Fern Cloud, Pastor

"So many of our people were told they couldn't be Christian and Indian; they had to choose," Fern Cloud discloses.

Similar beliefs by Euro-Americans in the past have prohibited women and Native Americans as a whole from preaching the gospel. Only recently did Native women such as Reverend Fern Cloud dare to dream of pastoring a church-especially a mainline Christian church.

Cloud, the great-great-granddaughter of Thaoyate Duta, "Little Crow," Chief of the Dakota people-relates that things changed somewhat when Little Crow allowed Presbyterians Dr. Thomas S. Williamson and licensed pastor Stephen Riggs to build a church and also a school for the Dakotas. "Their first students and first congregation were my great-great grandmothers. Minnesota Dakota people were the first contacts with the early Presbyterian missionaries, so, I'm very connected," she says.

"Unlike many earlier missionaries," she adds, "the Presbyterians supported the Dakotas in retaining their language through putting together a dictionary, allowing them to preach and sing in their language, and they supported keeping as much of the Dakota culture as possible."

However, some historians would argue that Stephen Riggs, like other Euro missionaries of his day, considered the Dakota people as caught in the "bonds of heathenism." But even though he sought to break the Dakota way of life and destroy their community property system, Fern Cloud, proud of her culture, still believes that overall, the gospel message is what "made our culture even better."

Reverend Cloud's desire to share the Gospel did not begin in church but in lay ministry while she was still non-denominational and working mostly with street people and the young. Then, in 1978, while Fern experienced complications during the birth of her youngest daughter, things took a turn in her spiritual life. For the first time, she acknowledged that there is a God.

"Don't let us die," she prayed to Him, "and I'll do anything for you."

She says her life turned around from that point.

Even so, Cloud did not become Presbyterian until 2000 when the Upper Sioux Community of Granite Falls, Minnesota asked her to pastor the Upper Sioux Reservation Pejuhutazizi Presbyterian Church-although she never pursued the position. "It just came to me," she says.

As Fern attended Bible college and studied the Bible, she came to understand that she could indeed be both Native and Christian and no longer felt she had to choose between being one or the other.

As she became more visible in the presbytery, she was delegated more responsibilities. The decision to accept the position as pastor also affords Cloud the opportunity to share the gospel within the context of the church and to minister and sing in her Native language. "It makes sense that that's the way God would have it," she says.

The pastor particularly enjoys the Learning Camps partnership between the Native American community and the Dakota Presbytery congregations of Baltimore. Founded in 2003 and established on the concept of respect, in 2010 the camps were chartered as a partnership of the Baltimore Presbytery under the Commission for Reconciliation.

"Instead of 'old school' vacation Bible school, Learning Camps come to bring Jesus. They display the gospel and love of Christ through helping students prepare for school and with their academics. Native People are a vital part in the Body of Christ," Reverend Fern Cloud believes. "America is our homeland. The Creator put us here as stewards of this land. So I am really excited that Native people are becoming more visible and a valued voice."

Sources:

Bairby, Ginna, Unbound webpage, Presbyterian Historical Society, Fern Cloud, Living History Film Project, March 15, 2016

Meet Fern Cloud webpage

KB Schaller is author of 100+ Native American Women Who Changed the World, winner of an International Book Award, Women's Issues Category. Other KB Schaller books are available through amazon.com and other booksellers. Website: http://www.kbschaller.com. Email: soaring-eagles@msn.com