Postcards from the Midwest Conference gather snapshots of God at work in congregations across Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, western Missouri, Nebraska, and Wyoming, curated by the Midwest Conference and celebrating faithfulness, fresh vision, and the distinct beauty of ministry.
A group from Council Tree Covenant Church in Fort Collins, Colorado, traveled north to the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming to listen, tracing the roots of their church’s name and story and uncovering new layers of connection with the Northern Arapaho people. What began as a historical curiosity grew into a sacred encounter marked by hospitality, humility, and hope. Along the way, they discovered that listening can be a form of love, and that God is still weaving the stories of Chief Friday, the Council Tree, and his people together in surprising and redemptive ways.
These reflections come from Diane Borden, associate pastor of children’s ministry and connections at Council Tree Covenant Church.
In one sentence, how would you describe your church?
Council Tree is a mixed bag of faithful Christ followers doing our best to love all those inside and outside our walls.
What’s something God is doing in your community that brings you joy right now?
So many things! We are an active multigenerational church community with many opportunities to gather to worship, celebrate, serve, and play. It brings me joy to see more people in this season committing to intentional discipleship opportunities, studying God’s Word together, and choosing to do more life together in community.
We recently celebrated the end of the growing season at our church garden with a barn dance. In June, kids at our summer art camp planted pumpkins, and it’s our tradition for everyone to come back and harvest them in October. We had planned the entire event to be outdoors, and it was a beautiful fall afternoon. But an hour into a petting zoo and pony rides, the skies opened up, and it poured rain. Most of our dinner seating was under a tent. Yet I got a good giggle when a young mom got her dinner, then opened an umbrella to eat with her daughter at one of the uncovered options. People were absolute troopers and barely skipped a beat as we made some shifts to move the live music and dancing indoors. So much joy!
What led your church to connect with the Wind River Reservation?
In 2013, the Evangelical Covenant Church of Fort Collins, Colorado, decided to change its name to Council Tree.
The lands where our church is (Fort Collins, Colorado) were originally home to the Hinono’eiteen (Arapaho), Tsétsėhéstȧhese (Cheyenne), Nʉmʉnʉʉ (Comanche), Caiugu (Kiowa), Čariks i Čariks (Pawnee), Sosonih (Shoshone), Oc’eti S’akowin (Lakota), and Núuchiu (Ute) Peoples. In the second and fourth grades, students in our schools learn about the land before colonization, talking about the history of our community. Within those lessons, they talk about Chief Friday (Warshinun) of the Arapaho Nation.
A young Arapaho boy got separated from his tribe, was lost, and then found by one of the settlers on a Friday. And so he called him “Friday.” He took him in as kind of his own child, and they went off to St. Louis, where Friday went to English-speaking schools. He was an incredibly sharp young man who learned English quickly and was an incredible athlete too.
Eventually, they would return to Northern Colorado, where some of his tribe recognized some of his markings and said, “Hey, he’s one of ours.” Friday went back to his tribe and sat under the branches of one of our large cottonwood trees near the end of Horsetooth Road out toward the I-25 along the river. He negotiated trade agreements and for peace at that Council Tree. While the Northern Arapaho faced a lot of hardship in that time due to the increased tension and growing number of settlers in the area, Chief Friday led his people to try to make peace.
We loved the story of a man who loved his own tribe, the Arapaho, and everyone else within their reach—outside of their own tribe walls, so to speak. So we adopted the name Council Tree. Turns out we didn’t know the entire story, which ended up with the settlers and the U.S. Army chasing the Arapaho out of our region and bringing them up to the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming.
Last fall, we began wondering about an intergenerational experience to engage our local history and the Northern Arapaho people. We wondered if we could hear the story of the Council Tree and Friday from their perspective? We consulted with local experts and some Indigenous leaders from our denomination. Our dreams grew quickly, and we set out to see just what might be possible! Our visit to Wind River took place August 28-30, 2025.
If you are not familiar with this story, I invite you to read this short article and watch this 3-½ minute video featuring Hubert Friday, great-grandson of William Friday.
How did that trip expand or reshape your sense of God’s mission?
We went up there and spent a few nights exploring the reservation and connecting with various nonprofits and different people. And we walked softly, not knowing what to expect.
Bert Wright, our lead pastor, says, “Candidly, I was a little intimidated. But at every turn, we received unbelievable hospitality and even gratitude that we would come up and want to know what is happening. And I’m going to tell you this: what floored me and still sits with me is that we went to one of their most meaningful moments in the entire year, the Northern Arapaho Powwow. They start it with the color guard bringing in the flags of all the different tribal nations present, and there is one flag that they hang in the middle of the powwow and that is the flag of the United States of America. Of all people who have a reason to have a beef with this country, it is them. And yet in a mature and spiritually advanced way, they’re able to say, ‘We can still honor this. We can believe in this, and we can be people who try to live at peace with all those around us.’”
What’s one meaningful moment or story from your time with the Wind River community?
We had an opportunity to meet and hear from many people and organizations on the reservation where we learned both some history and some modern-day struggles and joys: WR Tribal Buffalo Initiative, Native Memory Project, Riverton Peace Mission, WR Community Alliance, St. Stephens Indian Mission and Catholic Church, WR Food Sovereignty Project and Farmer’s Market, WR Veterans Memorial, WR Trading CO., Pioneer Museum, Sinks Canyon, and more!
We knew that the heirs of the Friday family were still around, but we had not been able to make any personal connection prior to the trip. The day before we left for Wyoming, a potential opportunity presented itself where an introduction could be made. At the Northern Arapaho Powwow, we met our contact and were introduced to Sanford and Donna Friday. Sanford is a seventh-generation direct descendant of the original Chief Friday of the Council Tree. (I may have gone a little fan girl at this meeting.) It was a delight to hear the story of our region as he had heard it passed down from his grandmother and uncles.
It was too short a visit. Yet before we parted ways, our group received an invitation to return. Sanford had more stories he wanted us to hear and a ranch he wanted to show us. He flung open the doors for further conversation and relationship toward us.
We look forward to a return trip!
How do you see this experience influencing the way your church lives out ministry at home?
We went to Wind River to listen. That was the goal.
Pastor Wright says the experience of initiating a relationship between Council Tree Covenant and the Northern Arapaho through the exclusive tool of listening powered a giant leap in his confidence in God’s providence and patience, leaving him believing that God’s got this. Taking a step of faith that approaching this relationship with a long-term view seemed to help us let down our guards and our need for anything specific to transpire on this first trip. As the kingdom of God is loaded with counterintuitive wisdom, this approach of open-ended, patient hope ended up bringing us much deeper into a genuine relationship than we even imagined possible.
