Alaska Synod

Bishop Shelley Wickstrom      
Phone (907) 272-8899        Fax (907) 274-3141

We welcome you to the Alaska Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America!  This synod is comprised of 30 congregations, one boat (SE Alaska) and 2 new worshiping communities.

The Alaska Synod is the 64th out of the 65 synods of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) in membership, but the largest in geographic size. Geographically we stretch from our congregation in Shismaref to our congregation in Ketchikan 1400 air miles away. These 30 congregations range in size from an average worship attendance of 15 (Wales on the Bering Sea) to 250 (urban Anchorage area). We have the largest and only Inupiat (Alaskan Eskimo) population of the ELCA who make up almost 20% of our baptized membership. Those members are concentrated in our northern Seward Peninsula area where historically Norwegian reindeer herders were responsible for bringing their religion with them in the early 1900s. Other than our Native brothers and sisters, we have very few other people of color in our congregations. The diversity and large distances between congregations both enrich and complicate our mission and ministry.

The Synod has been divided into five different clusters, geographically defined with the exception of the Alaska Native congregation in Anchorage that align with their sister congregations in the Seward Peninsula Cluster. The Synod Council is elected from each of these clusters (one clergy and one lay representative), three executive positions, two at-large representatives, a multi-cultural representative, a youth representative and the president of the statewide Women of the ELCA. The council is responsible for business of the synod between yearly synod assemblies.

The synod assists congregations and rostered leaders (Clergy, Associates in Ministry, Diaconal Ministers and Deaconesses) with the call process, rostered mobility, transitional periods, Mission and Ministry, Healthy Congregations, Natural Church Development, communication between congregations and more.