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Which Comes First – Pastor or Parsonage?
KALSKAG, AK (July 30, 2007) – The Evangelical Covenant Church in this village of 230 people has been struggling with its own version of the old chicken-and-egg question: Which comes first - a pastor or a parsonage?
The people who attend Kalskag Bible Chapel have been without a pastor for three years because finding available housing has bordered on the impossible, says Rodney Sawyer, field director for the Evangelical Covenant Church of Alaska (ECCAK).
Although they haven’t had formal worship services to attend, the small group of members have remained committed to the mission of the church. They currently have construction materials stored under the church building that were originally intended for an education wing. The members instead have decided to use that to build a parsonage and are working with Arctic Barnabas Ministries (ABM) and the regional office to determine how much more material is needed. ABM is a non-denominational ministry to pastors in the Alaskan Bush.
Members soon will be able to worship together again. Hugh Forbes, pastor of Bethel Covenant Church in neighboring Bethel, says the church plans to send a group of people to help lead worship services on a regular basis.
Sawyer says any future pastor would need to raise their financial support. The church was founded when Macarlo and Darlene Christensen began making mission trips to Kalskag and moved to the village in the 1990s. The congregation affiliated with the denomination in 2001 and used a Kingdom Builders/Frontier Friends grant to help build the church building.
For more information, contact Sawyer by calling 907-694-6348 or emailing him at Rodney Sawyer. To learn more about the ECCAK and its ministries, visit the ECCAK website.
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
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