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A Christian church has refused to leave a Native American reservation after its pastor condemned traditional tribal spiritual practices during a sermon, sparking protests and demands for an apology.
Foundations For Nations pastor and founder Sarah Lucas delivered the sermon at the Wind River Reservation, in west-central Wyoming, on July 5, as the Northern Arapaho Tribe’s Sundance ceremony was concluding, a sacred period of prayer, sacrifice and renewal involving a ceremonial pipe known as the “Old Man,” which is tied to the tribe’s creation traditions.
The dispute has exposed longstanding tensions between Christian missionary activity and Indigenous religious traditions on tribal lands. Tribal leaders and community members say the pastor’s remarks denigrated sacred cultural practices and have called on the church to apologize or leave the reservation, while church officials have defended their right to preach their religious beliefs. The standoff has sparked a broader debate over religious freedom, tribal sovereignty and respect for Native American spiritual traditions, drawing attention beyond the reservation.
What Happened
Lucas told congregants that people had prayed to sacred pipes and ancestors, describing those practices as idolatry. “The pipe cannot hear your prayers. It’s just a piece of material,” Lucas said. “And the Lord is saying, ‘Tear down the idols, tear down the altars, the idol worship.”
Foundations For Nations appears to have removed the video of the full sermon from its YouTube channel, but Native American Yellowstone actor Christian Wassana shared a clip from the video on his Facebook page, criticizing the message as “attempts to erase and discredit our traditional way of life.”
The sermon prompted more than 100 Northern Arapaho members and supporters to hold protests outside the church on July 7, demanding a public apology, according to Fremont County news outlet County 10.
Three days later, the Northern Arapaho Business Council (NABC), the elected body that manages the Northern Arapaho Tribe’s day-to-day government and affairs, and other Native American leaders told Lucas and her husband Jason that the church had to leave the Wind River Reservation, County 10 reported.
NABC Chair Keenan Groesbeck said in a post on Facebook on July 10: “Just so everyone knows. We told Foundations For Nations and Sarah Lucas they got to go. We ain’t putting up with their bulls**t.”
But Lucas argued that her ministry is on “private” land, despite being located within the reservation, and went ahead with Sunday’s service on July 12. She said her family had received death threats and threats to burn down the church. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) confirmed to Newsweek that it is “aware of the situation” but it declined to comment further. Newsweek has also contacted the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office, via email, for comment.
The Wind River Indian Reservation is jointly governed by the Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone tribes, which maintain separate tribal governments and cooperate on certain reservation-wide matters. Foundations For Nations is located near Arapahoe within the reservation’s exterior boundaries, but its church sits on a privately owned parcel rather than tribal trust land.
Newsweek has reached out to Foundations For Nations, the NABC and the Eastern Shoshone Business Council, via social media message, email and call, for comment.
What Exactly Did Sarah Lucas Say In Her Sermon?
In Wassana’s shared video of Lucas’ sermon, she said: “The Lord says ‘tear down the altars, tear down the idols.’ And this nation gathered this week, and they prayed, and they prayed to pipes and prayed to their ancestors, believing that this is the way for their freedom, to get free from addiction, for people to be healed from their sickness; this is what this culture did this week.
“And we went on as church as normal, but here’s the thing,” she said. “I feel like we’ve got to pray this morning before moving on. I feel like we’re going to pray for this nation this morning, and we’re going to pray for our Indigenous nation, for our tribe this week as they’re coming out of this, because we know that Jesus is enough. He’s enough. It’s not Jesus plus. It’s Jesus everything; he’s everything … Jesus is the chain breaker. He is the only god that we should be praying to.”
Lucas continued: “A pipe cannot hear your prayers. It’s just a piece of material, right? And this is a cycle that they’re caught up in.”
Why Tribal Members Took Issue With the Sermon
Northern Arapaho leaders said Lucas’ remarks attacked a sacred tradition central to the tribe’s identity, rather than merely expressing a difference in religious belief. NABC member Preston Moss said the ministry had previously been treated with respect but that Lucas had damaged its relationship with the community, saying Lucas and her husband had “crossed a line that they can’t ever come back from.”
“You just don’t go into somebody’s homeland and talk about their beliefs, and mock their beliefs, and cut their beliefs down,” he told County 10.
Wassana said in his Facebook post that Lucas’ sermon recalled earlier efforts by Christian institutions to suppress Indigenous religions and cultures. “It feels like history repeating itself, with attempts to erase and discredit our traditional way of life,” he said.
The actor also told Wyoming outlet Cowboy State Daily that the message could be particularly damaging because the ministry works with Native children.
“We don’t want our young people growing up feeling like they have to choose between being accepted or embracing who they are because a leader they see is teaching those kinds of things,” he said.
Christian-run boarding schools historically separated Indigenous children from their families and punished them for speaking Native languages or practicing their cultures, a history that has shaped much of the reaction to Lucas’ sermon.
“They still think that they’re saving us… as Indigenous peoples… (they are) still trying to indoctrinate us, which is wrong,” Groesbeck told County 10 in response to Lucas stating that she and the church are not leaving as directed. “This is 2026, and they still have the mentality of ‘kill the Indian, save the man.’”
Lucas Defends Sermon
In a letter to supporters circulated before the church’s July 12 service, reported by County 10, Lucas and her husband, Jason, refused to withdraw the message or comply with the NABC’s demand that they leave the reservation.
“We are standing firmly on the truth of the Word of God concerning idol worship,” they wrote, describing prayers involving the Old Man Pipe and ancestors as incompatible with their Christian beliefs.
“Should we compromise the Word of God for the sake of safety or to maintain peace with a people group?” the letter said. “Our answer is clear—no.”
Lucas and her husband said they had attended the July 10 meeting with tribal leaders in an effort to listen and seek understanding but encountered “intense opposition” before being ordered to leave. They argued that the ministry could not be removed in that manner because it owns its property and said they were consulting lawyers about taking the dispute to federal court.
“We are not stopping,” they wrote. “The Gospel will continue to be preached.”
The couple also appealed to supporters for donations to cover potential legal expenses and for prayers as they continued their work. “There is deep spiritual darkness over this land,” they wrote.
In a separate statement provided to County 10, Lucas acknowledged that her sermon had hurt members of the Native community and said she understood why some felt condemned or personally attacked.
“Love speaks truth, and I regret that my words did not reflect that as clearly as they should have,” Lucas said. “At the same time, I cannot apologize for preaching what I believe God’s Word teaches.”
She then went on to describe the work her ministry has done on the reservation, including repairing homes, feeding the homeless and helping the sick.
“My desire has never been to attack people, but to point them to Jesus Christ, whom I believe is the only way to salvation,” Lucas said. “…From the day we arrived, my family and I have loved this community.”
What Happens Next
Lucas and her husband said they were consulting legal counsel and were prepared to pursue the matter in federal court, but neither Foundations For Nations nor the NABC has publicly announced that a case has been filed.
Groesbeck acknowledged that the church was entitled to bring a legal challenge but said the tribe would defend its authority over the reservation.
“They’re well within their bounds to do that,” he said. “It’s probably going to get drawn out in court, but regardless, we’re going to do what we got to do on our side.”
Groesbeck pointed to the tribe’s own court system and sovereign authority, saying: “We have that right to govern ourselves and govern our boundaries, our reservation boundaries.”
The church has continued holding services. Groesbeck said most demonstrators had acted peacefully.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: John Fitzpatrick, Gray R. Thomas and Cristina Diciu.
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