Drew Jennings-Grisham

Drew Jennings-Grisham's Fundraiser

Join us and help make a difference in the lives and communities of Indigenous Christians and churches in Latin America image

Join us and help make a difference in the lives and communities of Indigenous Christians and churches in Latin America

With your support we can come alongside and support Indigenous Christians to transform their societies through a Gospel rooted in their own culture.

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Let's help build more resilient and effective Indigenous churches. Help us to construct new paradigms of mission “without conquest"—a mission that is humble (recognizes the value of each culture) and seeks to listen and learn from the voice of the other (recognizes the power of the Holy Spirit to work in the life of any person or culture) with the understanding that all followers of Christ are pilgrims that are walking along the same path together.

One way we believe we can accomplish this is by giving Indigenous Christians a platform to tell their story. Memoria Indigena is a place to celebrate the men and women in their churches and communities who have been important in the life of the Body of Christ in Indigenous communities and to critically reflect on their relationship with missionaries and non-Indigenous Christians.

Ultimately, our mission is to help build up Indigenous churches with a strong cultural identity and self-esteem who are convinced that Christ truly seeks to inhabit and transform their culture and who are actively seeking to serve their people in Jesus' name, transforming their societies for Christ.

So what can telling a story accomplish? Our effort to publish the histories of Indigenous churches and the missionary efforts to Indigenous peoples from the perspective of Indigenous peoples themselves will serve:

  • Locally: to help self-evaluate and consolidate the very identity of local churches so that they have a better understanding of their roots within the culture and history of their communities and a better knowledge of where they have come from, who they are and where they are going. A church with a solid identity and self-awareness will be healthier and more resilient.
  • Regionally: to create intercultural dialogue between Indigenous and non-Indigenous (urban or mestizo) churches which will help to improve relations and the balance of power between them. It can also demonstrate to the urban churches the importance of the use of a community's native language and culture in the transmission of the gospel and its taking root in the community.
  • Internationally: to help churches in "developed" nations (the West or "global north") to reevaluate their methods and ways of relating to Indigenous peoples in order to construct new paradigms of mission "without conquest"—a mission that is humble (recognizes the value of each culture) and seeks to listen and learn from the voice of the other (recognizes the power of the Holy Spirit to work in the life of any person or culture) with the understanding that all followers of Christ are pilgrims that are walking along the same path together.

In this process we are building an international community of Indigenous Christian leaders who long to see their cultures and communities transformed by the love of Christ. We are developing a program to accompany these leaders and help them access the formation and training they need to be more effective leaders and contextualizers of the gospel in their communities.

Just a small donation will go a long way to helping us meet our goal for MEMORIA INDIGENA and PEACE AND HOPE INTERNATIONAL. We need a minimum of $40,000 annually to support this important work. Please give today!