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Bishop puts onus on church
Anglican congregation seeks a new way forward

Sarah Ladik
Northern News Services
Thursday, April 28, 2016

INUVIK
Inuvik's Anglican Church will need to pull itself out of debt largely on its own, according to Bishop David Parsons from Yellowknife.

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Bishop of the Arctic David Parsons told Inuvik's Anglican congregation April 17 it will have to solve its own financial issues and will have to go without a pastor for the forseeable future. - NNSL file photo

"I believe every town has the money," Parsons told about 30 people attending a meeting at the church April 17. "It's in the wallets and it's in the pockets of the people."

The church lost its minister earlier this month when Rev. Stephen Martin and his family left for personal reasons. The meeting the week after with was meant to clarify how the congregation might move forward in its new form.

"I asked you to come here tonight to ask what you would like to do," Parsons said. "There are 30 parishes across the Arctic that don't have ministers and are working hard to get them."

For now, however, he made it clear that no minister will be coming to Inuvik. He said he will be looking to the church leaders, the congregation and to the whole community to come up with solutions that will keep the church going.

"Am I going to put a minister here right now?" he asked. "No, I am not. I don't see putting a minister here for a long time."

Parsons said the church has to work on paying down its approximately $100,000 debt and become a self-supporting congregation.

He suggested perhaps renting out the now-vacant rectory, and said that normal fundraising efforts would not be enough.

"We're not about buildings," he said. "We're about mission. How are you going to make sure not just that this building is open, but that the 3,400 people in this town are reached with the gospel of Jesus Christ? If that's not what we're doing, what's the point?"

Some in the room were concerned about the increased pressure the change will put on the vestry, as well as how much they are contributing to parts of the diocese they will likely never see, like the new cathedral in Iqaluit.

Others, however, were willing to put their names forward to help lead. Mable Brown spoke about how the church began in the region, with meetings being held outside.

She said some of the elders in attendance that night would remember those meetings and that she would step forward to help lead the congregation.

"Somehow, we got diverted off, spiritually," she said. "And now the Lord is saying to get back."

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