Apache Christ

Apache Christ
Apache: Bik’egu'indán
Artist	Robert Lentz
Year	1989 (1989)
Medium	Oil on canvas
Subject	Jesus Christ
Dimensions	2.4 m × 1.2 m (8 ft × 4 ft)
Location	Mescalero, New Mexico, U.S.
Owner	St. Joseph Apache Mission Church

Apache Christ (Apache: Bik’egu'indán) is a painting depicting Jesus as a Mescalero holy man. Created in 1989 by American Franciscan friar Robert Lentz, the 8-foot (2.4 m) icon is displayed in the altar of the St. Joseph Apache Mission Church, a Catholic church in the U.S. state of New Mexico with parishioners who are mostly Mescalero Apache. In the painting, Jesus is depicted atop Sierra Blanca, a New Mexico mountain range, greeting the rising sun after performing a sacred puberty ritual.

Lentz, who is known for his iconography depicting Jesus in different cultural contexts, painted Apache Christ in 1989 following a conversation with the church's pastor. He met with Mescalero Apache leaders and consulted with Apache medicine men for cultural guidance. In preparation for the artwork, he studied Apache rituals and gathered sacred spring water from the summit of Sierra Blanca to use in the mixing of his paints.

In 2024, a priest from St. Joseph removed Apache Christ and other sacred Mescalero art objects from display due to his view that they were pagan imagery. The removal outraged many of the church's parishioners. The painting was soon reinstalled and the priest was replaced.