The Rev. Dr. J.R. Norwood is a citizen of the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation, which he formerly served for six years as the Principal Justice of the Tribal Supreme Court, fifteen years as a Councilman, and for sixteen years as the senior minister to the Nanticoke-Lenape Tribal Christian Prayer Circle Ministry. For thirteen years, he served asy the co-chair of the Task Force on Federal Acknowledgment of the National Congress of American Indians and the general secretary of the Alliance of Colonial Era Tribes. Dr. Norwood also Founded “1 st Light
Mission” Indigenous outreach ministry. He has represented his tribe at the national and international level and has written about and lectured on tribal history, culture, religion, and current concerns. Since 1992, Dr. Norwood he has served as the senior pastor of the Ujima Village Christian Church of Ewing, NJ, and is also the founder and director of the Christian Mission School of Theology.

Dr. Norwood is a tribal historian, cultural presenter, writer, drummer, and craftsmen. His tribal craftwork has been exhibited in museums and at art festivals. He has lectured at various academic institutions and testified before the United States Congress. His publications and research papers include “We are Still Here – The Tribal Saga of New Jersey’s Nanticoke and Lenape Indians” (2007), “The Historical Impact and Current Challenges of Christian Ministry Among the Aboriginal People of the Delaware Bay Region” (2015), “Contextualized Worship Among the Nanticoke-Lenape American Indians” (2017 in the peer reviewed academic journal “In die Skriflig”), in addition to numerous other articles on Theology, American Indian history, culture, and current concerns. He has been featured in several documentaries on American Indian History, including: The Seven Ages of Britain (2010); Philadelphia: The Great Experiment (2014); Promised Land (2016); and, The King’s Highway (2016), and Bicentennial City (2019).

Dr. Norwood is a graduate of Howard University in Washington, DC (B.A. in Philosophy), Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, NJ (M.Div. – with thesis), and North-West University in Potchefstroom, SA (PhD in Missiology). His professional credentials include a D.Min. (Pastoral Care and Counseling), D.P.M. (Expository Preaching), and a diploma from the United States Army Chaplain’s Center and School. He is also an instructor with the Timothy Two Project International. He has previously served as an instructor for the Eastern School of Christian Ministry (of Palmer Seminary), as a field education supervisor for both Princeton Theological Seminary and New Brunswick Theological Seminary, and on the Princeton University Art Museum’s Advisory Group for Indigenous North America. He is a member of the Commission on Missions and Evangelism of the World Reformed Fellowship, the Evangelical Theological Society, board member of the Penn Treaty Museum, a Scholar Advisor to the Faith and Liberty Discovery Center of the American Bible Society, and a member of the advisory board of the Mercer County Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights Education Center.

Dr. Norwood is happily married to Tanya, his wife of over three decades, and they are blessed with three children and three grandchildren.