Harriett Bedell

Today, on Jan. 8, we remember Christian Missionary Harriett Bedell, a remarkable woman who spent five decades ministering among multiple Indigenous communities across the United States.

It all started with a sermon. In 1905, at the age of 30, Bedell heard a visiting preacher, the Rev. Arthur Sherman, preach. Sherman was a longtime Episcopal missionary to China. After hearing Sherman speak of the great need for missionary work in China, Bedell’s heart began to yearn to go to the mission field. However, her mother was less excited about her daughter living in Imperial China and suggested she consider serving as a missionary closer to home. And so, she did. To prepare, Bedell enrolled at the St. Faith’s Training School for Deaconesses in New York, where she studied theology and practical aspects of mission work.

Her first missionary post was among the Cheyenne Tribe in Oklahoma. During her 10 years there, Bedell developed a holistic ministry that included leading worship, teaching school and caring for the sick. What is particularly notable is her attempt to get to know the people she served, including their culture. This prompted her to learn the native Cheyenne language. She became so well-loved by the Cheyenne that she was eventually adopted into their tribe. But sadly, her time in Oklahoma was cut short after she developed tuberculosis, which necessitated her move to Colorado to recover.

After recovering from her illness, Bedell eagerly returned to work, this time in the remote village of Stevens, Alaska (just 40 miles from the Arctic Circle). There she served the Indigenous Gwich’in tribe. Like her time with the Cheyenne, Bedell sought to get to know the people she was serving, even living primitively in their camps. In her diary, she wrote of the importance of learning about the people she was serving, “I strongly feel that knowing all sides of their lives I can help them better.”^[1]

During the Great Depression, money for the Alaskan mission ran out, and it was forced to close. But Bedell couldn’t sit still for long. In 1932, she took up her next post with the Seminole Tribe in Southern Florida. There, she quickly learned their native language and helped the Seminoles sell their crafts, such as dolls, baskets and patchwork designs. This improved their quality of life and helped the reservation's economy.

We can learn a great deal from Bedell’s holistic approach to doing mission. As Christians, the message we carry — the Good News of Jesus Christ — is something we are called to share verbally, when appropriate. (1 Peter 3:15) But often the best way to do this is by establishing a relational connection with other people: getting to know them personally, listening to them, seeing them as fully human. In this way, we fulfill the Great Commission to “make disciples,” but we do so in a way that is loving and that sees every person as created in God’s image.

[1] Bedell, Hariett. It Happened Today | Christian History Institute. https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/dailystory/permalink/dont-worry-said-bedell-and-lived-a-life-of-faith-into-old-age