“And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.”
The law maker in Leviticus states guidelines for caretaking to vineyards and farming throughout the text, but within those rules is the rules of caretaking of one another. Center for Indigenous Ministries and Disciples Public Presence are two seemingly separate ministries, though their missions are just as aligned as the agricultural laws in Leviticus.
Center for Indigenous Ministries (CIM) is a ministry set to bring greater awareness to Disciples about indigenous history, justice, and truthtelling in the US, Canada, and beyond. The center’s goal is to have Disciples understand their own history with indigenous peoples, understand the Christian Doctrine of Discovery, and how settler colonialism influenced Disciple theology. Important to this work is to engender denominational structural change in favor of indigenous justice in Disciple congregations, regions, general ministries, and institutions of higher learning.
Disciples Public Presence (DPP) is a Facebook group where Disciples from across the US and Canada can share their justice work and activities. DPP started in 2017, and since then has gained traction in creating a network to showcase justice work as well as learn about justice issues and opportunities to participate in actions and events. The group (clergy and laity) now has over 1,400 members.
If you want to be involved in either ministry, you can do so by:
Center for Indigenous Ministries
Contacting CIM and doing intentional work on indigenous history in the US and Canada.
Congregations can develop a land acknowledgement of ancient indigenous peoples for use in each worship service.
Seminaries, colleges, regions, and congregations can contact CIM to develop indigenous lenses for their institutions.
Disciples Public Presence
Join the Facebook group here
Post the justice work that you or your congregation is doing on the page.
See and join in discussion on what’s going on around the country and the world.