Church addresses historic injustice to Indigenous neighbors

Key points:

• Marshallton United Methodist Church, a primarily white congregation in West Chester, Pennsylvania, has adopted a statement acknowledging that it gathers on land historically owned by Indigenous people.
• The congregation also is walking alongside St. John United Methodist Church in Bridgeton, New Jersey, one of the oldest historically Native American churches.
• In addition to partnering in ministry, Marshallton members want to continue to learn from St. John as part of their ongoing work to dismantle racism.

A Philadelphia-area United Methodist church recently reached a major milestone in its journey to address historic racial injustice toward Indigenous people its area.

The path included reaching back in time to learn a poignant local history and reaching across the Delaware River to share in ministry and fellowship with a historic Native American church in New Jersey.

Established in 1828, Marshallton United Methodist Church in West Chester, Pennsylvania, is “walking the good road” (a Native American expression of mutual respect and fellowship) alongside St. John United Methodist Church in Bridgeton, New Jersey.

The fifth-oldest historically Native American church in the denomination and one of only three outside of Oklahoma, St. John, now multiracial, was established in 1841 by mostly Lenni Lenape people, who are indigenous to Delaware, New Jersey, Eastern Pennsylvania and southern New York.

They were the first Native Americans to encounter European explorers in their region in the 1500s. In 1682, the Quaker William Penn negotiated a peace treaty with Lenape Chief Tamanend to establish the Pennsylvania colony. Both expressed a desire for harmony “as long as the rivers and creeks flow, and the sun, moon, and stars shine,” in the chief’s words. 

But eventually most of the Lenape were displaced and dispersed, as their land was taken by encroaching settlers who had different ideas about land ownership. Those who established St. John were able to avoid the U.S. government’s later forced migration of Native peoples westward. 

“We did not want to gather in Oklahoma,” said Cynthia Mosley, a Nanticoke Lenni Lenape and longtime leader of St. John. “The Indian Removal Act (passed by Congress and signed by President Andrew Jackson in 1830) presented a very frightening possibility: leaving a place that we loved and going somewhere that we knew nothing about.

“Most people left due to fear of the aggressive nature of taking our homes,” she said. “My extended family tell the story of walking for eight years, stopping on the way to bury their dead, to wait on babies to be born, for animals to rest, etc.

“The people that stayed here hid in plain sight,” Mosley said. “Their church was the only place to gather without risk of physical removal by the government. Both groups took chances.”

Land acknowledgment

Marshallton’s milestone came Oct. 12 during its Native American Sunday worship service, when church leaders read to the congregation their official land acknowledgment statement written and approved after months of research and consultation. The next day, Oct. 13, was Indigenous Peoples Day, observed by many as an alternative to the controversial Columbus Day national holiday.

A land acknowledgment confirms a congregation’s recognition that it gathers on the traditional, unceded lands of Indigenous peoples. More than just a symbolic gesture, such acknowledgments involve learning about and respecting the history of the land and the sovereignty and rights of its original, dispossessed inhabitants, while taking meaningful action toward reconciliation.

“In a spirit of gratitude and humility, we acknowledge that our church and our homes in this area today stand on the unceded ancestral land of the Lenni Lenape,” begins Marshallton’s land acknowledgment statement. Its reading climaxed a special worship service that also featured information presented by church leaders about the little-known history and culture of the original inhabitants in the Brandywine Creek area — part of a larger territory they called Lenapehoking — and the first Europeans to settle there.

The Lenape in Pennsylvania, whose name means “Original People,” lost their land to white settlers through fraudulent treaties and deeds, ownership disputes, violence and displacement, which forced most of them to migrate to present-day Ohio, Oklahoma, Kansas and Wisconsin, and also northwest to Ontario, Canada. Much of their public history is lost, save for the names of some familiar landmarks, including parks, trails, creeks and roads, and other noteworthy reminders of their former presence.

Mosley and Barbara Revere of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference Committee on Native American Ministry advised the church in preparing its land acknowledgment during the past year. Marshallton is the third church that Eastern Pennsylvania’s committee has aided in preparing land acknowledgment statements since 2023. Mosley also chairs the Greater New Jersey Conference Committee on Native American Ministry.

“We’ve received several requests to help churches do land acknowledgments,” said Revere, who offers to help them use the land acknowledgment resource provided by the Native American Intertribal (formerly International) Caucus of The United Methodist Church. “Most of them don’t want to follow the process. It takes some commitment. But Marshallton did the research and most of the work on their own.”

The Rev. David Eckert, Marshallton’s pastor, led the congregation’s Native American-themed worship, including prayers, hymns, liturgy and a Scripture reading from the First Nations Version New Testament, described as a “culturally authentic translation of the New Testament through Native American storytelling traditions, created by Indigenous elders and pastors to bridge cultural perspectives through sacred narratives.”

The mission-minded church decided to do a land acknowledgment in 2023, the year Eckert became its pastor. The church’s anti-racism covenant group, named Path Toward Wholeness, wanted to “authentically engage in Native American ministry beyond just doing worship that contained Native American elements but lacked genuine relationships,” he recalled.

Mission partnership

With no recognized Native American tribe in Eastern Pennsylvania, some Marshallton members crossed both the Delaware River and their conference boundary in June 2024 to attend the Nanticoke Lenni Lenape Annual Pow Wow in Salem County, New Jersey. There they met Mosley and began exploring possibilities for a mission partnership with her Greater New Jersey Conference church. More Marshallton members soon began visiting there to learn and labor with her in ministry, forging a friendship of generosity and gratitude.

“I was hesitant at first to ask what our white church could come and do for this Native American church,” said Lay Leader Lisa Bowser. “But Cyndi wrote right back with a bunch of ideas on how we could work together.”

Bowser and other members returned one morning in November 2024 to witness one of St. John’s bimonthly distributions of free, nutritious food, plus clothing to their neighbors in need. They watched as an endless queue of vehicles streamed through the church’s parking lot, while hardworking volunteers placed requested items in recipients’ car trunks. The visitors brought donated children’s pajamas and cleaning supplies to add to the distribution.

“I thought there is no way they could give away this much food, but they did,” Bowser said. “And it wasn’t just giving away food; it was the kindness and love they showed to everybody. I remember feeling it myself. It wasn’t just about giving food; it was about giving hope. And that really stuck with me.”

Marshallton also blessed St. John with its 2024 Christmas Eve service offering. And about 15 church members and friends signed up to visit St. John on May 31 to help renovate a deteriorating handicap access ramp with materials purchased and donated by members. Torrential rain forced them to cancel the trip, but a team of seven, led by Eckert and Bowser, came the next day and did the job.

More members returned June 29 to attend St. John’s Native American Heritage Sunday program, typically held on fifth Sundays during worship. Those programs often involve Mosley recounting the painful but proud history of her Lenni Lenape people and her church, in addition to sharing current societal concerns and Indigenous prayers, songs, symbols and sometimes drumming and dances.

After months of preparation, about 50 people attended the Oct. 12 Native American Sunday service.

It was “a very good attendance for us,” said Eckert. He cited positive feedback, including a new church member whom Eckert quoted as saying: “It’s powerful to think about what we did to Native American people. I know we can never make it right, but this seems like an important first step.”

‘You are our family’

Marshallton, which officially approved the land acknowledgment proclamation at its recent charge conference, will frame and prominently display it, Eckert reported. And the learning and engagement with St. John will grow, as members continue to work on dismantling racism while treading their Path Toward Wholeness.  

Mosley attended the service, along with Revere, and received the gift of a ceremonial turkey feather, which in many Native American traditions symbolizes abundance and gratitude, among other virtues. She expressed thanks in her closing remarks and praised Marshallton for seeking a meaningful, helpful relationship with her church that extends beyond merely wanting to enjoy its Lenape cultural heritage, as many visitors do.

She also reported that her community, located in New Jersey’s poorest county per capita, “suffers from serious financial needs” that are being “magnified” daily.

“So, we want to thank you for all of the things you’re doing along with us,” she said. “You are our family. We are an example of how Indian churches can live through family relationships with other churches. And that’s why we welcome you on this land.”

Coleman is a UM News correspondent and part-time pastor.Contact him at 615-742-5470 or newsdesk@umnews.org. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free UM News Digests.