Utqiagvik

THE VILLAGE

Barrow, known officially as Utqiaġvik, is the 11th northernmost public community in the world and the northernmost city in the United States. About 60 percent of the 4,500 residents are Iñupiat, an indigenous Inuit ethnic group. Utqiaġvik, like most communities in Alaska, looks temporary, like a pioneer settlement. It is not. Barrow is among the oldest permanent settlements in the United States. Hundreds of years before European explorers showed up, Utqiaġvik, was more or less where it is now, a natural hunting place at the base of a peninsula that pokes out into the Beaufort Sea. Yankee whalers sailed here, learning about the bowhead whale from Iñupiat hunters. Later, the military came, setting up a radar station; a science center was founded in 1947.

In the last year and a half, God has begun opening doors for outreach to this community; the Adventist’s in Barrow now have a long prayed for building for church use, they had their first ever Alaska camps program, an evangelistic meeting in the town—which resulted in eight baptisms— and a pathfinder club that will begin meeting in February of 2020, and more. Much of this would not have been possible without the support of Arctic Mission Adventure donors.

AMA WORKERS

Eric Fanene

Eric is a fourth-generation Adventist, a missionary in Utqiagvik, Alaska, the northernmost city in the U.S. In 2021, after experiencing a transformational work of God, Eric was delivered from an alternative lifestyle, and now he boldly shares the life-changing power of the Holy Spirit.

His music, testimony, and preaching bring life to everyone he meets, pointing them to the unfathomable grace of God.

DONATE