Lani Hansen / Principal Rapporteur

OKEMAH, Oklahoma – Mvskoke Media’s series of tribal churches continues, with Greenleaf Baptist Missionary Church.

According to Green Leaf Acting Chaplain John Fish, there was a small community and Green Leaf Ceremonial Grounds was nearby. Hutulke Fixico built the church and it was he who brought the gospel to the area in 1866. The community met where the church stands today.

In an interview with the Indian Pioneer, James Gray described the church sitting on the side of a hill that slopes north and east. He said the hill was covered with holm oaks and blackjack trees. To the east, at the foot of the hill, flowed a small stream. This stream met another on the north side of the hill.

“Every time they had a serve they would ring a bell,” Fish said. “People all over the country here, because it was back in the days of horses and strollers, they would hear the bell and know the church was starting. They would come and hear the gospel.

Green Leaf is the mother church of Buckeye and High Springs, according to Fish. From the start it has always been Green Leaf Missionary Baptist Church. The Green Leaf community was divided when the civil war broke out, but when the war ended, everyone came together to make peace with the church, Fish said.

Green Leaf owns the land on which it sits. According to Muscogee Nation’s cultural coordinator, Odette Freeman, Green Leaf Church has left its home territory. Lucy Colbert’s dish is where the church is currently located.

“We still use traditional methods,” Fish said. “We have five camphouses left, at one point there were around 16 camphouses on the church grounds before they all started to be demolished. The five houses that we have now are preserved, we do not want to lose this part of the history and traditions of our church.

Two of these camp houses are in the process of being renovated.

When the camp houses were first built, each family had their own next to the church. The camp houses on the grounds revolved around the church building to reflect what they would do on the ceremonial grounds. After the church service, the deacon sent all those who lived on the church grounds back to their camp homes and prepared food.

Although COVID has slowed things down and affected so many people, the church still has its doors open every Sunday and Wednesday. They haven’t done much outreach in the past, but upon receiving a new pickup truck from the Muscogee Nation church in 2020, Fish had started using that pickup and doing outreach ministry.

They recently served dinner to the community on Labor Day and plan to continue feeding the community over the holidays.

Green Leaf Baptist Missionary Church meets Wednesday evenings at 7:30 p.m., Sunday mornings from 9:45 a.m. for Sunday School and worship begins at 11 a.m. After each Sunday service, they have lunch.

The church is located 3 miles west of Okemah on Highway 56 and then 1 mile south.