NANE President Speaks at Evangelical Church in Twin Cities
On Sunday, May 18th, NANE President Ryan O’Leary preached at NorthRidge Fellowship in the Twin Cities area. This congregation has been actively involved in Indigenous ministry for many years, with a mission’s team from this church ministering multiple times a year to people on Ryan’s home tribe, that being the Bois Forte or Nett Lake Band of Ojibwe.
Ryan’s message was based on the story of Jericho in Joshua chapter 6. In this message, Ryan talked about the physical walls that came down in this story. Ryan also noted in this message that there are various types of walls that exist today, and they are not always physical in their makeup. For example, Ryan shared about how many tribal people have a wall of resistance in their hearts toward the good news of a Jesus who came from His own tribe, the Tribe of Judah. He shared the reasons why many people have this resistance, and it is based upon things that have happened in North American history that has had Christianity attached to them. For example, Indian residential schools often taught Christianity, while too many Indigenous children endured various abuses in these schools.
Ryan then talked about a solution to this resistance. This includes seeing an omnipotent God at work as He can do anything and nothing is too difficult for Him. Ryan also stressed that the church must be faithful to do its part as well. Like in the story of Jericho, which required a leader (Joshua), the OT priests, careful obedience to God’s commands, good character as Israel kept its promise to Rahab to remove her from Jericho before it was destroyed, and to show mercy to people needing it, the church today needs leaders who lead, the priesthood of believers to engage in Native ministry, and a church that is also obedient to the Lord, that has good character, and shows mercy as well.
This wonderful congregation well received the message Ryan shared in the Twin Cities area.