchased for $15, but in it, many Lakota people heard the good news of Jesus Christ for the first time.

Years later, in that same church, Rev. John Kearns heard God’s call to start a Christian school for Native children.  That school, the Brainerd Indian School, opened in Hot Springs, SD. And Wesleyan Native Ministries was born.

From our beginning, we’ve been a catalyst for personal and community transformation among Native people living in some of the most under-resourced communities in North America, where very few follow Christ.

We’ve provided a Christian education for hundreds of children in five Native communities in South Dakota, sponsored over 20 Native chapels and churches across the U.S. and in Canada, equipped dozens of Native pastors and leaders, and sponsored numerous compassionate outreach ministries and community development projects.

Today, we’re more committed than ever to empowering Native leaders who will reach their people for Christ and help transform their communities.

Our Apology for Past Cultural Insensitivity

While there is much to celebrate in our history and past accomplishments over the last 60 years, we recognize there were times in our past when our efforts weren’t always relevant to or respectful of the different Native cultures in which we worked.  There were times when we and other Christian churches and ministries felt that the Native cultures were inferior to the white European culture.  There were times when we didn’t listen to or respect the opinion of Native leaders, and times when we controlled instead of empowered.

In 1998 the General Superintendents of The Wesleyan Church published a statement of apology to Native people for the sins of our past.  The apology was read at the second World Christian Gathering of Indigenous People, which was held in Rapid City, SD in 1998.  Click to read our statement of apology.

Our Core Values

• Biblical Integrity – The Bible is our measuring rod for everything we do.
• Cultural Respect and Relevance – Ministry activities and resources are respectful of, and relevant to, the Native culture they are intended for.
• Reproducible Models – The development of reproducible models for community outreach, economic development, leadership development, and church multiplication.
• Biblical Mutuality – The fostering of mutual relationships between Native and non-Native people, leaders, and churches.
• Operational Integrity – Our day-to-day operational practices will be a consistent model of integrity, efficiency, and accountability.
• Prayer – Prayer is our foundation, empowering us for ministry, recognizing that nothing of eternal value happens apart from prayer.