ALASKA SYNOD
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    • About the Bishop and DEM
  • Mission
    • First Fruits Grants
    • Mission Funds >
      • Seminary Support Funds
      • SPLM Endowment
      • TEAM and TEAM Grants
    • Mission Table
    • Rooted and Growing in Christ
    • Synod Ministry Plan
  • Congregations
    • Call Process
    • Congregational Transitions
    • Congregational Annual Reports
    • Congregations by Cluster
    • Prayer Concerns
    • Rostered Leader Annual Reports
    • Resources for Congregations
    • Tips on Facebook for Congregations
  • Groups
    • AK Child & Family
    • ASWO - Women of the ELCA
    • For Youth
    • For Youth Workers
    • Hunger Team
    • Kuwaa Mission
    • Lutheran Men in Mission
  • Resources
    • ACEs in Alaska
    • Bible Studies
    • Building Community Now
    • COVID-19 Resources
    • Coaching
    • Compassionate, Nonviolent Communication
    • Consultation to Clergy
    • Disaster Preparedness
    • ELCA Social Statements
    • Forms
    • Generosity and Stewardship
    • Links to other helpful resources
    • Online Worship and Engagement
    • Shaping and sharing stories of God
    • Spiritual Practices
    • Staff Booklist
    • Suicide Prevention
  • Events
    • 2023 Assembly Registration
    • 2023 Assembly Home-stay
    • 2023 Assembly Display Space
    • 2023 Pre-Assembly Workshop Registration
    • 2023 Assembly Resources
    • 2023 Collegium Registration
    • Preaching: SAM Unit
    • Digital Classes
    • Loss, Grief and Nostalgia
    • Free Series on Luther
    • Telling our Stories in the World Workshop
ELCA Values Statement

This Church -
A broad resource to foster your faith and discipleship.  
About the Alaska Synod

The Alaska Synod office is located in Anchorage at Lutheran Church of Hope, on the ancestral land of the Eklutna Dena’ina People. We acknowledge the care of the ancestors who lived here and who did not cede these lands.  Our office is located east of Cook Inlet, north of Turnagin Arm, south of Knik Arm.  Campbell Creek, Chester Creek, Crow Creek, Eagle River, Eklutna River, Glacier Creek, Knik River, and Ship Creek form this watershed. 

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.  We stretch from  Shishmaref 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 275 (urban Anchorage area). We have the largest and only Inupiat (Alaskan Inuit) population of the ELCA who make up almost 20% of our baptized membership and 24% of ELCA membership of native heritage. Those members are concentrated in our northern Seward Peninsula area where historically Norwegian reindeer herders and teachers brought their faith with them in the early 1900s.  Sitka Lutheran Church, founded in 1840, was the first Protestant church founded west of the Mississippi.  The diversity and large distances between congregations enrich our mission and ministry.

The Alaska Synod is served by Bishop Shelley Wickstrom and Director for Evangelical Mission, Lisa Smith Fiegel and Office Manager Chris Aquino. 

The Synod has been divided into five different clusters, geographically defined with the exception of the Alaska Native Lutheran Church in Anchorage that aligns with the Inupiat-dominant congregations of the Seward Peninsula Cluster. The Synod Council is consists of members elected from each cluster (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 office equips and connects congregations and people for service in the name of Jesus Christ. In that role we assist congregations and rostered leaders with the call process, transitional periods, mission and vision, earth and financial stewardship, congregation council training, communication between congregations and more.  


Shelley Wickstrom, Bishop
aksynodbishop@gmail.com
Lisa Smith Fiegel, Director for Evangelical  Mission
alaskadem@gmail.com
Chris Aquino, Office Manager
elcaalaska@gmail.com
Picture
Picture

​Office of the Alaska Synod
​1847 W. Northern Lights Blvd.
Suite 2
Anchorage, AK 99517

(c) Alaska Synod

​Office (907) 272-8899
Fax (907) 274-3141




​Bishop Shelley Wickstrom

aksynodbishop@gmail.com

DEM Pastor Lisa Smith Fiegel
alaskadem@gmail.com

Chris Aquino,
​    Office Manager

elcaalaska@gmail.com
  • Home
    • About the Synod
    • Around the Synod
    • Giving
    • Region One Financial Services
  • Leadership
    • Becoming a Pastor or Deacon
    • For Pastors and Deacons
    • Partners
    • SAM Process
    • Synod Constitution and Policies
    • Synod Council
    • About the Bishop and DEM
  • Mission
    • First Fruits Grants
    • Mission Funds >
      • Seminary Support Funds
      • SPLM Endowment
      • TEAM and TEAM Grants
    • Mission Table
    • Rooted and Growing in Christ
    • Synod Ministry Plan
  • Congregations
    • Call Process
    • Congregational Transitions
    • Congregational Annual Reports
    • Congregations by Cluster
    • Prayer Concerns
    • Rostered Leader Annual Reports
    • Resources for Congregations
    • Tips on Facebook for Congregations
  • Groups
    • AK Child & Family
    • ASWO - Women of the ELCA
    • For Youth
    • For Youth Workers
    • Hunger Team
    • Kuwaa Mission
    • Lutheran Men in Mission
  • Resources
    • ACEs in Alaska
    • Bible Studies
    • Building Community Now
    • COVID-19 Resources
    • Coaching
    • Compassionate, Nonviolent Communication
    • Consultation to Clergy
    • Disaster Preparedness
    • ELCA Social Statements
    • Forms
    • Generosity and Stewardship
    • Links to other helpful resources
    • Online Worship and Engagement
    • Shaping and sharing stories of God
    • Spiritual Practices
    • Staff Booklist
    • Suicide Prevention
  • Events
    • 2023 Assembly Registration
    • 2023 Assembly Home-stay
    • 2023 Assembly Display Space
    • 2023 Pre-Assembly Workshop Registration
    • 2023 Assembly Resources
    • 2023 Collegium Registration
    • Preaching: SAM Unit
    • Digital Classes
    • Loss, Grief and Nostalgia
    • Free Series on Luther
    • Telling our Stories in the World Workshop