In June of 2025, eight Catalyst youth students and four adult chaperones will depart for Alaska on a 6 day adventure to serve and interact with a community in need unlike any we have yet experienced. We will serve in the small city of Wasilla, about an hour northeast of Anchorage. This city is home to approximately 11,000 residents and in the early 1900’s was a gateway town for the gold mining endeavors in the vicinity. Our partner church is Wasilla Lake Church of the Nazarene and, along with assisting with service projects in the town of Wasilla, we will also serve with their main outreach Frontline Mission. The mission statement for this outreach states “Frontline Mission strives to strengthen the Mat-su Valley by being a connecting place between the less fortunate and compassionate as we unconditionally accept, holistically assist, and passionately advocate for our neighbors who endure the causes and effects of poverty.” In their facilities they have a clothing closet, food pantry, offer free hot meals, provide shower facilities once a week, and supply access to computers connected to the internet for job searches and submitting applications. We will assist this ministry outreach by helping patrons shop in the food pantry during its operating hours.
This is all well and good but I’m sure you are wondering, why Alaska? Aren’t there missions just like Frontline Mission in our own community? Why spend so much money and go so far to do the same work? To be perfectly honest I can’t answer that question concretely except to say that God is calling us – loudly. Our leadership first had this idea two years ago and through a lengthy discernment process we decided to go out on a limb and see if this idea would be feasible. Students were interested (when are they ever going to have an opportunity like this again?) and a grant from ABCOPAD was awarded. When I couldn’t find any organizations to partner with us independently, an email in my spam folder appeared and led us to Thirst Missions who were able to accommodate our unique group and provide us with a mission partner that wants a long term relationship with another church. Each of the fundraisers we have done have yielded twice the funding we have ever collected.
Our students are passionate about assisting the unhoused and those in poverty and that is exactly what we will be doing in Wasilla. God is working in mysterious and surprising ways to connect us to a wild and rugged frontier land so we can learn more about his incredible creation and how we can come alongside so many experiencing desperate circumstances. God is giving us an opportunity to shine his light in an area where so many people do not know who God is and could use his hope. Alaska encompasses some of the most diverse neighborhoods in America but Alaskans are often very independent-minded people, which can make ministry both challenging and rewarding. During our stay in the Matanuska Valley, we will share the hope of Christ in a physically and spiritually dark place – only three percent of Alaskans are plugged into church life and in the winter Alaska is dark 20 hours/day. Depression is a huge concern here. Exposing our soon to be young adults to cultural and living condition diversity will be an important part of their faith formation as they continue to develop compassion for those who are different, understand the importance of social justice, and become invested in making a difference in the world.
It is the hope of our leadership that a trip such as this with a focus on compassion will be a springboard for our youth to embrace God’s calling for their lives wherever they find themselves and to broaden their perspectives on how God is working on our world. Continue to pray that this trip God is leading us on is fruitful in the lives of our youth and will multiply God’s love where it is so needed.