Inside Story
Jesus Is the Answer
Navigator Ministry Among Navajo People
By Dean Ridings
Delphina beams as she shares
Jesus’ love with others.“I grew up in a traditional Navajo home,” says Delphina Bedonie Johnson. “I didn’t grow up with Christian values.” Yet today Delphina is a thriving Christ-follower who lives and ministers in Many Farms, Arizona—the heart of the Navajo Nation. She and her husband, Tom, serve with The Navigators’ Native American Indian Discipleship Ministry.
“I was brought up to believe in traditional Navajo teachings,” says Delphina, who offers an insider’s perspective of Navajo life. “[It’s] the belief in living in harmony with the earth and with your surroundings. Ideally, that’s how Navajo people are supposed to live. Their minds should be clear, not cluttered with other distractions, despair, or anger. They should be in harmony with family and their relationships.”
Delphina says when Navajos aren’t living in harmony or feeling joy, they see a Medicine Man, a Shaman, who helps them “sort out their problem.” Traditional Navajo people pray to different gods for help, she says, but not to Jesus.
“I remember distinctly the first time I heard about Jesus,” she says. “I was a kid and my uncle actually read out of the Bible. I didn’t know what the Bible was, and that was all I knew about Christianity for a long time.”
That changed when Delphina was a 20-year-old college student six hours away from home, culture, and family.
“There are strong family ties on the Navajo Reservation,” she says. “The biggest influence in your life is your family, aunts, uncles, grandmother, extended family. I was cut off from them in college, which caused me to be alone, to think on my own, and to resolve some issues I had within myself.”
One of her biggest “issues,” Delphina says, was the surprising struggle with low self-esteem about being a native. “For all my life,” she explains, “I had been a part of an ethnic majority on the Navajo Nation. I felt normal. But not at college.” This proved such a battle that she couldn’t get out of bed. She even considered suicide.
“I remembered that Jesus was a possible answer,” she says. “So I called a friend who was a Christian, and we got together and talked through some of my issues.”
“What is the most important thing in your life?” her friend asked.
“That’s easy,” Delphina said. “My family, the love of my family.”
“Are you willing to give that up for Jesus?”
Delphina recalls that a lot of things passed through her mind. “But I thought if Jesus was the answer,” she says, “then I could give up the love of my family. I accepted Jesus, because I wanted peace. I believed that Jesus was the answer and said, ‘Yes, I am willing. I choose Jesus first.’ ”
Peace indeed came. And as she grew as a Christian—through discipleship, a small group Bible study, and regular church attendance—she also found her purpose.
“I felt like I really wanted to do something for the Lord,” she recalls. “How could I serve God on the Navajo Reservation?”
Delphina is pictured with others at a
Navigators’ Native American Indian
Discipleship Ministry (NAIDM) gathering.About that time Delphina met and became fast friends with Karen Jensen, who along with her husband, Hal, serves with The Navigators. “Our conversations anchored me deeply in God’s Word,” Delphina says. “They were just ordinary people, living out their lives with a passion for God. This showed me that I could befriend younger women, and talk about God and help them grow in their faith walk. I thought I could do that here in Chinle, on the reservation, where it was much needed.”
Delphina became associate staff with The Navigators in 1999, before becoming full-time staff in 2004. “I have a heart for Native women,” she says, “and I desire to see them grow spiritually and to mature in Christ.” Her heart's vision is that the life of Jesus would become powerful in their lives, and that the Gospel would impact their families and extended families with the love, grace, and truth of Jesus where people are not yet in the Kingdom.
Delphina admits “it’s a long-term process” and says the full effects of her and Tom’s ministry may not be felt for another generation or two. “Sometimes I wonder if God can ever really change anybody,” she says, yet quickly adds: “I know the answer to that is, Yes! He changed me!”
The Johnsons’ website is www.navstaff.org/johnson-d. To learn more about the Native American Indian Discipleship Ministry, www.navigators.org/us/ministries/ethnic/natam.
Navigator Associate Maurie Thompson contributed to this report.
