Saint John UMC is a congregation within the Alaska Conference, a Mission Conference of the United Methodist Church. The conference grew out of early mission efforts to bring the church to Alaska back in the 1800s. Early missionaries began churches throughout the Alaska Territory and founded schools, orphanages, hospitals, nursing homes, libraries, and many other ministries. Alaska Children’s Services began life as the Jesse Lee Home in Unalaska and Seward, and Alaska Pacific University was originally Alaska Methodist University, for example. The conference is still actively involved through the efforts of local churches in these kinds of ministries.
Read about current conference projects in the monthly conference newsletter online here. Or visit the conference website here.
Or for some interesting reading, visit the blog of our conference superintendent, Dave Beckett, here.
To read about the work of the larger denomination, visit the United Methodist portal on the web here.