Native American UMs share their art and faith with General Conference

Lay pastor and nurse Diana LaRocque created more than one thousand beaded pins to share with participants at the United Methodist General Conference, a partnership with United Women in Faith to include the pins in the conference’s registration bags. LaRocque was from the Choctaw Nation, one of the many diverse nations of the Native American people who are praying for and with The United Methodist Church through their artistry during this upcoming General Conference. LaRocque passed away in July 2020.

More than 6,000 beaded pins poured in from United Methodist artists like LaRocque and Native American partners from all over the country in the leadup to the scheduled 2020 gathering. Every box that arrived to the United Women in Faith National Office is chockful of beautiful beadwork. The pins serve as a reminder of the big-heartedness and deep worth of Native Americans to the larger United Methodist family. 

The pins have been safely waiting in Corporate Secretary Susan Moberg’s office, collected by her predecessor Vidette Mixon, who retired in 2020.

United Methodist Women member Glenna Brayton, a Choctaw tribal member from Oklahoma now living in Colorado, invited nearby Navajo artists from the Utah/Western Colorado District Committee on Native American Ministries to contribute to the work on the pins. Thousands were loomed from people all over the region. Each pin is unique.

Read more at this link.