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Oh, ...Canada?

Tags: SEND North, Story

The year was 1961.  Pioneer missionary Vince Joy first made a survey trip into Canada to study the possibility of an outreach.  In Alaska,  the steadfast faithfulness of Vince Joy was used of God to start many churches, a Bible College, Medical Center and a Radio station.  However, he never lived to see his dream realized of reaching out across the border.  The first SEND missionary moved up 15 years later in 1976 and ministered in Dawson City.  

God has been busy in Northern Canada. We had 4 missionaries in Yukon in 1978/79 (Dawson, Faro, Whitehorse, Haines Jct) with Mayo added 1980 and Teslin a few years later.  Mayo dropped off in the mid 80s but Dease Lake, BC was added in the early 90s.  The work in Dawson eventually became independent.  The late 90s saw a drop off whereby only Faro remained.  Another surge of workers for Canada began in 2002 with our 105 in 5 initiative.  We now are working in six locations in Northern Canada, but we are not done yet.

Life across the 60/70 Window (above the 60th parallel on the North American Continent) is the same in many ways.  The environment is extreme in temperature with sparse resources, vast distances between settlements, and an insufficient road system.  These conditions breed similar traits of resourcefulness and independence for those living this far north. While there are many similarities between Alaska and Northern Canada, don't confuse them.

Northern Canada's land mass is two times larger than Alaska with a little over one-eighth the population.  The First Nation People in Canada are visceral in the defense and promotion of their culture.   Canadians have a deep spirit of relativism and tolerance that brings a challenge in sharing the Gospel.

SEND North's goal is to expand across Northern Canada to eventually cross the border again to minister in Greenland.  We made a significant step in this direction recently as one couple moved into Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.  It is our prayer that this will become the hub location to reach out into the region that spans over 1,200 miles.  Key connections are already being made with local churches in Yellowknife.  We are praying for several new team members with a calling to live and love in this region.

God has blessed the work of SEND North, and he is continuing to bring us more workers into the Far Northern Harvest fields.  We are not resting on our laurels, so please be in prayer for our leadership. We know that this work is hard, we are willing to sacrifice to see the work done, and we know we can't do it alone.   We need the body of Christ!  

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