On November 10, 2025, The General Board of Church and Society (GBCS) and the General Commission on Religion and Race (GCORR) kicked off the opening of the Sand Creek Massacre Exhibition at the United Methodist Building, spotlighting a panel discussion that featured the Sand Creek Massacre Tribal Representatives.
The panel discussion was held to highlight the exhibit at the United Methodist Building and to affirm our shared responsibility to truth, repentance, and repair.
The exhibit called The Sand Creek Massacre: The Betrayal that Changed Cheyenne and Arapaho People Forever was developed by History Colorado together with the three Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes.
In the early morning hours of November 29, 1864, the Third Colorado Cavalry, made up of 675 men under the command of Colonel John Chivington, a Methodist minister and political opportunist, attacked a peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho encampment in the bend of Big Sand Creek located in southeastern Colorado Territory, resulting in the deaths of approximately 230 Cheyenne and Arapaho people, most of whom were women, children, and the elders.
In his welcome, Bishop Julius C. Trimble, General Secretary of the General Board of Church and Society stated, “We say clearly: the Church has not always lived its calling to love our neighbors as ourselves. We recognize that our statements of regret must be matched with sustained action, relationship, and humility.”
Rev. Giovanni Arroyo, General Secretary of the General Commission on Religion and Race extended the welcome saying, “This gathering is not only a time to remember the horror of that today but a time to renew our commitment to truth telling, accountability and healing. Remembrance isn’t symbolic; it is relational.”
Richard Church, representing the Committee on Native American Ministries of the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference, offered a symbolic land acknowledgement, welcoming attendees to the homeland of the Anacostan peoples on which the United Methodist Building stands.
Otto Braided Hair Jr. of Northern Cheyenne-Montana, offered the song sung by White Antelope until the moment of his death in the massacre, repeating the words, “Nothing lives long only the earth and the mountains.”
Dawn DiPrince, President and CEO of History Colorado, remarked, “This exhibit offers universal, timely lessons that fear, racism, greed and stereotyping can, and do, lead to catastrophic consequences. History Colorado is committed to educating communities around the world about this danger. The power of historic truth is that historic truth can change us. Historic truth can heal us. And it is only through historic truth that we can truly build a just and liberated world.”
Bishop Kristin Stoneking of Mountain Sky Episcopal Area and the presiding bishop of the United Methodist Sand Creek Massacre Interagency Task Force added, “United Methodists need to know that we are the spiritual descendants of Methodists that perpetuated atrocities that created layers of generational trauma that remain with us today. In this truth telling, is deep repentance and also responsibility taking.”
To Read More and Visit the Exhibit: Sand Creek Massacre Exhibition Opens in Partnership with History Colorado, Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, and The United Methodist Church • GBCS
This content was originally published by the General Board of Church and Society; republished with permission on ResourceUMC.org on November 17, 2025.