TUCSON, Ariz. – Many members of Native American communities have ties to traditional culture, spirituality and values that have been passed down for thousands of years. So when a tribal member converts to Christianity, some face tension or conflict with family, friends and elders who don’t understand the decision.

“We are a people that see religion and culture as almost one and the same, there’s no separation between the two,” said Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert, a professor of history and head of American Indian Studies at the University of Arizona. “This makes it very difficult and problematic for Christians to embrace Christianity while at the same time wanting to stay connected to the Indigenous spiritual world of native cultures.”

Gilbert, a Christian and a member of the Hopi tribe, said he inherited his character, work ethic and Christian faith from previous generations. 

Decades ago, his great grandfather, Victor Sakiestewa, was sent by the federal government to an Indian boarding school in Riverside, Calif., where he was exposed to Christian teachings. 

Church-and government-run Indian residential schools in the United States were established in the mid-1600s to assimilate Indigenous children to Anglo-American culture. The schools were notorious for harsh conditions, abuse and forcing children to abandon their culture, language, identities and names. At least 973 American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian children died in those schools, though the real number is likely greater.

Last year, then-President Joe Biden issued an official apology for the abuse children faced in those schools and its long-lasting impacts on Indigenous communities.

“In some sense, one might say that the forced removal to off reservation boarding schools was a horrible thing because it took them away from their parents,” Gilbert said. “But at the same time, I believe God used even the boarding schools to make Himself known.”

He said bible studies at the boarding school planted the seed for the Gilbert family’s conversion to Christianity.

“My grandfather took that knowledge and faith back with him to the reservations,” he said. “I look back at that time and I’m very grateful as a Christian, and how God had mercy on our family by bringing the gospel to us.”

He and his wife raise their four children in the Christian faith, but face what he describes as subtle scrutiny and backlash from some people in his tribe. 

He said his tribe respects his long Hopi lineage, but some see him as “less Hopi” because of his faith.

“And that’s okay,” he said. “As Paul says in Romans 1, ‘I am not ashamed of the gospel.’ To follow Christ means to take up your cross and follow Him, even if that means family turns against you.”

Delphina Johnson, is Navajo and co-director of the native nations network for the UA Navigators ministry. She said her faith has also led to tension with her family at times.

“Most of the connection with family and community usually happens within traditional ceremonial places, because most ceremonies take a lot of people to make it happen,” she said. “Then comes the judgement of family members of ‘Why don’t you join us in the sacred spaces.’”

Because ceremonies are often based on traditional tribal spiritual beliefs, Johnson said she and other Christians often find it difficult to participate. Despite this separation, Johnson said her heart is concerned about restoring the relationship between her culture and the misconceptions of her faith. “I have a real desire to show that being a Christian doesn’t mean denying our cultural identity,” she said.

Johnson said her faith reminds some Native Americans of the colonization that plagued their lands, communities, families and stories.

“We have to reconcile the atrocities of colonization on our communities and our people, because Christianity came through colonization historically,” she said. “It’s just a hard one for Indigenous people to understand and grapple with.”

UA student Ruth Kinyaa’aanii Mountz is Navajo and said she is trying to reconcile her cultural and religious identities.

“I think that’s something that I’ve had to learn – finding beauty in my culture and understanding that all of this isn’t for my God, but there’s still beauty in it and I can still embrace my culture in certain ways,” she said.

She is a member of the UA Navigators ministry and a campus evangelist. 

She was raised Christian, attending church with her grandfather in Casa Grande, but experienced challenges growing her faith as an Indigenous person.

While she understands the need to hold on to culture and history, she said she believes forgiveness, reconciliation and growth will lead to healing.

“Yes, our ancestry is terrible and the history that we’ve experienced was terrible, and white people haven’t been good to us, but at the end of the day we still have to extend that forgiveness,” she said. “I wish we just had enough foresight that we have to forgive and move on in order to thrive as a community.”

She said her grandfather, a long-time pastor, was forcibly removed to a government-run Indian boarding school where he was abused as a child. She thinks he hasn’t moved past that experience despite being a leader in the church.

And while she said she wishes life had been better for people like her grandfather, she also believes God was always working even amid the abuse and mistreatment.

“At the root of our situation is that we wouldn’t know Christ if it hadn’t been for a white man, and those past and present in our culture just have to acknowledge that fact,” she said.

Embracing Christianity can be difficult for many Indigenous people.

“It’s difficult for Native Americans to embrace Christianity because it’s a huge disconnect from our culture,” said Nadia Martinez, 24.

An Apache and Tohono O’odham member, she said she doesn’t affiliate with any religion. She said Christian missionaries and others have tried to impose their beliefs on her people.   

“Since the beginning white people have forced many Natives to assimilate to their version of perfection,” she said. “But Christianity and Indigenous cultures are very different, with little to no similarities between the two.”

But Indigenous Christians like Gilbert, Johnson and Mountz say they continue to practice their faith without shame.

“We have a lot of work to do as ministers, and part of that change is looking at what has worked and what hasn’t, and maybe now it’s time to affirm our culture,” Johnson said. 

“Coming to faith as a young Indigenous woman in her 20s, and the spiritual transformation that happened in me, and seeing myself come to a place of peace, hope, joy, and fulfillment, that’s what I want for others and for the next generation after us,” she said.