Dorothy Westerman
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Oct 14/05) - Yellowknife's faithful are seeing several new faces in the pulpit.

The United and Lutheran Churches, which share space in Northern United Place, have new clergy.

Rev. Peter Chynoweth moved from Jasper, Alta., to assume ministerial duties for the United Church as of October. "It seemed like the right place at the right time," Chynoweth said after two visits to Yellowknife this summer with his wife Sharon.

Ordained in 1990, he was minister in Jasper United Church for 12 years and decided to move North after their children graduated from high school. "When we shared the news with people in Jasper, we found all kinds of connections with people who had spent time in the North," he said.

"People said how wonderful the place is in spirit, not necessarily in temperature," he laughed.

Chynoweth said his immediate goal is to learn about living in the North and to get to know both the congregation of about 90 and the community.

"If someone told me a year ago that I'd be living and working in Yellowknife, I would have said, 'are you crazy?,'" he laughed.

"But that aspect of it is not worrying me at all. I'm curious about the winter and the dark, but it's not frightening me at all," he said.

One of the most difficult parts of leaving Jasper was leaving behind their connection to the community, he said.

"My wife is a musician and I've done some singing and connected in community organizations and was on the boards of AIDS Jasper and The Friends of Jasper National Park," he said.

"So we're spending the first little while seeing what the opportunities are," he said of the various ways they can become involved in the community.

Sharing the same worshipping space at Northern United Place is interim pastor Stephen Hall from Calgary.

Hall said the church is considering whether to conduct two services instead of one because of the growing congregation. "It's a happy problem to have," he said.

An advantage of being an interim pastor, Hall said, is that often people will be more open about what the church needs and "they will dream a bit more and sometimes you need to do that to break the mould.

"You can look to the future in a whole lot of different ways and it is safe and OK," he said.

Since arriving in Yellowknife he said he has done much walking and exploring the vast countryside.

"I've been enjoying each sunny day," he said laughing.