Chatting about Crisis + Care Pt III: The Outlands Response June 2024 Newsletter
- Tessa Depuy
- Jun 2, 2024
- 6 min read
Updated: Jun 8, 2024
What a fun time to sit down for a lovely conversation with one of my closest friends, Nic, recently to reconnect and chat about all the things connected to my heart and work on the U.S. Indian Reservations alongside Native America. I wanted to share more goodness from our conversation here, as I think it will provide an excellent perspective into what makes my heart tick for Native America.
This newsletter is part of a mini-series, where I share snapshots from this conversation.
Today, I am sharing Part III of our conversation in this post. Here's Part I and Part II of the conversation if you have not had the chance to read the series yet; I think you'll really enjoy it!
Grab some coffee or tea; let's jump back into this lighthearted and engaging sibling banter!
**Tessa's Note: the word "REZ" used throughout this conversation refers to the 326 U.S. Indian Reservations, government-allotted swathes of land held in trust for Native American tribes. Learn more.
Nic: What about frontier unreached people groups of the world? I mean, Native America is already reached, right? Shouldn't we focus our efforts on remote jungles or something?
Tessa: Excellent question! I have two thoughts on this subject that are more interdependent than you might think, more so than is generally shared in the missions conversation.
Let's start with a definition. According to the Joshua Project, a Frontier People Group (FPG) is (a) an unreached people group, (b) with virtually no followers of Jesus and (c) no known movements to Jesus, and (d) still needing pioneer cross-cultural workers.
My first thought is to remember: by much of the metrics of evangelization, the REZ is still a wild, forgotten, and desolate frontier for the Gospel. This is primarily because initial efforts among Native Americans were ill-conceived, poorly implemented, and left incomplete.
My second thought and the short answer that gets to the heart of the matter: Absolutely!
We need to focus our efforts on the frontier of God's Kingdom -- the dark, dangerous, and despised places where the Gospel is not known! FPGs are a precious portion of the nations for whom I have a special heart to connect and share God's redeeming hope.
In fact, here's the grand vision, Lord willing: indigenous believers from the REZ becoming a strong component of the global missional force among FPGs. I desperately yearn for Natives to make disciples of their own families and neighbors within U.S. Indian reservation communities, AND ultimately explode into a flourishing, organic people movement to Christ that affects the frontier, unreached, global indigenous world for Jesus.
After all, Jesus gave us this charge as our Elder, Teacher, and Friend:
"'All the authority of the spirit-world above and the earth below has been given to me... So now I am sending you into all nations to teach them how to walk the road with me.
You will represent me as you perform the purification ceremony [i.e. baptism] with them, initiating them into the life of beauty and harmony represented in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You will teach them all the ways that I have instructed you to walk in.' Jesus then looked into their faces with love and great affection.
He lifted his hands towards them and spoke these final blessing words over them. 'Never forget,' he said as he began to rise up into the spirit-world above. 'I will always be with you, your invisible guide, walking beside you, until the new age has fully come.'"
[MATTHEW 28:18-20 First Nations Version]
Aho! May it be so. Let's circle back around to partner with our Native friends, and together, we can courageously complete the ultimate task and great honor that Jesus bestowed on us.
Nic: Where do you plan to start? What are the first steps?
Tessa: What comes to mind as you ask that question is a story from Corrie ten Boom's Hiding Place, where little Corrie is worried about the danger of unknown, future troubles. Her father seizes the moment to share a lesson from the heart, asking her when she usually expects to receive her train ticket whenever they travel. Corrie responds, Why, just before we get on train! Her father encourages her, "'Exactly. And our wise Father in heaven knows when we're going to need things, too. Don't run out ahead of Him, Corrie.'" True indeed!
Just so, that's where I am starting -- I'm learning not to run out ahead of my good Father when attempting to plan out the steps of this endeavor. So my first step: slow down! I desire to listen attentively and respond sweetly to the guidance given by my good Shepherd.
Even so, there is still a moundful of details and logistics that need sorting through, and it can feel very overwhelming, to say the least. But I desperately want to "finish the race, keep the faith" (2 Timothy 4:7 ESV), so I am currently praying for greater courage to "boldly proclaim the mystery of the gospel" (Ephesians 6:19 ESV) of peace.
I know that is far more abstract and esoteric than my supporters want to hear right now as I am building momentum and stepping out in faith, but that is where I am honestly. I would ask those who love and support me to join me in prayer to discern and clarify with the Lord the specific, tangible next steps I need to take. Good thing God knows better than me!
Nic: I'm sure the life logistics are interesting, to say the least. I understand people often ask this, but let's chat about it here: do you personally plan to actually move to the REZ? Why or why not?
Tessa: It's a good question, one that I have seriously considered and prayed through over the years. It can be an easy assumption, one that I made myself for many years! You know, that it is practically a requirement to physically move to the REZ to pursue this vision.
Interestingly enough, I have NO plans in the works to make a permanent move to the REZ. That is because I can confidently say, through much prayer and discernment, that the Lord has not led me in that direction.
You know, I fought the idea of staying in Denver for a good many years, most of my twenties. I was convinced the only way God could use me was to make the move! But as the Holy Spirit softened my stance towards my calling and future, there is now so much peace.
God can always adjust my perspective and change my direction; I am eager to respond to the Holy Spirit's leadership in my life. But as it currently stands, the Lord has not led me to plan a life-altering move. Rather, as He works in mysterious ways, God continues to guide me toward stronger connections with my community and support system in Denver.
There is now a serious element of the vision for fashioning my home base of Denver into an operational hub and headquarters for Outlands Response. Serving as a central location, Denver will be a hatchery for team development and creation, crisis specialist and disciple training, and logistical assistance. Thus, we will have a greater capacity to support multiple crisis response teams in multiple REZ communities across the United States and overseas.
What makes me most excited about this idea is that this Denver-based model empowers our Native companions to be the central catalysts of transformational grace among their own people, rather than animated by outside puppetmasters. As our tagline emphasizes:
Natives Will Help Natives
Natives Will Train Natives
Natives Will Love Natives
Natives Will Disciple Natives
Sometimes, God's ways of working out Kingdom endeavors are weird but wonderful. I look forward to seeing how God continues to unfold the particulars of this missions effort.
[Tessa's Note: Well folks! I originally planned on making this a three-part series, but it looks like we need just one more installment to fit all the good, juicy topics that were discussed.
STAY TUNED FOR THE FOURTH AND FINAL PART.]
How to Partner
I am so honored and humbled to have the support of so many wonderful people. Thank you sincerely from the bottom of my heart for coming alongside me in this bold endeavor.
May God the Father be praised for the fruit produced by these small but mighty efforts.
Let's connect! Please reach out to engage on any of these topics in greater detail. I would love to sit down for coffee (tea for me please!) sometime soon, I'm excited to hear from you.
Prayer is and will always remain my biggest need. Sign up for in-the-field text prayer updates! Send a text message to the phone number 81010 with the code @rezupdate in the message to opt into text notifications of all major ministry developments.
I invite you to partner with me financially in this important work. Please prayerfully consider a treasured monthly partnership or a welcomed one-time gift – whatever the Lord leads you to provide will be a tremendous blessing to this blossoming work. All donations are tax-deductible through the 501c3 non-profit organization, Urban Skye.
I welcome your active partnership as this task should only be done together. Thank you so much!!
God's servant for your sake,
Tessa
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