Vantage point
Because One Person Came
John E. Maracle is the president (and chief) of the Native
American Fellowship of the Assemblies of God. He tells me the AG has the
second-largest outreach in the United States to American Indians. We have 191
churches and three Bible colleges.
That’s good. But there are 601 different Indian tribes
across the nation. That means we don’t even have one church for every three
tribes!
And every tribe is different, according to Maracle.
“There’s as much difference in American Indian tribes as
there is between a Norwegian and a Japanese,” he says.
Maracle, who is also an executive presbyter of the AG, spoke
in our headquarters chapel in June of this year. A leading member of the Mohawk
nation, he shared the following about his godly heritage:
“It was because one person came to my reserve — my
reservation — and a Pentecostal revival broke out that my grandmother
gave her heart to the Lord. Because that one person came, my mom and my dad and
my brother and my sisters and my aunts and my uncles know Jesus Christ today as
Lord and Savior. Because that one person came, my grandmother led me to the
Lord when I was 5 years old. Because that one person came, when my father came
back from the war, Brother Joseph Flower was there to lead my dad to the Lord.”
Because one person came, generations of Maracles know Jesus
and have, in return, led countless others to the Lord.
What an example. The AG is involved in ministry to and by many other ethnic groups. But many still need a stronger gospel witness.
Perhaps someone reading this will be the next one to make a
huge difference in a life, a family, a people.
Today, Intercultural Ministries Day, we celebrate our unity
in Jesus in the midst of our differences in culture.
Ken Horn
E-mail your comments to pe@ag.org.
