Part of what I love to do with this podcast is highlight some voices that often get overlooked. Cultures that are often pushed to the margins of influence in the Church but have so much to offer us.
Today I’m speaking with Terry Wildman. Terry is the Lead Translator of the First Nations Version of the Bible. Currently there is a New Testament and Psalms and Proverbs available. And the Old Testament is currently being developed.
Terry is a man with native ancestry who grew up in Michigan, was saved during the Jesus Movement, and became pastor early on in his life. What’s fascinating about Terry’s story is he wasn’t exposed to the history of indigenous people until later in life.
That knowledge led him down a path of decolonizing his faith, becoming a missionary to native peoples, and learning how to disentangle what is the way of Jesus and what is not.
This is a deep conversation. Some hard topics. Difficult history. But a challenge we all need.
Topics Covered:
- Terry’s journey of discovering his Native ancestry and culture
- Why what we’ve learned about Indians in American history is wrong
- Why we need exposure to indigenous Bible interpretation
- What makes unity between Native Peoples and the church challenging in our political moment
- What Christians in America can do today to help Native people
- Why we need to decolonize the Bible
- The history of Native Bible translation
- Terry’s favorite Indigenous names for God the Father and Jesus Christ
- Why native people view their tribes through the lens of a matriarchal, rather than patriarchal system
Resources Mentioned:
- Show Sponsor: Planning Center
- First Nations Version: An Indigenous Translation of the New Testament
- First Nations Version: Psalms And Proverbs
- Reading the Bible on Turtle Island: An Invitation to North American Indigenous Interpretation
- One Church, Many Tribes: Following Jesus the Way God Made You by Richard Twiss
- Rescuing the Gospel From the Cowboys: A Native American Expression of the Jesus Way by Richard Twiss
- Birth of the Chosen One: A First Nations Retelling of the Christmas Story by Terry Wildman
- Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask
Show Sponsor:
This episode is brought to you by Planning Center, helping you sync all your ministry details across your whole church.
Planning Center has become so essential to how I manage a team, that it’s almost impossible to consider local church ministry without it anymore.
Today, I want to leave you with a PCO pro-tip.
Does this sound like a familiar situation? It’s the end of the week. You’re about to leave the office when you suddenly think: Did all of our volunteers confirm for Sunday? You scroll through the schedule and sure enough—there’s a gap.
Instead of allowing yourself to spiral into a panic, try this:
In Services, Planning Center has gap alerts. Turn them on, and you’ll get a heads-up days before service if positions are still unfilled or unconfirmed. No more end of the week scrambling.
Speaking of less scrambling, did you know you can access everything you need for rehearsals right from the Service media player on your phone? Lyrics, chord charts, arrangement notes—it’s all right there, so you’re not hunting for files in the middle of hitting those power chords.
To see what else you can do to make your Sundays easier, go to planningcenter.com/blog.