Summer 2018
Discipleship School Partners with Ten Congregations Acts29, the three-month Covenant international discipleship school, proved to be a mutual blessing for the 23 participants and ten congregations involved in hosting the group. Students and staff—representing Alaska, Georgia, Canada, Thailand, Sweden, Chile, and Ecuador— invested three months in close community together to grow in their relationship with God and learn about discipleship and disciplemaking. The school was based at the Lazy Mountain Interact campus where the team was housed, fed and learned together. Week-long courses were taught by various instructors from Alaska, the lower-48, Sweden, and Ecuador on topics such as cross-cultural ministry, mission, evangelism and healthy relationships, among others. Additionally, the group served in three roadsystem churches during five of the weekends, building significant relationships with the families that housed them. Dave Dahms, retired Covenant pastor who served as the school elder, expressed, “Acts29 was a tremendous cultural experience of trying to live out in close community what the early church experienced in the first years after Pentecost. I found myself asking the question, ‘what part of my Christianity that I’m living out is informed by my cultural context, and what part is led by my Bible?’ ” On three different occasions, the group was divided into smaller teams and spent five consecutive days in a road-system or village church for a “practice week.” Each student had at least one opportunity to travel and serve in a rural community. The groups did service projects, shared in schools, participated in Sunday worship gatherings, assisted with youth outreach, and lead worship nights, among other things. Mat-su Covenant, Mountain View Hope, Community Covenant in Eagle River, Chugach Covenant (C3), and Peninsula Grace Brethren Church (in Soldotna) were the road-system congregations that hosted teams. Mountain Village, Mekoryuk, Shaktoolik, Hooper Bay and Nome were village locations where the school interacted with church ministries as well as with the (Continued on page 6)
Gustav, of Sweden, leads Mountain Village kids in a group exercise. Pastor Mark Murchison, of Mountain Village, took Acts29 students to visit the elementary school where they presented on their respective countries. Daniel Gallahorn, of Anchorage, shared a testimony at the graduation ceremony. Two Swedes, both named Louise, became friends in Alaska. C3’s practice week group poses at the worksite for the church’s ministry house where they served.
From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. Ephesians 4:16