This dissertation examines the ways in which the dominant colonial project colonizes speech and dehumanizes people from the pulpit, through narratives steeped in white supremacist, and racist constructions based in the christian Doctrine of Discovery, and its unique manifestation in the United States through Manifest Destiny. It argues that both the narratives employed in sermons, as well as the identity of the preacher presented from the pulpit, reflect the preacher's worldview. Preachers convey their worldview through stories, images, words, and the language they speak.

To prevent reinscription of narratives of conquest that dehumanize and perpetuate psychological, spiritual, and physical violence, this dissertation suggests that preachers, belonging to the dominant culture in the United States, engage in a homiletic that will elicit antiracist, decolonizing, and humanizing speech called beloved speech.

Using historical analysis, the project reveals Methodist historical figures who exemplify both those who resisted colonial narratives of conquest through beloved speech, as well as those who were complicit in the colonial project. The legacy of this history continues to affect The United Methodist church today.

Utilizing Indigenous Methodology and Feminist theory this dissertation will analyze the stories of white settler, Choctaw, Kiowa, Cherokee, and MVSKOKE Women from the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference in order to understand the components of beloved speech. Through this analysis strategies will be suggested based in Indigenous and feminist methodological approaches which non-Native preachers, particularly white settler/immigrant preachers, can employ in order to change the dominant narrative of conquest through beloved speech.

Through practices based in relationships, identity formation, and listening, preachers can reflexively analyze the underlying narratives that affect their speech and conscientize their capacity for beloved speech. The resulting beloved speech has the power to call out to congregations inviting them to confront their own complicity in the prevailing white supremacist colonial narrative and discover their own belovedness.