Imagine the delight in a child’s eyes as a gaily-wrapped shoebox is opened and its contents appear—brightening the child’s Christmas with carefully chosen toys, books, warm mittens or hats. That’s what will happen this Christmas for children of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in northwest Montana. It’s the Annual Christmas Shoe Box Mission of the Blackfeet United Methodist Parish.
The Eastern PA Conference Committee on Native American Ministries (CoNAM) invites you to support this important, worthy cause. Visit the parish’s website to learn how to donate shoe box gifts. All gift boxes must arrive in Browning, Montana, by December 10.
For monetary donations to this project, send checks to P.O. Box 3007, Browning, MT 59417. Make the check out to BUMP, and on the memo line put “Shoe Box.” You can also use their donate on their webpage. If you have questions contact Sheri Hill at bumpranch@gmail.com or by phone at 406-338-2823.
Our presence on the Blackfeet Reservation
The United Methodist Church has long been a presence on the reservation, and today the Rev. Calvin Hill serves a three-point charge, including Babb, Browning and Heart Butte communities in Northwest Montana on the Blackfeet Reservation. That presence is felt today in Eastern PA Conference by the efforts of EPA CoNAM member, Bob Hinderliter, who has made three mission trips to the reservation in Montana in the last year.
“The first thing I noticed was the United Methodist connection” in the ministry of Rev. Calvin Hill and his wife Sheri, said Bob. “Rev. Hill has such a dynamic plan for the Blackfeet Reservation, a well-defined plan. He’s not sitting on it, but working on it.”
The warm friendship Bob has developed with the Hills developed from the couple’s visit to our Conference when he was invited by EPA CoNAM to speak in the spring of 2015 at Camp Innabah. The friendship will continue to grow with the committee’s support of the Christmas Shoe Box project and future mission trips led by Bob Hinderliter.
More about the Blackfeet Mission
The people of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation are served by a visionary and dedicated pastor, The Rev. Calvin Hill, who, with his wife Sheri, leads a variety of ministries and services to the parish churches and the surrounding community. Their vision, posted on the Yellowstone Annual Conference website, is “To maintain strong, healthy and growing churches that are committed to the health of our community and our connectional ministry through vital outreach ministries to the poor and marginalized on our reservation.”
To fulfill their mission “to develop a Christ-centered community for creating disciples to serve all people,” Rev. Hill has created space for revival meetings, developed plans for equipping and training for discipleship, and laid the groundwork for agricultural projects and livestock production. An Equine training center is planned in the future.
In short, the BUMPMISSION brochure clearly outlines their vision of a “Ministry Plan for Personal and Social Holiness.” Visit their website (BUMPMission.com) or their Facebook page to read more about happenings and opportunities for volunteer teams to travel to the Reservation for short term projects. Download an informational flyer here.