“Nobody likes to ask for money, but the Lord calls us to be bold!”, says Bishop David Parsons. There can be no doubt that God is doing something absolutely astonishing in The Arctic. This diocese covers over 3.4 million square kilometers, ministering, training, and spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ in 49 communities, most dotting the bays and inlets of the Arctic coast. Every Sunday we worship in three dialects of Inuktitut, plus Inuinnaqtun and English, bringing together the Inuit, Inuvialuit, Cree, Gwich’in, and Dene peoples, along with many others coming from all the nations of the world. Our churches are prominent fixtures on the land at the heart of warm communities that stand together against the Arctic winds – the sort of conditions where wood and nails literally wear out. Yet, thanks be to God, our bigger problem is that we’re outgrowing the churches in several communties, as the church fills to capacity to worship Almighty God and learn from His Holy Word.
“The Lord has blessed us richly, and we trust where He’s leading… but now we’re running to keep up!” says Archdeacon Pryor with a laugh.
The growth we’ve experienced is truly unprecedented.
• A new Baptismal Preparation & Family Discipleship Course
• 2 cohorts (Iqaluit and Western Arctic) of students in the Deacons’ Training Program already done the first term of their program
• An Inuktitut-language cohort and a Kivalliq-region cohort starting in October Yes – we’ve gone from 1 student at ATTS to 4 simultaneous classes with over 40 students in the pipeline!
• Planning underway to replace aging churches and mission houses with community-focused multi-use, multi-storey modular structures that include housing.
• Inuktitut Translation underway for the Celebrate Recovery 12-Step program
• Government partnerships to develop and deliver youth programs in conjunction with with local congregations and elders
• 3 churches under construction or recently built in communities where the congregation outgrew the old church, and two other building projects in the works on Baffin Island!
• Providing discipleship days and evangelism training in communities• Hiring a Youth Coordinator, an Inuit graduate of ATTS
• Planning underway to re-start our Teens Encounter Christ program, and to grow it to 3 regional hubs by 2025!
• Improved accountability, re-vamped financial practices, and a new growth-focused way of our parishes working together with the diocese as a co-op.
• Active planning for church planting, to launch a new, Gospel-focused community-minded congregation in four communities where there is no worshipping community.
And so much more!
We depend on the support of faithful Christians around the world!
Is God calling you to partner with us today?