In several villages, mayors and council members have become active believers, and in a few instances, the mayor doubles as the local pastor. Some villages report sharp drops in suicide and alcohol abuse, although such drops are difficult to verify. Grandiose claims But long-established leaders in the Anglican and Roman Catholic church, which helped bring Christianity to the Arctic 150 years ago, have expressed doubts about the value of charismatic worship and teaching. Traditional church leaders are troubled when they learn that some evangelists are reporting that, just now, native people are hearing the gospel story for the first time. His Diocese of the Arctic is a gigantic territory covering 1.5 million square miles.
People do know the gospel.
They don't all listen to it. Williams, who came to the Arctic from England 40 years ago, especially objects to outsiders from southern Canada or the United States who fly up North for revival services and fly out again, making grandiose claims about their evangelistic successes. Ben Arreak, an Inuit Anglican priest in Kuujjuaq, agrees that the northern charismatic movement, which began almost 20 years ago, has been a source of divisiveness. Charismatic leaders sometimes exploit the emotions of the vulnerable. Arnaquq, an independent charismatic evangelist whose father was an indigenous Anglican missionary, is well aware of the culture clash between traditionalists and charismatics.