Fort Good Hope’s stunning location along the Mackenzie River in the Northwest Territories, will initiate me into the breathtaking views of the surrounding wilderness and the hardy souls who live there.
To The North
I get to travel to Fort Good Hope for eight days in January 2025. That’s after spending a few days 803km further south in Yellowknife which is 1,452km north of our home.
My friends remind me that it will be a bit chilly. Fort Good Hope is 145km south of the Arctic Circle. The average temperature high in January is -24C. You don’t want to know what the wind chill is. Sunrise happens around 12pm and daylight lasts about 2 hours and 53 minutes.
My job will take me to the most northerly church in our District. Fort Good Hope is a community of 500 people on the banks of the MacKenzie River. The North West Company established it in 1805 as the first fur trading post in the lower Mackenzie Valley and became the centre of a vast trading network, extending north to Herschel Island and west to Russian Alaska. 
In the Flesh
I’ve been coaching the local volunteer leaders, Rose and Robinson Kelly for over a year. Zoom calls, video messages and emails. Being present in their community is important. I saw that when I went to Ukraine a year ago.
Telling people you support them is one thing. Showing up in person sends a message on a different level. Jesse Snow is a 34-year-old follower of Jesus from Texas who gets it. He is employed for a 2nd term at the school in Fort Good Hope and volunteers to preach, runs community movie nights at the church, and takes youth on day trips on the winter ice road.
The church parsonage will afford me all the comforts of home, except for Jocelyn.
The community is known for a 19th-century Gothic Revival style church, Our Lady of Good Hope. The Church was built between 1865 and 1885 and designated a National Historic Site in 1977. It is the oldest permanent structure in northern Canada. 
Ken Gaetz
The church I’ll be going to was planted by Ken Gaetz in the 50s. Ken attended Central Tabernacle in the 40s, the church we would pastor 50 years later. Ken was a legend. We heard about his work planting churches in Hay River, Fort Resolution, Fort Providence, Fort Norman, Coppermine, Pine Point, Fort Smith and establishing and staffing the first hospital in the NWT. His kind of grit and faith is what built a good reputation for Christian work in the North.
We want to extend that work and reputation through the 21st century.
Ken and Sarah Gaetz displayed a plaque in their home— “The will of God will not take you where the grace of God cannot keep you.”
I would appreciate it if you would join Jocelyn in praying for me and for God’s purposes in this trip. Thank you.
Have you been the NWT? Have you been to Fort Good Hope? Any advice for me? Please join the conversation and post a comment below. Thank you.
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