Immanuel Presbyterian Church started as a Sunday church school class in a house.
Photo by Bert Tom. By Bert Tom
Immanuel Presbyterian Church was organized by the Presbytery
of the Yukon with 19 chartered members in 1961 and is located in Anchorage, the
largest city in Alaska (population c. 300,000). The congregation was started
as a Sunday church school class in a house purchased by the former Board of National
Missions-UPCUSA. The house was to be the future manse of a new congregation and
it was used to hold Sunday church school classes and Sunday morning worship until
a first unit was constructed with supplemental funds from the denomination’s
Fifty Million Fund.
In May 1960, a pastor from California became the organizing
pastor. The first worship service included eight adults and sixteen children,
with 83 children in Sunday church school. Over the years, the congregation
has advocated for social justice, a prophetic posture in a city
that is religiously conservative. Along with four non-PC(USA) congregations,
Immanuel Presbyterian Church strives to be a welcoming congregation to people
of various backgrounds, lifestyles and orientations in Anchorage.
There is an active faith-based community organization in Anchorage. It is estimated
that more than 20 percent of the population of Anchorage are gay and lesbian.
In 1998, the session decided to be a More Light PC(USA) congregation.
Mission directions
What can the leaders and members do to be more effective
as a welcoming congregation in the near future? What kinds of changes need to
be undertaken in order to begin new phases of mission? In what ways can the 60
members of the congregation reach new people in order to develop an effective
critical mass for witnessing
Christ’s mission?
While the majority of its active members are European
American, the congregation includes people of Native, Asian and African American
backgrounds. Five ministers have been pastors of this congregation since 1960
and two of the five were women clergy. Currently (May 2007), the Rev. John
Carey is the interim pastor of the congregation, and the Rev. Dianne O’Connell,
a PC(USA) ordained clergy woman, serves in a tent-maker associate pastor position.
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