Bishop David Wilson presents the deed to the chapel and adjoining cemetery property to Chief Lynn David of the Kansas Delaware nation. (Photo by Todd Seifert)
Great Plains Conference | March 19, 2026
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — For members of the Kansas Delaware Tribe of Indians, it was a moment 156 years in the making.
In a March 12 ceremony, the Grinter Chapel building and the land surrounding it, including a one-acre adjacent cemetery, were returned to the tribe from the Great Plains Conference, which contributed $325,000 for repairs and upgrades.
“It’s tremendous,” Delaware Chief Lynn David said in an interview prior to the ceremony. “After 156 years, for us to get property back that was originally part of the Delaware Reservation, where we’re standing right here. For many of us, these are our ancestors who built the original Grinter Chapel in 1868, and then in 1870 they gave it to the Methodist Episcopal Church South.
Grinter Chapel
“It means a lot to have it back,” he added. Chief David's ancestors donated the chapel and adjacent land to the Methodist Episcopal Church South in 1870. Though the land was not confiscated like so many other parcels that once belonged to Native peoples, the return of land to tribes is still a rare occurrence, making the March 12 ceremony a fairly unique event.
David said the process to return the chapel and land began in 2022 with the previous chief of the Delaware.
Great Plains Conference Executive Director “Scott Brewer and I worked together for almost three years, basically working out all the details about how we can make this come together,” said David, who became interim chief in 2022 and was elected chief in 2024.
The formal transfer was consummated Jan. 25, David said, and March 12 was the ceremonial transfer.
Scott Brewer, Great Plains Conference executive director, shakes the hand of Chief Lynn David after receiving a ceremonial blanket. (Photo by Todd Seifert)
The ceremony began with a prayer from Rev. Tony Serbousek, pastor of Concordia First-Concordia Trinity UMCs, a Lakota tribe member and a member of the conference Council on Native American Ministries, or CONAM.
“The earth is not a commodity to be owned,” Serbousek prayed, “but a relative to be cared for.”
David gave a history of the chapel and the Delaware tribe, and presented ceremonial blankets to Brewer and Bishop David Wilson, the first Native American elected as episcopal leader in The United Methodist Church.
Bishop Wilson said he was familiar with Grinter Chapel since the late 1990s, as the church was part of the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference, which he led as superintendent.
The bishop said early in his tenure as episcopal leader in the Great Plains he was told of the intentions to return Grinter Chapel to the Delaware.
“When I first arrived here at the end of ’22, Scott and I were visiting, and he was telling me what was happening here. He was excited for that,” the bishop said. “This is a long time coming.”
Audience members join in a Native American "stomp dance" at the conclusion of the ceremony transferring Grinter Chapel from the Great Plains Conference to the Kansas Delaware nation. (Photo by Todd Seifert)
The ceremony concluded with a “stomp dance,” with the 40-plus in attendance — including members of the Great Plains cabinet and leadership — joining in the counterclockwise circle.
The chapel closed in April 2021, and over nearly five years wind and rain had damaged the building.
Ron Richardson, a general contractor with Richardson Bros. Construction, said since the agreement was made earlier this year, $90,000 to $100,000 has gone into fixing the roof, as well as $25,000 worth of asbestos removal. Rains had caused several inches of flooding in the basement where the ceremony was conducted, an event moved indoors because of the strong Kansas wind.
Richardson said the next steps are for new electrical and plumbing, new restrooms and recarpeting the chapel.
“It’ll be a working chapel again,” he said.
David and Richardson said the goal was to have the basement completed by June 6, in time for the tribe’s annual meeting.
Chief David said he and the Kansas Delaware hope the newly refurbished chapel can serve threefold: religious (including weddings and Bible studies), community (scouting groups and neighborhood events) and for the tribe, including an area dedicated to the history of the Delaware.
There are 1,685 members of the Delaware, he said, 400 of whom live in Kansas.
The building also can be used for members of the Muncie tribe, whose descendants live in the Kansas City, Kan., area.
“We really want the Muncie community, the Muncie neighborhood to take significant advantage of this facility,” he said.
The Delaware, a nonprofit organization, is seeking tax-deductible donations for the $250,000 needed for completion of the basement and the chapel. Checks may be made to the Kansas Delaware Tribe of Indians, c/o Kelly Figge, treasurer, 17361 W. 158th St., Olathe, KS 66062. Online, contributions can be made through Venmo at @KSDELAWARETRIBE or a GoFundMe account.
David Burke
David Burke is a content specialist with the Great Plains Conference of The United Methodist Church.