Grace and peace to you in the name of our Creator, Christ, and the Holy Spirit.
 
This Sunday, we pause with purpose to recognize Native American Ministries Sunday, one of The United Methodist Church’s six Special Sundays. It is more than a line on the liturgical calendar—it is a call to truth-telling, relationship-building, and mutual transformation.

Here in the Dakotas and Minnesota, we are deeply blessed to share this land with vibrant Indigenous communities, including the Dakota, Lakota, Nakota, Chippewa, Ojibwe (Anishinaabe), Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara and others whose stories, cultures, and wisdom have shaped this region long before our church buildings stood.
 
As your bishop, I want to invite you—individually and as congregations—to go deeper:
 
Learn. Engage the real histories of our region and the church’s role in that history. Read, listen, and open your hearts. Partner with our ministries at Spirit Lake Ministry Center and Tree of Life to begin or deepen your learning.
 
Connect. Reach out to local tribal communities, elders, and leaders—not to serve, but to build relationships grounded in respect and reciprocity. If your church is near a reservation or Native-led organization, begin by simply learning names and stories.
 
Give. Your gifts on this Special Sunday support scholarships for Native American seminarians and strengthen Native ministries across our connection—including those right here in our own area. Your generosity becomes a seed of justice.
 
Walk humbly. We in the church have not always walked rightly. And yet we are called now to walk differently. Not ahead, not behind, but alongside—led by the Spirit, listening well, and honoring the sacred journeys of our Native siblings.
 
I give thanks for the leadership of our CONAM teams, for our Native clergy and laity, and for the growing signs of healing and hope taking root among us. May we be a people who choose relationship over rhetoric, justice over sentiment, and love that is more than words.

In Christ’s service, 
 

Bishop Lanette Plambeck  
Dakotas-Minnesota Episcopal Area 
The United Methodist Church