If you will recall the legend of St. Christopher and how he carried Our Lord across the river it will be easy to see why we chose the name. The Navajo for the most part live south of the river and we were north of the San Juan. It was our job to carry Our Lord across the river to the Navajo. The official Mission [logo] is a cross over a wavy line representing water.—Brother Juniper’s Tales of Navajoland
The Story in a Pinyon Shell of St. Christopher’s Mission (1954)

Begun in 1943 by Father H. Baxter Liebler and a group of five volunteer missionaries acting under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Utah, St. Christopher’s Mission is the only completely volunteer Mission to Native Americans in the Episcopal Church. Pitching their tents near Bluff, Utah they established a center from which to work out into the entire area of 2,000 to 3,000 square miles. At that time there was no church, school, or medical center for the Navajo of the Utah reservation (except for the 1-3 grade Government School at Navajo Mountain). [Later that year Brother Juniper arrived to help with building construction at the mission.] In 1944 St. Christopher’s School was opened [with Helen Sturges as the first teacher]. Clinical help was made available at all times to the extent of the mission’s resources, [and in 1949 Catherine Pickett arrived as a volunteer medical assistant]. Services are held at strategic centers—Montezuma Creek, Oljeto, Monument Valley, and Navajo Mountain. At present there are permanent chapels at Bluff, Montezuma Creek, and Oljeto, and at Bluff a school, and a clinic [dedicated April 1956] are under construction. From these bases the surrounding country is evangelised.

Basic principles of the Mission are: 1) Volunteer missionaries earning their living by gardening, canning, hunting can work most economically; 2) Christianity does not involve destruction of the good features of native religion; 3) American Indians do not need to be hampered in spiritual progress by controversial issues of European theological warfare, but can be won directly to the full faith and practice of the historic church; 4) Religion, education, and a constructive health program must go hand-in-hand.

All that has been accomplished would have been impossible without the help of generous contributors. Continuance of their voluntary help is a necessity for the extension of the work of the Mission.

Addendum:
The fact that St. Christopher’s Mission still functions today is a testament to Father Liebler’s leadership and vision which spanned a twenty year period. Bishop of Navajoland, Steven Plummer, now presides over St. Christopher’s Mission.

In his personal writings, Father Liebler explained the specific ideology which inspired his endeavors:
We had certain fundamental ideas which we were determined to prove. The first, and most radical at that time, was a profound respect for Indian culture and religion. Almost all Missions I had seen took the ground that as they had revealed truth, everything of Indian culture and religion must go by the board. We took the ground that every sincere search of man for truth is good, and tribal customs, not contrary to the law of God or to sound hygiene, were to be encouraged or at least not discouraged. I even let my hair grow and tied it up Navajo-way, like most adult men and many boys, and it became a symbol of the "Priest who does not belittle our Navajo ways." The second point was to combine education, health, and religion – not as three activities of the Mission, but as three facets of one thing: man’s welfare.
For more information: 435/797-2663; scweb@ngw.lib.usu.edu
Special Collections & Archives, Merrill Library, Utah State University, Logan, Utah 84322-3000