Joshua Bohannon & Missions to Native Americans

 By Barry Waugh - Posted at Presbyterians of the Past:

From the very earliest days of Presbyterianism in Colonial America there were ministers involved in evangelism among their Indian neighbors. One missionary was Presbyterian minister David Brainerd who established a church for Indians near Freehold, New Jersey, but his ministry was short-lived because he died of tuberculosis when but twenty-nine years old. Jonathan Edwards’s family in Northampton cared for him during his last days and he was so impressed with Brainerd’s work that he published his journal in 1749. Brainerd’s influence on Edwards contributed to his decision to pastor the Congregational Church in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, while also serving as a missionary to the Mohican people.

Evangelism among the native nations by pastors continued but it was in 1803 that the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA) appointed its first minister responsible for Indian missions. He was Gideon Blackburn who was fittingly qualified for work among the Cherokees in rugged eastern Tennessee because his ministerial gifts were enhanced by frontiersman knowledge and skills. When he preached his Bible was in hand with a musket leaning against the pulpit. It had to be challenging to show compassionate gospel ministry to the Cherokees while keeping an eye out for one’s own safety. Blackburn not only provided pastoral ministry but also operated schools for the Cherokee children.

Following the Civil War both the PCUSA and the Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) operated missions in the Indian Territory in what became Oklahoma in 1907. The Territory was established in conjunction with the Indian Removal Act of May 28, 1830 that was enacted during the administration of President Andrew Jackson. Relocation between 1830 and 1850 included over a hundred thousand members of the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole nations forced from their homes to the Territory with many dying along the way. Given the history of the Territory and resentment of these nations toward the Federal Government, the Presbyterians were challenged gaining the trust of those gathered on reservations in Oklahoma.

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