Featured Video

Pastor Larry Salway gives an exciting recap of what God has done this year at He Sapa New Life and Life Initiatives

 Logo Link to He Sapa New Life Link to Life Initiatives

Ministry / Work Team Training

We're excited that you'll be coming to South Dakota to join with us in ministry. Before you enter into our culture, it is SO important that you understand it.

We ask - in fact, we require - that you view the videos listed at the right about Lakota Cuture, presented by Larry Salway, Pastor of He Sapa New Life.

Well-meaning Christians have actually alienated indigenous people from the Gospel because they don't take time to understand a culture before they minister in it. Most Lakota will look like typical Americans at first glimpse, but they come from a culture that is very different from white, middle-class culture (as with any group, there are wide ranges of "acculturation" among Native people - see Culture 104 for more on this). Thanks for entering into the adventure of "Culture-Discovery", by watching Lakota Elder Larry Salway.

 

Get started here

 

These links are helpful, too. They help you understand the difficulties of escaping poverty:

POVERTY 102: "Invisible Nation" (Dr. Donna Beegle) - What the world looks like to a person in poverty.

POVERTY 103: "Hidden Rules" (Dr. Ruby Payne) - There are hidden rules in any economic class; you know them, you just don't know that they're there... and the poor have different rules. In this 7-minute segment, Ruby Payne gives an entertaining look at "class rules".

POVERTY 101: "Introduction to Poverty " (Ron Jensen, Director, Life Initiatives) - A simple introduction to the complex difficulties of overcoming poverty.