Past & Present
Missions Outreach
Mission work among
the Dineh (Navajo) began in the mid to late 1800’s, and by the early 1900’s
many mission agencies had established work on the reservation.
It has
only been since the mid 1970’s, however, that the task of building
God’s church among the Dineh (Navajo) has taken on a more indigenous
flavor.
Believers are gathering for worship and instruction in Dineh (Navajo)
churches pastored by their own people.
Hardrock Community Church
In fall of 1937, a local Dineh (Navajo) headman gave permission for his land to
be used for a church, and resident Ameritribes missionaries began ministry
in January 1939. Today there is an incorporated Dineh (Navajo) church under the
direction of Native leadership.
Piñon Gospel Church
As early as 1936, Ameritribes began reaching out to the Dineh (Navajo) in the
central portion of the reservation around the small community of Piñon.
On October 25, 2000, Piñon Gospel Church incorporated with the
Dineh (Navajo) Nation.
Dineh (Navajo) Bible Translation
With few completed Scriptures in Native American languages, the entire
Bible in Dineh (Navajo) has for years been a significant translation milestone.
In the 1940’s Wycliffe Bible Translator Turner Blount (former
Ameritribes Board Member) was part of a team that began translation
of scriptures into Dineh (Navajo). This project was completed in the mid-1980’s.
Ameritribes staff provided leadership for the Dineh (Navajo) revision team that
completed the entire Dineh (Navajo) Bible in 2000.
Literacy
& JESUS Film
Accompanying the newly revised Dineh (Navajo) Bible was an album of cassette tapes
containing recordings of the New Testament read by Dineh (Navajo). This project
was supervised by Ameritribes staff.
In 1988, the Campus Crusade JESUS
film in Dineh (Navajo) was completed as a project of Ameritribes and shown reservation-wide.