An anishinaabekwe, or Indian woman, from Canada’s Ojibway tribe, Mary Faus, prays for Native Americans and the nation her people affectionately call Turtle Island. As the director of the Reading House of Prayer in Pennsylvania and leader of the Native American Prayer Watch, Faus sees a fractured nation that she and others believe God wants to reunite.
Faus and prayer leaders like Lou Engle believe the first people of Turtle Island are hosts of the land now called the United States, Canada and Mexico. The first people—as hosts of the land—hold the welcome for healing and reconciliation through Yeshua (Jesus), Faus and others say.
That belief is shared by the co-founders of a national and global prayer network that includes the Native American Watch, which Faus leads.
The USA and Global Watch co-founders Fred and Susan Rowe—along with Faus—look to the Bible for an example of different cultures working together.
“The Scripture that we point to in terms of working with our different cultures is Acts 28 where Paul lands on Malta and the natives receive him. Subsequently a lot of healing breaks out,” says Susan Rowe who, with her husband, Fred, helps lead the USA and Global Watches from California.
The verses provide the model of how a nation is blessed when the host people are recognized and respected, Rowe says.
An ophthalmologist by training, Susan Rowe traces her ancestry to pilgrim William Brewster of Mayflower fame. She and Fred traveled to Plymouth, Massachusetts, for the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrims’ landing. While there, the Rowes learned that the Pilgrims worked hard at cultivating relationships with Native Americans.
Susan says a chief, Massasoit, was ill and word got to the Pilgrims. “A group of them traveled 40 miles into the wilderness to minister to him. He was healed.
“America has a parallel story to Acts 28 how, when we get aligned and work together relationally with our various cultures and communities, God will release healing,” she says.
With healing and reconciliation in mind, the USA Watch is calling all people—native and immigrant—of Turtle Island to a prophetic prayer summit in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
“I believe this is going to have a place in releasing healing for our nation,” Susan says.
Faus says that, as a representative of Native American hosts of Turtle Island, she prays for the body of Christ to demonstrate the Heavenly Father’s original intent for this nation: Love for one another as Jesus prayed for in John 17:21.
Acts 16 provides another demonstration of hospitality between different cultures, Faus says. Verse 13 states that Paul and his travel companions went to a riverside where “prayer was customarily offered. And we sat down and spoke to the women who had assembled.
“A woman named Lydia, a seller of purple fabric of the city of Thyatira, who worshipped God, heard us. The Lord opened her heart to acknowledge what Paul said. When she and her household were baptized, she entreated us saying, ‘If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and remain there.’ And she persuaded us” (Acts 17: 13-15).
The Re-United as One summit, slated for June 17-19 in Colorado Springs, is prophetic in several ways, Susan adds.
“About 20 years ago we were in Colorado Springs, and we went with a group up to the Continental Divide to pray. Fred felt led to leave his wedding ring at the Continental Divide, and we just declared that this country would never be divided,” she explains.
Sadly, since the 2020 election, the nation’s division has widened, and it has moved further from the godly principles and foundations on which the nation was founded.
“So the Lord really spoke to our hearts about going back, returning to that declaration that this nation will never be divided,” Susan says. “We started praying into it and realized that June 19 is the date that Texas abolished slavery. It was the last state to abolish slavery.”
Representatives of the African Watch—part of the USA and Global Watches—will be in Colorado Springs for Re-United as One, which coincides with Juneteenth, June 19, the day American slaves were liberated by the Emancipation Proclamation.
In 2020, the USA Watch conducted a biblical solemn assembly with the African Watch on June 19.
On day two of Re-United as One summit, which will be held at Corona Baptist Church and hosted by Pastors Jack and Terri Brown of The Table in Colorado Springs, the Rowes and Faus will lead a group to the Continental Divide. There, intercessors will pray for healing, peace and reconciliation across the nation.
The Rowes believe the U.S. is at a “watershed” moment in history. “We feel like we are in a watershed moment, when we need to go back to reunite as one, obviously, with our first nations people. They’re coming in their original call as watchmen to this nation,” Susan says.
One of the first things in developing the USA Watch was getting Native Americans involved, and having them take their place as First Nations watchmen.
“We are now in the early phases of getting an indigenous watch established for the global network, so there are peoples now connecting with us from the ends of the earth, basically, to take their place as watchmen. It’s about a journey, a walk, and mutual respect that can lead to healing and strong collaboration going forward,” she says.
Due to travel restrictions, Global Indigenous Watch intercessors won’t be at the prayer summit in Colorado Springs, but they will be on their respective walls as watchmen.
“There’s actually going to be a group in Canada at the Continental Divide, and we’re working with a group that’s going to be at the Continental Divide in South America,” Susan says.
Jenn Steffenson, who Rowe calls a “grandmother of reconciliation in our nation,” will add her prophetic prayer passion at the mixed gathering. Though not Native American, Steffenson’s work on behalf of First Nations people is notable.
As editor of The Reconciler Journal, Steffenson wrote in a 1994 edition, “Many Europeans who first presented the gospel to the Native Americans were, for the most part, poor representatives of Jesus Christ. How the gospel is first presented to a people group has an effect on those people for generations.
“The gospel has been preached to Native Americans for over 500 years and it has been reported only 10% profess to be Christians, with a much lower percentage believed to be born-again believers.
“This raises the question, ‘Why have so many Native Americans resisted the gospel?’
“One common answer from the Indians themselves is, ‘Because it is the white man’s religion.’ They have been offended by the white man and his religious ways.”
Reconciliation Coalition, a group led by Youth With A Mission’s John Dawson, held a ceremony in Denver on Nov. 12, 1992, to acknowledge and repent of injustices and atrocities committed against Native Americans in Colorado. Representatives from the church, the city of Denver, the state of Colorado and several Native American nations attended.
Much healing occurred, and at least one Native American committed himself to full-time ministry.
According to the USA Watch website, the vision for Re-United as One is rooted in the belief that “democracy, as it was intended, is quickly fading as socialism takes a grip on the hearts and minds of the people. A gap between God’s purpose and destiny and what we are experiencing today has thrust an ever-widening divide in our nation. The cry for healing is real. As watchmen and gatekeepers, we are called to contend for God’s covenant purposes. As one nation under God, fulfilling these promises will repair breaches, raise up foundations and rebuild God’s covenantal intention.”
By partnering with the host people and the Holy Spirit’s direction, Re-United as One believes restoration is possible. Recognition of vital relationships, true partnership and honor draws God’s favor and unlocks His glory over a nation.
A Black representative of African Watch, Dr. Venessa Battle, also points to Jesus’ words in John 17. “I believe that as we come to this summit it will be a time for us to come to a place of unity and agreement,” says Battle, an author and speaker on behalf of reconciliation.
“Also to be able to walk, really, in the love that God wants us to walk in,” Battle says. “To be able to really model it. I believe this is going to be an opportunity to for us to model—not just at a meeting—but once that meeting is over to go back to our communities, to our places of business, our states and to our nations and to really walk in love and peace that Jesus has called us to do.”
She believes another key part will be a time of reconciliation and forgiveness. Jesus, on the cross, said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do,” Battle points out.
“A lot of the atrocities that have happened throughout the nation and the nations of the world is because people did not know what they were actually doing to others,” she says.
Dr. Fred Rowe points to an Old Testament prophet’s words for solution to our present crisis.
“Isaiah promises those from among you [Isa. 58:12] shall rebuild the old waste places. You shall raise up the foundations of many generations. And you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in,” Rowe says.
That is one goal of the Re-United as One prophetic prayer summit. Learn more about the Re-United as One USA Watch Summit here. {eoa}
Steve Rees is a former general assignment reporter who, with one other journalist, first wrote about the national men’s movement Promise Keepers from his home in Colorado. Rees and Promise Keepers Founder Bill McCartney attended the Boulder Vineyard. Today Rees writes in his free time.
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