Dear Friends in Christ:

Greetings to you in the Name of Jesus Christ.

  Our New Building Committee has been working on the vision of a new house of God for many years. Our existing building has been in use since 1953, before Alaska Statehood. As you can imagine, the existing church is very outdated and obsolete due to the extreme weather in the Arctic. The walls are cracked, the roof leaking, and the windows are drafty.

   Furthermore, the existing building lacks a sewer system for a flush toilet. All in all, the old building is not in safe operating condition.

   God has given us a vision to construct a new church building in Gambell, Alaska. This building will be erected all for the glory of God. We are constructing this new building to glorify Him. It will be used to further the Kingdom of God in our village. The word of God will be proclaimed and taught to win souls. The new building project embodies the spirit of mission and evangelism. Our congregation is growing to a point that the old building can no longer accommodate our needs.

   We have no classroom for children and adult Sunday school. Our ministry would be greatly enhanced if we had a new building to accommodate the minimum needs and uses of our congregation.

   The native village is situated in the middle of the Bering Sea on Saint Lawrence Island. Gambell is 185 miles northwest of Nome, Alaska and 35 miles east of Russian Siberia. The village is mostly a subsistence-oriented community, which consists of about 650 people. We are not part of the modern and global economy. There are no industries here. We have staggering high school dropout rates, and unemployment our rate is high. Because of the very fact that Gambell is a subsistence village, our income level is substantially lower than the national average. In terms of monetary resources, we are rather limited. However, the congregation has been committed to give what God has entrusted to us for this building project.

   The Lord has been preparing us for this project. It is now time for us to act upon it by faith and through faith. The time has come for us to ask for your generous contribution to this project. We firmly believe that God will "meet all your (our) needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus", Philippians 4:19. We are humbly seeking your generous support to be part of this exciting project. In this new building project, you will be directly involved in ministries that are touching lives of the economically disadvantaged, socially marginalized, and spiritually hungry. In giving to this project, you will be our partner in the ministry of the gospel of Jesus Christ. "Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap." Luke 6:38. This letter is an urgent plea for your prayers and your gifts, no matter how small. Please join us in this exciting vision.

   Please feel free to contact us in Gambell or the Presbytery office in Anchorage at (907) 276-0914 should you have any questions. We are looking forward to hearing favorably from you in supporting this missionary endeavor.

In faith and service,