Church

The church meets in a Catholic Chapel

An integral part of Service Adventure is the supporting church community. For the Anchorage unit, this community of faith is Prince of Peace Mennonite Church. We’ve had the opportunity to worship twice at Prince of Peace so far, and it has been a joy to experience a new and different group of people and ways of worshipping. The first thing that caught my eye was the size of the congregation. Compared to Bethel College Mennonite Church (my home church in Kansas) which usually has 300 people on any given Sunday, attendance at Prince of Peace has been between 30 and 40 people. Worship is not very complicated and there is a nice informal feel. I have really appreciated the warmness with which we have been received. I feel like a smaller church facilitates relationship building quite readily – everyone knows everyone else and the church becomes like a family. And it is this family that we have been heartily welcomed into.

Large windows make for great scenery that can at times be a little distracting!

Prince of Peace has been very intentional about spending time with us new Service Adventurers. During our first week of orientation, we had suppers over at several houses of people in the church. Around delicious meals such as kabobs, tzatziki sauce, and chai or halibut pizza and ice cream, my unit mates and I had many great conversations with church members. I’ve found virtually everyone in the church to be fun, interesting, hardy people who also take an interest in us. Conversations, whether about cross country skiing, fishing, Wendell Berry, or bike maintenance all have left me energized and excited.

Conversation after the service

There are some things that I miss, however. Namely, powerful 4-part harmony singing. While I have enjoyed singing and have sang new and quality hymns, the same robustness that is achieved with 300 is not possible with 40 people. I miss being able to hear all voice parts around me at all times. Some of us are hoping to form a small choral group, though, which would be an awesome way to flex the ol’ golden pipes, worship together, and have a generally good time.

In any case, I’m excited to continue worshiping with the Prince of Peace community. Looking into the future, I look forward to contributing to worship through reading scripture, playing piano, or otherwise and traveling with the church on its two-year plan to read through the Bible (we are currently in 1^st Samuel). 

Well, the next blog post will probably be on my work, which we started several days ago. Until then, thank you for you prayer support. Prayer requests include unit unity, safety in commute to work, health and strength, and for a deepening of our relationships with God and others.

-Mark

And, just for fun... climbing Flattop with the unit and several church members