IN APRIL 1999, the Canadian government formally created Nunavut territory, to the north of Hudson Bay. After centuries of displacement, the Inuit or Eskimos finally had a homeland of their own. This land mass, the size of western Europe, is home to less than 30,000 people – not least because it is ice-bound for much of the year and travel is difficult.

Of the 19 people elected to govern Nunavut, many are Spirit-filled Christians. They regularly meet to pray and to seek God’s wisdom for national decisions. Churches in Nunavut are full and keenly evangelistic. Given that Inuit culture has for centuries been controlled by shamans (medicine-men with occult powers), how has this move of God happened?

Since the 1950s, white missionaries have reached out to the Inuit. They have had to overcome great obstacles to do so. Several were killed in plane crashes on the ice. There was deep resentment to overcome, too. The Eskimos had seen their land invaded by white men greedy for oil and gold, who had brought their consumerist culture with them.

Yet there were important factors which favoured evangelism. The Inuit are intensely social; selfish individualism is alien to their culture. If they make a decision, they make it corporately and everyone holds to it. Also, the Inuit are spiritually aware. They know all about ‘anagkok’, shaman power, which makes people sick and causes evil spirits to appear in visible form. So the missionaries found a ready response when they spoke of the kingdom of God, of spiritual warfare, and of the church as the all-embracing Body of Christ. In some meetings the power of the Holy Spirit caused people to laugh, weep or shake.

Despite the problems with travel, the Inuit arrive in large numbers for Christian conventions. At one in 1994, 1,700 people (six per cent of the entire population) were converted. This included 32 Cree Indians who had driven over 2,000 miles to attend; they have since planted a new church back home.

The pioneering work was largely done by courageous women like Kayy Gordon and Lynn Patterson, but they have trained up a new generation of Inuit men of God. James Arreak and Billy Arnaquq tour the many Inuit churches and claim that, in some areas, half the population are committed Christians. Arreak preaches that radical New Testament values sit easily with traditional Inuit ways. He has led several shamans to Christ.

Other Inuit live on the Arctic circle in Russia. Until 1994 they were wholly unreached by the gospel. A Canadian evangelist, Bill Prankard, took some Inuit converts to witness to their fellow Eskimos. They travelled by helicopter from village to village, leading many to Christ. They prayed for them to be filled with the Holy Spirit, gave them bibles, and left. Nine months later the team returned, anxious over what they would find.

They found on-fire Christians! In one village, only 100 out of 1,200 were unsaved. The Russian Inuit had no Christian history, so they took the New Testament literally and relied on the Holy Spirit to guide them. They hadn’t heard of the ‘Toronto Blessing’ (they hadn’t even heard of Canada!), but they had clearly received the same repertoire of manifestations. Shaking, laughing, shouting, weeping and falling down were a normal part of church for them!

“They aren’t copying,” says Prankard. “This is a fresh move of God. They have challenged me in their level of commitment.” As in the book of Acts, these Inuit believers meet daily, baptise converts and receive the Spirit’s power by faith. They regularly experience the miraculous in healings and miracles. And, as Jesus foretold, they are knowing persecution. They have refused the authorities’ order to stop evangelising; they still go from village to village with the good news of Jesus. Many have been arrested and beaten. But as one Inuit Christian told Prankard, “They can threaten us, they can beat us, they can even kill us, but we will never stop loving Jesus”.

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To watch a video of an extraordinary visitation of God in the Arctic Circle visit Arctic fire.