Klukwan residents recently celebrated the return of church property to the tribe, and officially welcomed Al Giddings as pastor for the village’s congregation. 

 

The Klukwan Presbyterian Church was built in 1903.

Hotch: “The boards for the building, the lumber for the building, was brought up by community members on their canoes.”

Lani Hotch is a board member of the Klukwan church. 

Hotch: “And then it was unloaded by men and women from the village.”

A series of pastors has ministered to the congregation over the last 120 years. The building now comprises the sanctuary, a fellowship room with a kitchen, a manse for the pastor and his family to live in, and some rooms upstairs that have been used for Sunday school. 

Hotch: “You know, it’s kind of quirky in some places.”

A few years ago the congregation decided to restore the cast iron bell that Hotch’s great grandfather purchased for the new church, a long time ago. It now sits in its timber framed church tower.

More recently, former pastor Jami Campbell discovered another quirk of the building.

Hotch: “She realized that all the land in Klukwan is communally owned, it’s owned by the tribe. We all have our individual houses, but we don’t own the land under it, it’s all owned communally by the whole tribe. But she realized the Presbyterian church held the deed for the church,”

Hotch says Campbell felt this was not right, and contacted the Presbyterian church to share her concern. 

Hotch: “And told them that they should turn it over to the tribe, because all the land in Klukwan belongs to the tribe except for what the church sat on.”

The church agreed to return the land and offered the building as well. The Presbyterian church in Juneau has apologized recently for its actions towards the native community and the closing of a native church in the early 60s. Hotch says returning the Klukwan church is in line with their apologetic stance. It also fits society’s embrace of a broader LandBack movement that seeks to reestablish Indigenous sovereignty over some ancestral lands. On the Sunday before Indigenous People’s Day, around 40 people gathered in the church to celebrate the transfer of the property.

They were also there to officially welcome Al Giddings as the latest pastor to serve in the church. Giddings got to know the village through his work as an emergency responder with the Haines Volunteer Fire Department. 

Giddings:” And then getting to know people, and slowly relationships develop out of that. As a responder, you really start to care and love the people that you are assisting.”

Hotch says when the congregation heard that Giddings was interested in becoming a pastor, he became an obvious choice to come serve at the Klukwan Church.

Hotch: “We all know Al from the many ambulance calls he responded to and came out to Klukwan, so we asked him. Then he came out and preached one sunday.”

Giddings: “I think the first time we went up to speak at the  church was in April of 2022.”

Hotch: “And he asked if we would like him to come back again, we said ‘yeah’, but I said ‘the third time you come we start calling you pastor.’ So that’s kind of how it evolved.”

Giddings says village staff are now working on renovating the church’s living quarters; he plans on moving to Klukwan in the near future. 

Giddings: “It is still an unfolding adventure, God is just turning one page at a time as we look forward.”

Both Hotch and Giddings extend an open invitation for anyone to attend the Sunday morning worship.