MISSIONS

 Anchorage, AK

Alaska has a rugged, forbidding environment. That’s also true for churches. Thirty percent of Alaskan Southern Baptist churches have died in the last six years. 

Philip and Andi Coleman uprooted their lives in Kentucky and moved to Anchorage determined to change that statistic. 

After taking the helm of church plant True North Church, Philip learned about an older church that was dying. It had a building and little else, but the remaining members wanted a new start. So, the young community of True North Church and the older congregants of Muldoon Road Baptist Church merged to serve their community as one. 

Now, Philip is helping others learn how to reach the unique culture and extreme climate of Alaska. He has started a strategic residency program for church planters so the next six years of church growth in Alaska will look different from the last. 

“I don’t think there’s a seminary or a residency anywhere else that can get you completely ready for Alaska,” says Philip. “You need to be here for a year or more to know this place.”