Gallup Church

of Christ

1000 E. Green Ave. ● P.O. Box 146

Gallup, N.Mex. 87305 ● 505-722-2937

E-Mail: gallupchurch@gmail.com

 

Home Page

Gallup Church of Christ Blog

Churches in the Four Corners

Manuelito Navajo Children's Home

Gallup Christian School

 

 

Schedule of Services

Sunday Bible Study @ 9am

Sunday A.M. Worship @ 10am

Sunday P.M. Worship @ 6pm

Wednesday Bible Study @ 7pm

 

Elders: Greg Peterson, Joel Peterson,

Merle Roehr & Clifton Tuggle

 

Deacons: John Alexander & Lynn Dunson

 

Preacher: We're searching for a good man

 

 

◄ Gallup Area Map

(Click to enlarge)

 

 

 

 

◄ Gallup Street Map

(Click to enlarge)

The Navajo (Dine) are among the most numerous Native American people, and the Navajo Reservation covers over 27,000 square miles in the states of New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah.  The Navajo are a good and honorable people with a long and noble history.

For the past 50 years, there have been many efforts to bring the Gospel to the Navajo.  In the late 1950's missionaries of the Churches of Christ came to the Navajo lands to share the story of Jesus with the native peoples.  They met with some limited success, and there were few baptisms.  However, the missionaries soon stumbled across an important work that had to be done.  Increasingly spent their time caring for children left with them by families who could not care for them.  This service led to the establishment of the Manuelito Navajo Children's Home, located to the west of Gallup, New Mexico.  The Home became the first permanent establishment of the Churches of Christ on the Navajo Reservation.

Today, there are nine congregations of the Churches of Christ meeting at various places on the Reservation.  Increasingly, these churches are being led by the Navajo, themselves.  Navajo men like Edison Gruber, Ben Begay, Phillip James, Larry Johnson, and Andrew Nathaniel have become effective preachers of the Gospel and are reaching their people with the love of Jesus.  Other Navajo men are studying and preparing to engage in a life of ministry.  The work of evangelizing the Navajo is slow, but does meet with results.  It is a work that is well worth the time, effort and resources that must be expended.

The map to the right shows the lands of the Navajo and Hopi Reservations.  The red arrows indicate where Churches of Christ meet and are active in sharing the Gospel.

The church that meets at Hogback, New Mexico is the oldest of the Navajo churches.  Soon after the establishment of the Manuelito Navajo Children's Home, the church at Cortez, Colorado decided to establish a preaching school at Waterflow, New Mexico (on the eastern side of the Hogback mountain).  This school would provide housing to and training for young Navajo men, with the aim of developing native preachers among the Navajo.  Two teenagers from M.N.C.H. were the first students at the Hogback mission.  By the early 1970's the school had evolved into a congregation.  The Hogback church remains strong today.  Phillip James serves as minister for the Hogback Church of Christ.

The mission at Hogback inspired the establishment of churches at Shiprock, New Mexico; at Kayenta, Arizona; at Kinlichee, Arizona; at Tuba City, Arizona; at Montezuma Creek, Utah; at Ft. Defiance, Arizona; at Many Farms, Arizona; and at Crownpoint, New Mexico.  Many of these churches were planted by groups that had come from Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and other states to conduct Vacation Bible Schools and Gospel Meetings on the Reservation.  Churches in Farmington, Albuquerque, Colorado Springs, Dallas, Fort Worth, and other cities have been instrumental in the establishment of churches among the Navajo people.

 

A listing of Navajo Churches(with preachers and web links and e-mail links):

 

Bruce Terry, who serves on the faculty of Ohio Valley University, served as a missionary on the Navajo Reservation for many years (at Montezuma Creek, Utah).  He has posted a number of good resources on the Navajo people and the efforts to evangelize this good people.  These resources can be found at http://web.ovu.edu/missions/indians/index.htm.

 

The American Indian Missions Conference is held each August.  This is a gathering of Native American peoples and members of the Church of Christ from across the country.  The 2008 Conference will be held at the Clarendon Church of Christ in Clarendon, Texas on August 1-2.

A detailed map of

the Navajo Nation

(click to enlarge)

Web Links