There\u2019s a longer story to be told here but suffice it to say, Joel\u2019s had an interest in ministry in the northern parts of our planet for many years. Early on he learned that long-term ministry in those regions probably wasn\u2019t in the plans, but the interest stayed alive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the course of the last 15 years or so, our co-workers with Ethnos Canada have had a burden on their hearts for the people groups living in the northern parts of Canada\u2019s provinces. Ethnically distinct and with incredibly complex heart-languages, these people groups, some of whom are identified as the Inuit, have had exposure to the gospel for a long time now and there are churches among them. But very little ministry has ever been done at the \u201cpace of relationships\u201d (meaning a long-term commitment to embodying the gospel in a community), with a focus on helping these peoples understand God\u2019s Word in their own language and through the grid-work of their own culture.
There is currently a team of three families (one of them we shared a prayer request for when the husband was severely hurt in an accident last year) living in the northernmost provincial capital in Canada, Iqaluit, on Baffin Island just outside the reaches of the actual Arctic Circle. They, like our church-planting co-workers all over the world, are there to stay and are committed to learning the language and culture and developing relationships. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Where Joel comes in is that the Communications Team is featuring this blossoming ministry in a future issue of the Ethnos360 magazine (do you get this magazine? It\u2019s a free print subscription and we would be happy to add you to the quarterly mailing list) and he was asked to travel up there to take pictures and video to accompany this article and several other pieces of content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For Joel, this is a \u201cbucket list\u201d type of trip and to combine it with his love for photography and video is an unmistakable gift from the Heavenly Father\u2019s. That said, Ethnos360 and before that, New Tribes Mission, has a rich legacy of incredible photographers who have captured the stories of the work we\u2019re a part of, and to say that Joel\u2019s not a little intimidated by the high standards wouldn\u2019t be honest. So, would you pray for a settled and confident heart for him, knowing that the Lord\u2019s the one who has brought this opportunity and that Joel\u2019s talents, offered in service to the Lord, will be enough?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Read more about Iqaluit here<\/strong><\/a> and about the work that Ethnos Canada is doing here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n