Navajo – Gallup, NM – Youth

How You Will Minister (Navajo-Gallup, NM – Youth)

What Is Needed:
You’ll help a Navajo congregation of the Body of Christ train leaders to organize and direct the growth and activities of churches in Gallup. The pastor has shared his vision for developing teachers and leaders at Native Bible Fellowship. Other churches in the Gallup area will be invited to send candidates to join in the training. A big undertaking, he’s asked for our help. Here’s a chance to work alongside Natives who are accepting responsibility for their own spiritual growth.

What You Will Do:
Your core ministry will be support for the T-TH Teacher Training Camp, roughly 6:30-8PM at the church. Please bring or rent vans to pick up and return some of those who attend. Local adults will train for church leadership in Sunday school, youth ministry, special events and activities, and work service. The AIM team will provide coffee and refreshments during break time.
 
Expect a lot of children. Your team will host the youth and kids all three nights. Kids 12 and under will be rotated through sessions for arts and crafts, games, and program/skits. Youth 13+ will be in a group just for teens. Their discussion should address serious issues faced by teens today, what God says about those issues, and how Jesus can get them through the tough times with grace and peace. Before coming to New Mexico, your team will develop the topics, materials, discussion outlines, and appropriate verses for all three nights.

How You Can Pray:

About This Location:

The Navajo call themselves Dine', meaning The People. Most speak English as well as Navajo. Historians credit Navajo soldiers during World War II for helping to win the war in their role as Code Talkers. Using the Native language, they created a code that was never broken by the Japanese.

The Navajo have successfully kept their culture intact, so their perspective is often very different from visiting Anglos. Advance study about the culture will help to avoid misunderstandings. Many Navajo are cautious when interacting with visitors, so honesty is the key to building relationships. And it's important to only make promises you can keep.

Traditional Dine' base their way of life on a belief that the physical and spiritual worlds blend together, and everything on earth is alive and sacred.  Two major ceremonies are the Blessing Way, which keeps them on the path of harmony and wisdom; and the Enemy Way, a healing ceremony which discourages evil spirits. Traditional Dine' believe that the Earth People are ordinary mortals, while the Holy People are spiritual beings that cannot be seen. The Holy Ones live in the four sacred mountains in each of the four directions, thus creating the boundaries of Navajo lands.

Food and Lodging:

We will eat, meet, shower, and sleep at the church. Most of our ministry will be shared there.