The Anglican Church in the north of Canada is strong - a tribute to the early missionaries who brought the Gospel and lived it out amongst the people. Back in 1922, BCMS (as it was then) pioneered Bible-based Gospel work. As a result, today the Diocese of the Arctic is fully committed to biblical truth. 

Darren is minister in charge of St. Luke’s, Pangnirtung. He is also chaplain to the Arthur Turner Training School, where Inuit ordination students do a three-year course that includes practical work at St Luke’s. Karen does much in the church, helps schoolchildren with their English, and mentors a 16 year-old Inuk girl whose alcoholic mother lives in Ottawa.

St Luke’s is 99% Inuit with two of its four Sunday services in Inuktitut. It’s a difficult language but Darren says “People are encouraging us and kindly say we’re learning quickly.” But integrating into Inuit society is more than just learning the language. It’s learning a whole new way of living, starting with the food! Karen explains:  “Arctic char (salmon) and caribou are the local foods we eat most often. We’ve eaten seal meat, whale blubber, and ptarmigan. A local favourite is aged walrus that has started to rot and the smell is very strong!”  

Life in Pangnirtung is slow and the community is very isolated. Travel between communities is by air and sea. Flights are expensive and sea voyages lengthy. Other forms of transport are more adventurous. Darren relates: “We went up to Qiqitarjuaq for a youth Bible conference and I travelled back by skidoo and camotique (a long sledge with a box on top) The journey took ten hours in temperatures of -30°, and being in a camotique is a very bumpy ride!”  

The McCartneys gained insight into the challenges facing the Inuit when asked to take a service out on the land where a number of families used to live in sod houses. They wanted to remember family members who died there, and also those who had told them about Christ. Darren recalls “It was a very special time and we erected a cross on the hill nearby that can be seen from a distance. Afterwards we heard how they had lived there and the hardships they had gone through. Some had spent 30 years there before being taken from their family lands to Pangnirtung by helicopter to begin living in large settled communities.”  

The main challenge they face is the transition from life in an igloo, sod house or tent and living off the land, to a 21^st century lifestyle with TV, computers, junk food etc. Pangnirtung has a population of 1,600 with high unemployment. Many have addictions to alcohol, gambling and drugs. There is much domestic violence, sexual abuse, promiscuity and unfaithfulness. Says Darren “The most difficult thing I have to do is tell the next of kin after someone has committed suicide.”  

Understandably, pastoral work takes priority. However through this, relationships are established and there are opportunities for evangelism. Karen says “God answered our prayers for the husband of one of our youth leaders that he would come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as his saviour and now he has made a personal commitment.” Overall the McCartneys are excited and encouraged to report “People are experiencing the living God. Lives are being changed from addiction, domestic violence and sexual abuse, towards inner healing and the lowering of crime and suicide rates”. Through the Gospel, the Inuit are becoming a people who have hope.  

Crosslinks magazine April 2005 index