Healing Coalition
First Nations Healing Coalition
First Nations Healing Coalition (FNHC) is comprised of several First Nations ministries and churches that are committed to establishing God’s ordained purpose and destiny for North America’s Indigenous tribal groups.
In the U. S. there are over 585 federally recognized tribes and over 600 bands in Canada. In total population, numbering over five million, only 7-8 percent have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. The low salvation rates are directly related to the church’s alignment with the United States and Canadian governments in their efforts to forcibly assimilate the Indigenous populations into the European perception of civilized society.
Through ill-advised federal policies, both state and church instigated efforts left a tragic and trauma filled trail of devastation, death, and loss in its wake. Living on isolated and barren reservations, far from the daily awareness of the average American or Canadian citizen, First Nations people continue in their struggle to overcome the indelible psychological imprint left by their horrific historical experience.
With suicide rates - primarily among the youth - of more than 10 times the national average on some reservations, the hopelessness and despair can be overwhelming. The high unemployment rates, generational impoverishment, alcohol and drug problems, domestic violence, and a host of other social problems make reservation life tremendously challenging. Clearly, the healing gospel of Jesus Christ is needed here.
However, today there is still a strong resistance to the gospel among many of the tribes. Much of this hostility is majorly attributed to the Indian Boarding School system originally launched by the U.S. government in 1879 at Carlisle PA. Working with several church denominations, the federal government forced Native American families to release their children into the hands of governmentally funded church workers.
The Native children were taken to boarding school sites in various parts of the country. Once in the schools the children were separated from all that was familiar to them and were introduced to educational programming that focused on civilizing and Christianizing them. Their hair was cut, they were stripped of their native attire, and they were not allowed to speak their tribal languages. Everything related to their cultural identity and families was forcibly stripped from them.
Children were systematically abused in the boarding schools. There is scores of testimony documenting the physical, spiritual, emotional, and sexual abuse suffered by the children. Any child caught speaking his/her original tribal language was immediately punished, in many cases, with extreme severity. One survivor stated, “I was only seven years old, I didn’t know any other language, yet I was whipped by a 250 pound man three to four times a week.” He went on to say; “If your God is the same God of those that regularly beat me, then I want nothing to do with that God.”
The church groups that aligned with the government in the Boarding School Initiative included; the Catholic, Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian, Congregational, United Church of Christ, Episcopalian, and Mennonite churches. Sadly, these church groups grievously mispresented the message of Jesus Christ to North America’s Native people.
As a consequence of this pain-filled period of history, most Native populations turned away from the gospel of Jesus Christ and reverted back to their traditional religious systems. Today the pain of the past reverberates in the hearts and minds of most Native people and their resistance to the gospel has steadily intensified. Instead of the name of Christ being revered, it is looked upon with distain.
In speaking of Jesus Christ, the word says – “nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among man by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:13). Additionally, Jesus said; “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through Me” (Jn. 14:6). Sadly, for the Native people the only way to our heavenly Father has been greatly hindered by the wicked and malicious behavior of workers, members, and leaders of church groups claiming to represent Jesus Christ.
As a consequence of this painful and tragic history some members of FNHC focus on therapeutic evangelism, which asks the question; “how can we help bring healing to your community?” Our answer to this question is to send healing teams trained and equipped to understand and address the historical wounds with Spirit-inspired biblically based solutions. When the Spirit of God comes in to touch individuals they soon realize that the God of the gospel of Jesus Christ loves them and desires to heal them. Essentially, the proof is in the pudding.
Overall FNHC has six goals they aspire to achieve. Those goals include:
Mobilize First Nations people to passionately pray and intercede for their tribes, communities, and the nation.
Facilitate the healing and restoration of First Nations people and their communities.
Develop strong healthy First Nations leadership.
Establish the Host People in their God ordained position and role within the body of Christ.
Restore social and economic stability within First Nations communities.
Unite with the body of Christ for the healing of America’s wounds.
We ask you to unite with us in seeing true justice come for First Nations people and their communities, with effective healing and restoration strategies. The ultimate outcome is that God’s original redemptive purpose and destiny for the Indigenous people of North America would be established.
We firmly believe that moving forward in this God honoring agenda will result in His grace and healing spilling over into other wounded ethnic groups and even into the eventual healing of America. Following are several suggested prayer points to consider when joining with us in interceding for God’s outcomes for the FNHC effort.
- Ask God to provide the financial capability for the vision and purpose of FNHC to be fulfilled. Ask Him to send benefactors to walk alongside FNHC and those who want to see healing come to First Nations people and eventually America.
- Ask God to gather the Indigenous nations of North America together to catch the vision and join in a united front to see their tribal groups and their communities saved, healed, and restored.
- Pray that the Church of Jesus Christ will confess and repent for the sins of their spiritual fathers for the damage and devastation to Native people and for misrepresenting His name in the earth.
- Pray that God will anoint and empower the Host People of North America to rise up in their authority to prayerfully dismantle and displace the dark spiritual powers that have ruled in the land since ancient times.
If you would like to partner with the members of FNHC you may go to the donate button on this web site and make you gift through Pay Pal. You may also mail your gift to: First Nations Restoration Ministries, P.O. Box 813, O’Fallon, MO 63366. Please designate that your gift is specifically for FNHC ministry efforts.
In advance, we thank you for partnering with us to see God redeem His people and this continent for His purposes. May God richly bless you for standing with us for His healing and restoration agenda for our First Nations people and America.
Ivan G. Doxtator
Executive Director-FNRM