"Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness..." ~2 Pet. 1:2-3
February 27, 2020 Today's sunrise/sunset: 8:08a.m./6:00p.m. Length of day: 9hr, 52min Today's high/low temp: -6*/-31* Yesterday's length of day: 9hr, 45min
Dear <<First Name>>,
“. . . those white peoples, they’re a little different than us . . . their spirits are brighter than ours, and we’re a little darker . . . that’s why they’re so lucky.” (From an Alaska Native elder in early 20th century Holikachuk [Grayling])
Imagine that everything that you do—whether it's the way you cook your food, the clothes that you wear, how you treat your relatives and ancestors, how you build your house, how you gather food—everything that you do is focused on securing good results for your survival. Everything that you do can bring you good luck in the hunt, will bring you the right kind of weather, will bring you the right kind of berry and fish harvest, and will protect you from diseases (which in recent history have wiped out a majority of your population). Now comes a people who have everything that they need. They have no concern for the next meal, where they'll get their clothes, or how they'll get from one place to another. Every need that they have is met. They also have modern medicine that can deal with diseases that have just devastated your people.
So imagine that's your life, and you come across these people. Are you going to listen to them? Are you going to do what they say to do to get the kind of luck that they have? That's the situation that Alaska Native people faced when white men came to Alaska. Western technology and ultimately Western religion (in many ways the two are inseparable for the Native person) were adopted, but what was the motivation? What are the implications for the gospel? That was said almost a hundred years ago. Is that still the worldview of Native people today?
These questions and many others affect Native ministry, discipleship, and leadership development. They need to be asked and answered by Native people. We are excited that—after about a year of planning—at the end of January, Alaska Freedom Journey launched an online Alaska Native discussion group as an extension of our Bible training modules. Through the group, we hope to hear the questions that Native people ask and see them dig into the Word of God to come up with biblical, culturally relevant answers.
FURTHER GROWTH
After nearly 7 years of AFJ training modules, we have exhausted our current study guides and are ready to begin developing our own materials. During an early March training module, James and two of the Native leaders (Harry and Dennis) will begin collaborating on a curriculum on Forgiveness from a cultural perspective in which there is not even a word for “forgiveness.”
PLEASE PRAY WITH US
March 10-14: Training module in Copper Center ("The Holy Spirit")
Praise the Lord for the opportunity to go deeper in developing studies
March 25-29: Training module in Palmer
Airplane repairs: the airplane has remained in the shop being worked on as further repair issues have been found.
Folks in Grayling: we are eager to be back yet desire to rest in God's timing with the airplane and subsequent weather conditions.
To the praise of His glory,
James and Shannon and family
WINTER FUN: We got to spend an evening at the ice park, Timmer's first time. Ice slides are cool! The carving competition is still underway; check it out aticealaska.com.
