All The World (October 2015)

On top of the world Photo by Damaris Frick

Emergency response In Nepal

GREENLAND – making a start Community contacts in the UK

A growing ministry in GREECE

OCTOBER–DECEMBER 2015

VOL 53 NO 4

BOUNDLESS facts and figures

CONTENTS

OCTOBER–DECEMBER 2015

Visit ALL THE WORLD at: www.salvationarmy.org/alltheworld

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UPFRONT From the Editor

04

NEPAL Earthquake response

06

GREECE Making new connections

08

HOME AND AWAY Thoughts from here and there

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UNITED KINGDOM At the heart of the community

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FACTFILE International congress in numbers

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GREENLAND Something new

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VANUATU Opportunities to serve

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REWIND The Army’s first days

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SNAPSHOTS News from around the world

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FRO M T H E E DITOR

A sharing people Kevin Sims, Editor

S

PECTACULAR, inspirational, unforgettable, emotional, exhausting ... all these words and more can be applied to this year’s international congress, Boundless – The Whole World Redeeming. For five days, it seemed that The Salvation Army had taken over not just The O2 but the whole of London!

As someone who was closely involved with the congress team in the build-up to the event, I was delighted to see so many long-held plans come to fruition. There was a sense of joy and togetherness that was real, not just created for a watching public. People seemed to be having a great time – my parents even said it was the best week of their lives (though I’m not sure if I should be offended at that!).

So now we get to the big questions.

What next? Where do we go from Boundless? Did 15,000 Salvationists and friends head away from the congress and go back to their normal lives as if nothing had happened? Will the congress be remembered only as five days of ‘amazing’ followed by the post-congress blues?

I believe this congress will have lasting effects around The Salvation Army. From conversations I’ve had, what most people got out of the event was the sense of togetherness. The New Testament uses a Greek word, koinonia (κοινωνία), which is most commonly translated as ‘fellowship’ but doesn’t have a specific equivalent term in English. Linguists would argue that koinonia is far more than ‘fellowship’, with suggestions for its true meaning including ‘the share which one has in anything’ and ‘a gift jointly contributed, a collection, a contribution, as exhibiting an embodiment and proof of fellowship’. Koinonia is about fellowship, yes, but it’s also about sharing and giving.

What came out of the congress most strongly, I’d suggest, was koinonia – but not just in The O2.

Because while 15,000 people were gathering in London, many thousands more enjoyed the sense of togetherness by participating online through livestreaming and social media. The Salvation Army was officially in 126 countries at the time of the congress but the online fellowship came from 157 nations!

And for each of those people in countries where The Salvation Army has yet to arrive, this was an opportunity to be part of something bigger – dare I say something boundless? They had – and have – a ‘share’ in The Salvation Army.

Perhaps more importantly, they have a share in what God is doing through The Salvation Army, at the congress and in the days to come.

And, of course, a share of something boundless is boundless in itself!

It’s not hard to see the evidence of koinonia throughout the stories and reports in this issue of All the World. In Nepal, Vanuatu and across Europe, Salvationists are sharing with those who have been affected by emergencies and displacement.

In Greenland, Greece and north London, people are being brought into fellowship with each other and God. The Salvation Army has long been defined as a movement, or even an organisation. I’d suggest that this year’s events show that The Salvation Army at its best is, quite simply, people – a great Godled body of more than 1.5 million people, bound together in boundless koinonia.

‘There was a sense of joy and togetherness that was real, not just created for a watching public’

Editor Kevin Sims

Founder William Booth

design and Artwork Berni Georges

General André Cox

Editorial Office The Salvation Army International Headquarters 101 Queen Victoria Street London EC4V 4EH, United Kingdom

COMMUNICATIONS SECRETARY Major Brad Halse

© The General of The Salvation Army 2015

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Major Martin Gossauer

Tel: [44] (0)20 7332 0101; fax: [44] (0)20 7332 8079

Published by André Cox, General of The Salvation Army

Email: IHQ-alltheworld@salvationarmy.org

Printed in the UK by Lamport Gilbert Printers Ltd

OC TOBE R– DE C E M BE R 2015 | ALL THE WORLD |

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EMERGENCY

NEPAL

by Captain Ralph Hargest

Connections beyond words

‘N

AMASTE’ – as they say in Nepal! Having spent just over 60 days in the Himalayan nation as part of the International Emergency Service team deployed to help people recover from massive earthquakes that hit the country in April and May this year, some things have stood out.

Firstly, the utter devastation! Our team has spent a lot of time in the worst-hit areas, where the need for aid is greatest.

Some villages and districts have had up to 90 per cent of their homes destroyed.

The houses in rural areas are built in the traditional way, using local materials like mud and stone, and most have just fallen in on themselves, leaving gaping holes in the sides and no roof to keep the rain out.

At first the way to help with the shelter shortage was by providing tents and tarpaulins, but at the time of writing – as the monsoon season comes to an end and the winter approaches – we’re

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moving on to more permanent shelter in the form of CGI (corrugated iron), cement and framing.

It’s not just the rural districts either.

Parts of the larger cities like Kathmandu and Bhakatpur have been badly affected as well. I was walking through one part of Bhakatpur and it looked like a scene from the end of the Second World War. Whole blocks had just collapsed flat. I found myself standing on ground that used to be somebody’s house – somebody’s home.

Everywhere you looked there were little offerings of food and flowers to recognise the places where people had lost their lives. It was a very humbling thing to see, and the ground below seemed to become sacred.

Showing us around this area became helpful for the people who guided us as well. You could almost see the burden of loss lift a little as we saw their world and heard their story. There is something very healing about sharing in this way.

This brings me to the second thing that I want to share about my time in Nepal – the people’s stories.

The day after I arrived we were distributing some much-needed food to 890 families in the Sindhupalchok district (three hours from our base in Kathmandu by four-wheel drive car). We had chosen a school for the distribution centre and, while we were waiting for all the people to arrive from the surrounding mountains, I got talking with a young man who was a teacher there.

I tried to learn some Nepali from him and he practised his English on me. As we got talking he shared that he had lost his three-year-old daughter in the second major earthquake only weeks before. It caught me a little off guard as he seemed to say it so calmly.

Above: children from a mountain village

NEPAL

Above: a typical scene of devastation; left: families have had to make repairs as well as they are able

But not long after sharing about his daughter’s death his eyes became moist and he started staring into space.

It was then that the deployment to Nepal became more real to me – we weren’t just providing food and shelter for these people, like numbers on a sheet to tick off. No, we were here to feel their pain and journey with them in their long fight back to rebuilding a new life.

Another time, four of us were sent to distribute food and tarpaulins to a remote area many hours west of Kathmandu, high up in the mountains. We got to the village after much bumping around and – as was usual – the first thing we saw on arrival was a mass of people. At this point, they were nameless, storyless people.

Thankfully, nothing happens quickly in Nepal. So while you’re waiting for

things to happen these nameless, storyless people take you in. They invite you into their basic homes and feed you the best of what they have. With few words you become a part of them and their story emerges. They have nothing, but they give you everything.

As we were leaving the village, the young man who was leading us down the narrow path back to our four-wheel drive vehicle suddenly stopped and stared at a spot on the ground just in front of us. In broken Hindi he explained through our Pakistani team members that this was the place he had burned the clothes of his mother and six-week-old daughter. They had died in the collapsed house that was just above where we had eaten, and his wife was still badly injured in hospital many miles away in Kathmandu.

‘With few words you become a part of them and their story emerges. They have nothing, but they give you everything’

Once again the ground where we stood became special – sacred even.

We prayed with this man to a God who understands what it means to suffer. We prayed for him and his wife and the rest of his family and village. And when we finished it didn’t matter that we were Christians and he was a Hindu – we had connected on a level that is very hard to put into words, and we went away from that place ‘brothers forever’, which is what he said as we left.

I could mention a thousand other things that happened in Nepal while I was there – the self-sacrificing service of the International Emergency Services team members, the close calls with land, nature and sometimes people, and the awesome drivers, truck drivers and food and material supply managers who go from being employees to teammates to family in the space of weeks because of the experiences you share together.

Supported with aid from all around the world (thank you – you know who you are!) we have assisted thousands of people in Nepal to help themselves to rebuild their lives.

The Nepali greeting ‘Namaste’ means ‘I see God in you’. To the International Emergency Services team, donors, support staff both in Nepal and abroad, plus families and communities who take up the slack back home – you are our brothers and sisters in Nepal. Namaste – I see God in you.

When not on secondment with International Emergency Services, Captain Ralph Hargest serves in The Salvation Army’s New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga Territory OC TOBE R– DE C E M BE R 2015 | ALL THE WORLD |

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PIONEERS

GREECE

Serving everyone without discrimination In Greece’s tough economic times, a new Salvation Army church in Thessaloniki is aiming to demonstrate God’s love, as its officers told Philip Halcrow

L

IEUTENANTS Neofytos Totsios and Anastasia Arpatzi are describing some of the sights that can be seen in Thessaloniki, the Greek city where they live.

What they are talking about, however, are not the city’s picture-postcard views, but the scenes they encounter as leaders of the first Salvation Army corps (church) in Greece.

‘We see young people who finish university, don’t have a job and find themselves on the streets,’ says Neofytos, when we meet in London. ‘We have seen quite a lot of homeless people lately and families with children in great financial difficulty.’

Above: Lieutenants Neofytos Totsios and Anastasia Arpatzi

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The lieutenants are trying to alleviate some of the problems that are being made more acute by Greece’s economic crisis. In the past few years, they have been establishing The Salvation Army as a church in the city, after another couple – Majors Polis Pantelidis and Maria Galinou – began carrying out community programmes before moving to Athens. Salvation Army ministry in Greece is overseen by the Italy and Greece Command.

Neofytos and Anastasia grew up in Thessaloniki, but they first met The Salvation Army in the United Kingdom.

‘In 1997, we moved to London to learn English and to find a Bible school,’ Neofytos explains. ‘We stayed in a road next to The Salvation Army’s training college [in Denmark Hill, south

London]. Although we were attending a Pentecostal church we got to know The Salvation Army and helped out at several of its centres.’

After seven years they returned to Thessaloniki, where they ran a catering business and where Neofytos became an associate pastor of a church.

‘Then,’ he says, ‘an international group from The Salvation Army came to carry out research into whether it was the right time to start the movement in Greece.

‘I was invited to a meeting with them and we had a good chat. At the end, we said a prayer, and I heard God say: “Welcome to your family.”

‘Anastasia and I sold our business and, within a few months, we were back in London. We joined up with the Salvation Army church at Cambridge Heath in east London, and then we applied to train as Salvation Army ministers.’

Having completed their training, they were given the task of pioneering the church work of The Salvation Army in Thessaloniki.

‘We started by calling people into our home and explaining The Salvation Army to them, as well as talking about our calling and our desire to share the

GREECE

good news about God,’ says Neofytos.

‘We held classes for people who wanted to become members – eight people came to our house and two more followed the classes through Skype.’

Among the first people to become Salvation Army soldiers in Thessaloniki were Despina-Irene Sabbaghian-Dipla and her husband, Dimitris Kioutsioukis.

‘I had been going to another church since I was six or seven years old,’ says Despina, ‘but God was calling me to do something else with my life. My husband and I decided together to join The Salvation Army at the beginning.

‘Dimitris and I were the first worship leaders, playing guitar and singing.

We started in the houses, but then our congregation found a building at the heart of Thessaloniki. All the redecorating was done by volunteers.’

Now, every Sunday between 60 and 70 people meet for worship in the building, which was previously a bank.

Below: Husband-and-wife Dimitris Kioutsioukis and Despina-Irene Sabbaghian-Dipla were among the first Salvation Army soldiers to be enrolled in Thessaloniki; bottom: The Salvation Army seeks to help people in Thessaloniki

‘People are very distressed, so they also want to talk with us and we can listen to their problems.’

Meanwhile, the Sunday school attracts about 18 children.

But the people who make up the newly established church do more than meet for Sunday worship – they try to demonstrate God’s love in a community that has been hit by the economic downturn.

‘Every Thursday we serve 200 meals in the centre of Thessaloniki,’ says Neofytos. ‘Families with young babies are among those who come to receive them.

We also hold a daily drop-in centre in our building. So every morning, people come and have coffee and breakfast.

People are very distressed, so they also want to talk with us and we can listen to their problems.’

‘We serve everyone, without discrimination.’ Anastasia adds: ‘We offer counselling and advice. Some people need to complete forms for housing and welfare and they don’t know how, so we assist them. We also run a scheme to help people find jobs.’

Anastasia talks about another aspect of The Salvation Army’s work which they want to develop further. ‘Trafficking is a

big problem, because of poverty. So we go out to meet the girls where they are on the streets, but we also visit them in their homes, take them out for coffee and go on walks with them so we have the opportunity to talk with them.

‘We hope to find a new place where the girls can receive counselling and advice about healthcare and learn new skills that will help them find other employment.

‘But everything is new, and we are going along step by step.’

Despite the uncertainty they see every day, the couple is facing the future with confidence. Neofytos reflects: ‘We have found that if we accept God’s call and give 100 per cent of ourselves to it, everything else comes naturally.’

This article first appeared in The War Cry, published by the United Kingdom Territory with the Republic of Ireland. Philip Halcrow is Deputy Editor of The War Cry

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HO U MN E TARNYDOARWTAHYE M E C

A series looking at the thoughts and experiences of people working for The Salvation Army in their country of birth and others giving service abroad

Alexa Morris For a year, Alexa was one of eight volunteers living and working in London on preparations for The Salvation Army’s 150th anniversary international congress, Boundless – The Whole World Redeeming. She has now returned to her country of birth, the USA

What is your role in The Salvation Army?

My first role in The Salvation Army is as a soldier, but I also work as the Web and Social Media Manager for the Cascade Division, which covers Oregon and southern Idaho.

What would be your typical day?

I wake up, grab a cup of coffee, hop into my car, then drive for about 45 minutes to Portland, work out at the gym and then start my day in the office. Although my daily routine sounds a bit bland on paper, I am having a great time each mile of the way! I am excited, eager and optimistic about the opportunities my new position holds beyond the Boundless congress!

HOME

Do you have a ‘claim to fame’?

My claim to fame is belonging to the Boundless family! I am proudly associated with the congress office! The Salvation Army’s UK Video Unit has published a documentary about the Boundless team. I never would have thought a year’s worth of my life could be condensed into a 20-minute video!

What is your favourite Bible verse?

The last couple of years the Lord has challenged me to go beyond my comfort zone. While stepping into the unknown I have clung to Joshua 1:9: ‘Have I not commanded you?

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.’ Each time I go into a new situation I trust that the Lord has already gone before me. Before moving to London, I trusted the Lord was 3,000 miles ahead of me. The Lord requires us to trust by faith and not by sight. As I continue through this wild and crazy life, I put my trust in the Lord, because he knows what is around each corner of my life.

What is your favourite Salvation Army song?

‘All that I Am’ (568, The Song Book of The Salvation Army 2015). As I went through senior soldiership class, I was learning the song, written by William Himes, for an upcoming soloist night at music camp. When I was rehearsing this song one evening, everything clicked. I was becoming a soldier in The Salvation Army for God to use me! Through this lifelong commitment I wanted God to have all that I was, for him to use me for his glory each day of my life. God accepted me!

How do you think that working in the USA differs from working elsewhere?

The Salvation Army in the United States is strongly focused on social services. I am intrigued by other countries which have schools, hospitals and orphanages because they are not services provided in the States. I have seen a variety of services and programmes in a couple of other countries outside of the United States and the message is always the same – serving as the light of Jesus to ‘others’, whether that be through schools, homeless shelters, food banks or hospitals.

What aspects of another country’s culture do you wish were present in the USA? Tea time! I spent a few months living and going to school in India and a year working in England. Both environments love their tea time. I would love to bring ‘tea time’ to the States

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Left: Alexa on the march along The Mall that brought Boundless 2015 to a close

(alongside scones!). In the UK it seemed like there was tea, coffee and biscuits at every meeting – and who doesn’t love tea and coffee? I appreciate the socialness that goes with having tea and coffee. In the UK I had the opportunity to experience this precious and valued time at Wood Green Corps (church). Some Sundays we would grab our tea and coffee just before the sermon!

However, I always knew at some point during the church service we would have tea, coffee and biscuits!

What do you like most about the USA? I love having the ability to drive!

If you were elected General, what would be the first thing you would change?

I think it would be cool to have a list of people who would potentially be interested in Skyping with the General. Then I would pick one person at random and chat with them for 15-20 minutes.

What skills do you use most in your work?

My people skills. The Salvation Army is all about people and putting people first, especially ‘others’. The skill I find myself most often using is my ability to talk and learn about others (aka networking). I network with people outside of the Army and cultivate relationships with individuals I am working with within the Army. It is very important to get to know the people I am working with.

How would you like to be remembered?

As a professional soldier who strived to be the light in and outside The Salvation Army. As a young woman who took her work and ministry seriously – with a smile. As someone who could always make people laugh or smile. And as someone who would always listen, no matter the issue or the time of day.

In this, The Salvation Army’s 150th anniversary year, what has been most exciting?

I would be ridiculous not to say the international congress – I have never been in a place with so many Salvationists! It was an honour to have worked in the congress office alongside incredibly talented Salvationists from around the world. The Salvation Army’s 150th anniversary should be a springboard into the next 150 years of service. My hope and prayer is that people don’t stop celebrating the Army after the international congress or after the 150-year anniversary! There is so much work to be done.

What’s so special about The Salvation Army?

The Salvation Army is a huge family and wherever you go in the world you can find someone who belongs to the Army or knows someone who does. Whenever I see a Salvation Army shield, I know I am home.

&

away

Major Pedro das Neves Major Pedro das Neves was born and brought up in Portugal but now holds an appointment in Italy

What is your role in The Salvation Army?

I am responsible for Rome Corps (church) in the Italy and Greece Command.

How did you meet The Salvation Army?

I grew up in a Roman Catholic family but I accepted Jesus as my personal Saviour at a Scripture Union Bible camp when I was nine.

Ten years later, in 1980, I gave myself wholeheartedly to the Lord at another summer camp. I felt a great hunger for God’s Word and to do something in the Church. My grandmother, who was involved with The Salvation Army, told me that the new officer in Lisbon Central Corps (Lieutenant Birgitta Westerlund, from Sweden) wanted to do a holiday Bible school with the local children but she couldn’t speak enough Portuguese. Would I be her translator? After a few days helping the lieutenant in the mornings with the children, she asked if I would help her take food parcels to some poor people living nearby. In one house a sick mother was lying on the bed and a couple of toddlers, very dirty, were playing on the floor. The lieutenant sat on the bed and comforted that woman, then she prepared a meal for the family and washed the children. I thought: ‘If Jesus was on Earth this would be his ministry, so this should be where I will serve him.’ On our way back to the corps I asked the lieutenant what I needed to do to become a Salvation Army officer.

The following Sunday I attended my first Army meeting. Coming from a Catholic and Baptist background the tambourines, bass drum and hallelujahs seemed very strange, but I was convinced that was the place God wanted me to serve him.

&AWAY

Do you have a ‘claim to fame’?

I was Portuguese national champion for wrestling and captain of the national wrestling team from 1977 to 1979.

Do you have a ‘hero of the faith’?

Joseph son of Israel (Jacob). For me Joseph was a man full of grace.

This grace allowed him to accept what he could not understand.

In each difficult situation he never doubted that God’s plan for him would come true. I need this abundant grace in my life.

What is your favourite Bible verse?

Acts 20:24: ‘However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race [with joy] and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me – the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.’

What is your favourite Salvation Army song?

I have two: General Albert Orsborn’s ‘My Life Must be Christ’s Broken Bread’ (610, The Song Book of The Salvation Army 2015), which reminds me what I need to be; and ‘O That’s the Place where I Love to Be’ (873) by Richard Slater, which reminds me what my attitude in ministry must be.

How does working in Italy differ from working elsewhere?

One cannot remain indifferent to the warmth of Italian people. From the moment we arrived with our three daughters we felt immediately accepted and loved. Sadly, evangelical churches are very divided in Italy. It seems they are content to work in isolation, which is something we are praying about.

Major Pedro das Neves with children at Rome Corps

What do you like most about Italy?

Living in the ‘eternal city’, Rome. I must confess that I am in love with this city! Imagine walking in the same city as the apostles Peter and Paul. But the most wonderful thing about Italy is its people. It is so easy to fall in love with these wonderful people.

What do you miss most about Portugal?

The food, many friends and family – and a pioneering spirit.

&AWAY

What would be your typical day?

In the morning I start by feeding myself from the Word of God and dedicate time to pray for my leaders, colleagues and comrades with specific needs. Usually the rest of the morning is divided between preparation for Sunday, looking for new materials (songs, choruses, Bible studies, illustrations), administrative work and meeting people.

The afternoons are dedicated to leaving the premises and making contacts in the vicinity of the corps and visiting people at home.

Rome Corps also has a good social programme. There is a food bank, a clothes bank, a charity shop we opened in 2015 and, for six months a year, we distribute more than 400 hot meals to homeless people.

What aspects of another country’s culture do you wish were present in Italy?

The desire for the churches to work together and for special united events. I would like to see more of a Kingdom culture instead of a denominational culture.

If you were elected General, what would be the first thing you would change?

I would call on a group of officers to rethink the way we choose officers for national and international leadership positions. I believe we ought to place leaders in leadership positions – men and women with servant-leadership gifts. At the same time I would call on the whole Army to pray for our leaders, national and international. Also, I would ask each territory and command to put in place programmes to help corps officers to develop their ministry. We have international networks for almost everything (social justice, anti-human trafficking, recycling, youth, public relations) but not for what we have been called to do from the beginning – corps work and corps planting.

If you could choose to work for The Salvation Army anywhere else, where would you choose and why?

My wife had a dream – to open a new corps. We have already been given the opportunity of opening two, and we loved it. Now the dream would be to open The Salvation Army in a new country. We love pioneer work!

What skills do you use most in your work?

Teaching, preaching, encouraging and human relations.

What skills do you have that you would like the opportunity to use more?

Teaching. One of my great joys is to help officers to reach their full potential.

How would you like to be remembered?

As a servant of God who was used by him to change lives.

In this, The Salvation Army’s 150th anniversary year, what excites you most?

Hearing so many Salvationists say they want the Army to be ‘Army’ and not another ‘church’. This desire – to go back to our roots and be a relevant Army in our time – excites me.

What’s so special about The Salvation Army?

Mobilisation – the fact that we are organised as an army allows us not only to respond fast to emergencies but also to mobilise our members for united efforts (prayer, evangelisation, fundraising, discipleship training). Wearing our goal – uniform-wearing reminds us we were called to be enlisted in a war. Saved to serve. God raised The Salvation Army with a purpose – we are a fighting force; God’s commandos!

&AWAY

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Kit Oates’s photo of Jason, who lives in Kilburn and works with young people in the community to improve their strength and fitness

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PHOTOGRAPHY

The gentle triumph of companionship Words and photos by Kit Oates

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N early 2015 I decided to photograph tenants on the South Kilburn housing estate in north London. I’d had a small photo studio on the estate for four years, housed in an old council office that was due for demolition. Over the years I had noticed the strong community in the area, and the complexities they faced with the estate under regeneration.

The estate is halfway through a 20year rebuilding of the social housing stock. Large tower blocks are being torn down and replaced by modern blocks.

This means many residents being moved around and into new buildings. People find themselves moved away from family, friends and neighbours. With the support of the South Kilburn Trust, an organisation whose aim is to improve the lives of residents, I began a project that would involve photographing locals and pasting their portraits onto buildings due for demolition.

One of the places I was keen to photograph people at was my local Salvation Army.

My project is about the changing generations living on the estate: kids who are growing up here; people who have just moved here; and people who have lived here all their lives. With The Salvation Army being a longstanding part of the community, it was the obvious choice as a place to photograph people for the project.

Kilburn Salvation Army Community Church is for many a lifeline for help and support in the local area, in particular for the elderly.

I wanted to capture a broad demographic of the area for my project, so I visited the centre during elders day, a day just for the elderly that includes lunch, socialising, exercise, knitting and games. It may not sound

‘Betty’s optimism was great and clearly has a positive effect on the people at the centre’

Above: Thelma and Jean enjoy meeting at the elders day at Kilburn Salvation Army Community Church; below: Kit’s photo of Betty for the Re:Generation project

like much, but for many of the visitors this was the highlight of their week, an opportunity to get out of the house and make friends.

While at the centre I photographed Betty, who works as a chef at The Salvation Army. She also enjoys the opportunity to have a chat with everyone: ‘I’m always here really, working or helping out,’ she explained.

She has cooked and helped at the centre for 27 years and told me: ‘I love the cooking, I love the people, everybody else cheers me up.’

Betty has got a new flat and loves it, despite the changes. ‘You’ve just got to look forwards to CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

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UNITED KINGDOM

Photos across this spread show Kit Oates’s images for the Re:Generation project, which features photos of residents in Kilburn, mixed with images of tower blocks that are being knocked down. Kit blew up some of the images and used them as posters on the derelict buildings, giving the reminder that the places had been home to generations of people.

Photos by Kit

Portraits of Denzel, Eugenia and Nathan on the side of a condemned car park

‘My project is about generations

Arwo, whose family moved to the UK from Somalia to avoid conflict Kilburn Salvation Army visitors preparing for another packed Tuesday schedule

Portrait of Jeronne, a local youth worker, at the Oxford Kilburn Club

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UNITED KINGDOM

Oates/kitoates.com

Kaiyin, a local student, was one of the younger people to be featured. All ages participated in the project

the changing living on the estate’

Information sheets were put up around the area so people knew what the project was about OC TOBE R– DE C E M BE R 2015 | ALL THE WORLD |

13

UNITED KINGDOM

Above: Kit’s images of life form a stark contrast to the derelict, neglected buildings. The South Kilburn regeneration will take 15 years, tearing down 1960s tower blocks and replacing them with new buildings; top right: Kit’s portrait of Gladys

things and not look back,’ she said. ‘A lot of us older ones tend to look back instead of forwards.’ Betty’s optimism was great and clearly has a positive effect on the people at the centre.

‘Betty is kind,’ I was told by Gladys, a visitor to the centre. ‘She’ll do anything for you, she’ll talk to anybody, and almost everyone in the area knows Betty.’

Gladys isn’t so sure about the changes: ‘I’ve waited two years for my new flat,’ she said. ‘I was told to go up to view it, but when I got there they couldn’t let me in, they had lost the keys.’ She is now the last person on her floor in a large block of flats, due for demolition. I asked her if that was scary or lonely. She answered: ‘As long as the lift still works I don’t mind still living there.’

Gladys oversees the knitting at the Salvation Army centre. ‘I’m not an expert,’ she said, ‘but I’m experienced, I’ve been knitting since I was three. Mum caught me in the corner of the room trying to 14 | ALL THE WORLD |

knit with meat skewers, crying because I couldn’t knit like grandma!’

The roots of The Salvation Army in Kilburn run deep. The current building is 46 years old but The Salvation Army has been in the area much longer. Betty recalled being involved with Kilburn Corps (Salvation Army church) for 67 years, from when she visited the old building on Percy Road for Sunday school and girl guides.

For many people that I met, the lunch on Tuesdays was a welcome break from being alone. Many of the elderly that participate in the activities didn’t have

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anything else on their schedule for the entire week.

London is a busy, noisy metropolis, but for some it can be quite a lonely place.

For the visitors to The Salvation Army in Kilburn, Tuesdays offer companionship and a place to socialise – elements that are rarely triumphed in our society, perhaps because they are difficult to measure.

Yet the Kilburn Salvation Army has been quietly delivering this muchneeded commodity of companionship for decades. ‘It’s great fun,’ said Gladys.

‘Somewhere to come if you feel a bit fed up and want to talk to someone. If you’ve got a problem there’s someone you can go and talk to.’

A recent survey showed that one in five elderly people in the UK are so lonely that they feel they have no one to turn to.

Local authorities, with shrinking budgets, struggle to offer services that can help the elderly. This Salvation Army centre and others across the UK are a lifeline to elderly people who have seen so much change in such a short space of time.

The portraits from Kilburn Salvation Army, and others from the Re:Generation project, will be on display in Gallery 101 at The Salvation Army International Headquarters, 101 Queen Victoria Street, London EC4V 4EH from 18 November to 6 January (closed between Christmas and New Year), with an opening event at 6pm on 18 November.

For more information please email info@kitoates.com

Kit Oates is a freelance photographer based in the United Kingdom.

He – very generously – did not charge for the photos used with this article but he is available for hire wherever the work takes him! For contact details and to see more examples of his work go to: www.kitoates.com

FACTFILE

N

Boundless

The Whole World Redeeming

The round logo that was used throughout the congress was designed by Norewegians Kim Hansen and Jan Aasmann Størksen. It is comprised of dove-shaped images in Salvation Army colours of yellow, red and blue, interwoven to form a circle with a star in the middle.

The logo was chosen out of approximately 40 submissions from around the Salvation Army world.

The Salvation Army’s 150th anniversary international congress • Boundless – as the 2015 international

congress has become known – took place from 1-5 July at The O2 in London

• The congress was attended by delegates

from all 126 countries in which The Salvation Army was then officially at work

• Boundless was The Salvation Army’s ninth

international congress, but the first to be held in London for 25 years

•

More than 100,000 tickets were sold across the venues over the five days of the event

• Other facilities that were utilised at The O2 included an SP&S ‘Super Trade’ shop, a creche, Boundless Kids venue, a historic display, The Hub (for volunteers) and Sky Backstage (base for the media team)

• The 2,520-seat Boundless Theatre was

constructed especially for the congress. By the end of Sunday night (5 July) all traces of the theatre had been removed!

• There were 909 members of particpating

groups at the congress, along with more than a dozen soloists. This figure includes 185 members of the massed timbrels

• More than 1,200 delegates were sponsored to attend the congress, with tickets, accommodation, food and travel provided

• Online streaming of meetings from The O2

was watched by people from 157 countries, including more than 30 that have no Salvation Army presence, such as Cyprus, Kazakhstan, Somalia and Saudi Arabia

• Almost 3,000 photos of the congress, taken

by the Boundless Media Team, are available to view at www.boundless2015.org/photos

• Between 24 July 2012 and 21 September

2015, 30,658 emails were sent to or from the IHQ-Congress mailbox!

Around 2,000 Salvationists and friends participated in the march of witness along The Mall, ending with a salute in front of Buckingham Palace Royal Parks officials estimate that the march was watched by more than 30,000 people Order was kept by five Royal Guardsmen – all of whom are also Salvationists

Staff at The O2 told the congress team that Boundless was the second-largest event to take place at the venue – behind only the London 2012 Olympic Games The venue is less than three miles (in a straight line) from the spot in east London where William Booth founded The Salvation Army on 2 July 1865 At The O2, the congress made use of seven ‘performance’ venues of varying sizes – the O2 arena, Boundless Theatre, Indigo at The O2, Building Six and three screens at Cineworld

ONLY

£10

• The meals provided to sponsored delegates – 17,500 – would be enough to feed one person for around 16 years!

• Sponsored delegates were looked after by

92 volunteers known as Boundless Buddies, staying in accommodation at seven university campuses

• The Boundless Buddies were part of a

volunteer workforce of 300 that served for more than 10,000 hours

• The day before the congress began, 42

coaches transported sponsored delegates to their accommodation on arrival at London City, Gatwick and Heathrow Airports

Boundless – The Experience, a 160-page photo book of the congress, is available from territorial trade departments across the world. Please contact your territorial/command/regional headquarters for contact details. The book is also available to buy for personal callers to International Headquarters. (Because of the size and weight of this high-quality production, there are currently no plans to offer postal sales direct from IHQ.) OC TOBE R– DE C E M BE R 2015 | ALL THE WORLD |

15

NEW MINISTRY

GREENLAND

Pioneers for God in the ‘Land of Man’

By Major Levi Giversen

F

rom the Danish town of Nakskov to the Greenlandic capital Nuuk is a long way, but for Lieutenants Petura and Magnus Haraldsen the journey was simply a continuation of their call to be Salvation Army pioneers.

Until three years ago, The Salvation Army was a blank page in Greenland.

Despite massive spiritual and social needs, the Army’s flag was not yet planted on the biggest island in the world.

Almost in competition with the Arctic’s melting ice caps, the last resistance to the Army’s move into Greenland thawed three years ago. Fruitful meetings between Salvation Army leadership in Denmark and Greenlandic authorities at the beginning of 2012 were decisive and, in August of the same year, the Army was ready to ‘invade’.

At the Salvation Army training college in Norway, Cadets Petura and Magnus Haraldsen were in the final stage of their

16 | ALL THE WORLD |

studies. As officers-to-be, they expected in the coming summer to continue their 15 years of pioneer work in the southerly Danish town of Nakskov, where they had been in charge of a corps (church), a shelter and a centre for second-hand clothing.

‘We need to think and pray about that,’ was the couple’s immediate reaction when asked about pioneering the Army’s work in Greenland. But the challenge caused neither hesitation nor doubts in their minds. Both say they experienced a clear ‘yes and amen’ in their inner self.

Even concerns on behalf of their teenage sons, Dánial and Andrias, were set aside in a surprising way when the oldest of them, unaware about the prospect of his parents’ new responsibilities, one day exclaimed, ‘I don’t understand why The Salvation Army is not present in Greenland!’

A knowing look between Petura and Magnus signalled yet another of many

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affirmations that they were in God’s will. And so, at a Danish Salvation Army congress a few months later, the pair received their formal marching orders from General Linda Bond.

Three years later, the little capital city with houses in all the colours of the rainbow, fringed with snow-covered mountains and a view of the sea as far as the eye can see, had become a cherished home.

Petura and Magnus’s first year in Greenland was marked by one persistent activity: they deliberately used their feet as transportation across the city’s wintry and windswept streets. This commitment to walking was partly to make their presence visible, but also to prepare for their work in the best way they knew how: by praying.

Above: the Haraldsen family in Greenland

GREENLAND

Top left: worn-down blocks of flats in Nuuk which are home to many marginalised people; top right: this building was The Salvation Army’s premises in Nuuk until August 2015; above: the lieutenants with The Salvation Army’s first members in Greenland, Michael Wagner Pedersen and Lotte Snebang Christensen

‘Two days a week, we went prayerwalking,’ they explain. ‘We walked where God led our steps, often passing through locations such as the selfgovernment’s head office, local authorities and educational institutions.’ The couple is convinced that the progress and growth of the Army in Greenland can be directly attributed to this spiritual preparatory work.

‘It was also during these walks that we received inspiration for concrete initiatives about our further work,’ says Petura, explaining that the many miles of prayer on foot also heightened their awareness that the project was God’s, not theirs. ‘It helped us shift the focus from ourselves to God,’ she says. ‘It is God, and not us who has built up a work in Greenland.’

Magnus adds, ‘If we had advanced differently, we would surely have ended up somewhere else.’

A corps premises in the heart of Nuuk was opened in February 2013, but soon proved too small for the Army’s growing work. A new house, twice the size of the first, was acquired in May 2015.

This new house is a definite answer to prayer, fulfilled by a much-appreciated donation from The Salvation Army’s USA Western Territory, which is a ‘partner in mission’ with The Salvation Army in Denmark. Its territorial leaders, Commissioners James and Carolyn Knaggs, presented this generous donation during a visit to Greenland earlier in the year.

As they prepared to return to Denmark, one of the Haraldsens’ final

‘Their target group turned out to consist primarily of homeless and other marginalised people’

tasks was to get the new house ready for the officers who would shortly replace them.

But the couple still remember the early days when their tiny house first began filling with people. ‘We opened our doors for the first time in February 2013,’ Magnus says, ‘and already in May, we had a full house.’

They didn’t have any particular target groups in mind when they started, Petura says. ‘We just distributed our simple flyers on the streets and welcomed everybody.’

Their early work included a programme for new mothers in borrowed facilities in a block of flats, but their primary mission concept consisted of coffee and listening ears.

‘We opened a café and decided to call it William’s Café [after Salvation Army Founder William Booth],’ Magnus says.

This was followed by other initiatives, such as a night church, Bible study, teaching, a prison service – and later a soup kitchen in partnership with the Red Cross and a local relief organisation.

Their target group turned out to consist primarily of homeless and other marginalised people.

For the Haraldsens, their congregation – which some might describe as ‘motley’ – reminds them that the church is never just a building made of dead stones, but a congregation built of living stones; individuals whose lives they have seen transformed and restored, as people have placed their faith in God. ‘It’s quite astounding,’ says Magnus.

‘In the beginning there were only four people at the café meetings, and we are now close to 40.’ And while he says the ‘eating part of the meeting’ was a major attraction in the beginning, it is primarily ‘spiritual food’ that is the most sought after today. ‘We experience a large influx whenever we meet for Bible study and prayer. And we can clearly see people’s spiritual growth,’ he says.

OC TOBE R– DE C E M BE R 2015 | ALL THE WORLD |

17

GREENLAND

Left: a soup kitchen in Nuuk Corps; top: babysong was held in borrowed locations for the first year; above: Night Church worship in Nuuk Corps

‘These are people who live close to nature and the force of nature. They are conscious that they are not masters of life and death’ Many of their congregation live in shelters or even on the streets, and Petura says the fellowship they enjoy at the Army is a direct contrast to the lives they would otherwise be living. ‘It brings smiles back on their faces and life in their eyes, in contrast to the sad and blank looks one can meet in settings like the shelter. At the Army, they are met with a loving atmosphere and are uplifted in their spirit.’

When the possibility of a Greenland adventure was first presented to the Haraldsens, The Salvation Army’s leadership in Denmark didn’t know that Petura had spent 10 years in Greenland as a child, while her father was working at the American Thule Air Base.

During a short visit, before they started work in 2012, Petura was stopped in the street by a woman who thought she recognised her. The woman’s name was Lotte Snebang Christensen, and it turned out that she and Petura had been childhood friends. Lotte and her husband, Michael Wagner Pedersen, later attended the opening reception for the Army in 18 | ALL THE WORLD |

Nuuk and quickly became active in the corps. In May 2014, they became the first adherent members of The Salvation Army in Greenland.

Petura and Magnus Haraldsen have certainly left imprints on this beautiful country known by its Inuit citizens as Kalaallit Nunaat – ‘the Land of Man’.

But Greenland and its inhabitants have also left deep imprints on the Haraldsen family.

‘We will remember their mentality, their mindset, their deep respect for the spiritual dimension, and their humbleness,’ says Magnus. Petura continues, ‘These are people who live close to nature and the force of nature.

They are conscious that they are not masters of life and death. I think that makes them less self-centred and more humble. They dare to acknowledge their limitations.’

The couple humbly give God all the honour that their service has been fruitful in the Greenlandic community.

Magnus says, ‘Most of all, I feel that I have been a companion who has had

OC TOBER–DEC EM BER 2015

the privilege of walking alongside these people – I have seen how God has worked in their hearts and transformed their lives.’

Three years of being many miles from friends and family has brough challenges, but Petura admits that saying goodbye was going to be difficult, ‘... like leaving a child that you have watched grow up. But we must hold on to the essential truth: this is God’s project, not ours.’

‘We must hold on to what our task in Greenland was,’ Magnus concludes. ‘To be pioneers who came here to start a new work for God.’ Petura and Magnus concluded their time in Greenland in August, moving on to new responsibilities in Odense, the third largest town in Denmark. For the past year they have been assisted by Lieutenant Martin Mader Jensen, who has also returned home to Denmark, taking up an appointment in a corps in Aalborg. The new leaders in Greenland are Majors Kurt and Helle Pedersen.

Levi Giversen is Editor of Krigsråbet [The War Cry] in The Salvation Army’s Denmark and Greenland Territory. Article first printed in The War Cry in the New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga Territory. Reprinted with thanks.

VANUATU

EMERGENCY

by Major Rik Pears

‘W

OULD you like to go to the south Pacific, Rik?’ asked Major Alison Thompson, Coordinator of the Salvation Army’s International Emergency Services. ‘We need another member to be part of the relief work team in the Republic of Vanuatu.’

On 13 March 2015 a Category Five Cyclone – there is nothing worse – rather benignly named Pam, struck this group of paradise islands with gusting winds upwards of 325 kilometres per hour, accompanied by driving rain. After a very short time Pam was gone, but in her wake about three quarters of this beautiful country’s 83 islands had been stripped of their natural greenery. Buildings of all shapes and sizes lost roofs, windows, fences. Amazingly, only 11 people lost their lives – too many, but remarkable considering the conditions.

‘How do you feel about going?’ asked Alison. ‘We really do need another team member and you have done the training, you know how the systems work. What about it?’

What indeed did I think about it? In truth, I felt excited, privileged, daunted, inadequate for such a task. Could I really make a difference?

Come on Rik, I told myself, of course you can do it. You just have to trust God, as you have for every other challenge over the past 35 years since you became a Christian. But something inside answered back – you’re 70 now Rik, is that not too old? Come on, I thought, 70 is only a number! I’m fit, healthy, almost of sound mind …! Why not?

By the time our coffee break was over I had an answer: ‘Absolutely Alison, no problem. When do you want me to leave?’

As a retired officer I have been working three days a week for the past Above: typical of the people Rik met on Vanuatu, this woman is trying to return to normality despite the damage that Cyclone Pam did to her home

by Major Rik Pears

A privileged experience seven months in International Emergency Services at International Headquarters (IHQ). Standing in a gap, pro tem, like many other retired officers.

My role to that point had been important but purely administrative.

So what an opportunity – to go and play a practical role in one of our relief operations, rather than simply supporting from IHQ. Yes! For a few weeks I had been watching the Vanuatu situation from afar, helping to put together funding and administration for the various projects that were now well under way on the other side of the world. If I’m honest, I’d been enviously watching our committed deployees

making a difference in that devastated paradise. Now I was actually going to go and be part of it too. Amazing! Thank you Lord (and Major Alison, of course!).

Interhealth brought me up to date with vaccinations, anti-malarial advice and other such associated requirements.

Our IHQ travel manager quickly provided airline tickets and health insurance. A quick grab of some kit from the office basement and I was ready to go. ‘Travel light,’ said the boss. ‘You may have to carry your luggage a long way.’

Sound advice!

Having always been something of a traveller I relished the opportunity to go to the other side of the world. Three flights

OC TOBE R– DE C E M BE R 2015 | ALL THE WORLD |

19

VANUATU

later Vanuatu welcomed me with the sound of a local band in airport arrivals.

Colourfully dressed, smiling musicians made me feel instantly at home. Having seen a considerable amount of the local devastation through the aircraft windows as we came into land, I could not help thinking that these folk had little to sing about. But then I had no real understanding of these lovely people and their joyful, gracious dispositions.

My nervous anticipation of the task ahead quickly disappeared as I was welcomed by the International Emergency Services team. They seemed to be pleased to see me – another pair of hands for the challenges before us.

Over the next five weeks we worked together on all manner of projects, distributing literally hundreds of tarpaulins to isolated jungle communities.

We handed out and supervised the distribution of hundreds of 25kg bags of rice, hygiene kits, water purification equipment, fishing equipment and solar-powered deep freezers, boxes of vegetable seeds, vouchers for building repair supplies, schoolbooks – the list seemed endless.

The needs of the communities for which we had been given responsibility were diverse and, at times, really challenging to fulfil.

Where would we get three fishing boats and engines for a Tanna Island livelihood project? How would we get hundreds of new schoolbooks after Pam blew them all into the wind, along with the school roofs? There were many 20 | ALL THE WORLD |

Above left: this boat will allow fishermen on Tanna Island to return to their jobs; left: a Salvation Army building on Vanuatu; above: meeting in the worship hall

‘The needs of the communities for which we had been given responsibility were diverse and challenging to fulfil’ challenges to make our deployment interesting and worthwhile.

Island communities rely upon imported supplies for their day-to-day existence, and now everyone needed the same repair and replacement materials.

The replenishment of stocks was slow as we waited for container ships to arrive.

Truth to tell, we were in more of a hurry than our new friends in Vanuatu.

They better understand the rhythm of life in their own backyard and exhibited amazing patience and tolerance.

After a couple of months of Salvation Army presence, working on four islands, we had become well known in this relatively small community. Local folk were always ready to stop and chat, asking us what we were doing and thanking us for coming to their country – for being willing to help them.

Vanuatu is a predominately Christian country, which is reflected in many

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ways. People greet you with a ‘good morning’ or ‘good night’, always with a smile and a genuine, friendly openness. I felt welcome and totally safe. There was no apparent resentment but rather a genuine gratitude for any help. The people have little by our standards, but that did not affect their joyful spirit or their warmth towards us.

Even in my few weeks on Vanuatu I was aware of a sense of healing. The new greenery on the trees was amazing and filled us with a sense of hope and renewal. The work by the government and various agencies, coordinating for the good of all, coupled to the return of income-generating tourists, added up to an amazing picture of an eagerly normalising land and people.

A healing of the nation is slowly taking place, and that is how life is in Vanuatu: slow and steady. ‘Stret no mor Rik’ – ‘worry not, Rik’ as they say there.

Major Rik Pears, a retired Salvation Army officer from the United Kingdom, works three days a week for International Emergency Services

COUNTRY OR THEME

REWIND BACK TO the past

Throughout this 150th anniversary year of The Salvation Army, All the World has looked back to the events of 1865, as recorded in Salvation Army historian Gordon Taylor’s William Booth – His Life and Legacy, Volume I (1829-1878).

Gordon has worked for many years at The Salvation Army’s International Heritage Centre in London, UK, and his meticulously researched two-volume biography of William Booth uses previously unpublished correspondence and collects together many contemporary reports to produce what is as close as possible to a definitive version of the life of The Salvation Army’s Founder. (Because of the large number of books published in 2015 by the International

Headquarters book imprint Salvation Books, the twovolume biography will now be published in 2016.)

In this, the final excerpt of the four-part series, we read what happened after William Booth found his ‘destiny’ while preaching in the East End of London.

Over the next two years, Booth’s congregations grew.

What began as a simple response to a request to preach turned into a tent ministry, then an association, then a society, then a mission that, eventually becoming The Salvation Army, today ministers to millions of people in 127 countries.

T

HE people working with William Booth urged him to devote himself entirely to the East of London, and he said: ‘I confess to having grown deeply interested in this mass of humanity. I have therefore consented to do so, and we purpose, God helping us, to devote our little time and energy to this part of the Lord’s vineyard ...’

In his next report in The Revival magazine, William outlined what [he and Catherine, his wife,] proposed to do. Although he said they had ‘no very definite plans’ and wanted ‘to be guided by the Holy Spirit’, his proposals were quite detailed and specific: ‘At present we desire to be able to hold consecutive services for the purpose of bringing souls to Christ in different localities of the East of London every night all the year round.

We propose to hold these meetings in halls, theatres, chapels, tents, open-air, and elsewhere, as the way may be opened or we seem likely to attain the end we have in view. We purpose to watch over and visit personally those brought to Christ, either guiding them to communion with adjacent and sympathetic churches, or ourselves nursing and training them to active labour.

‘In order to carry on this work, we propose to establish a Christian Revival Association... We shall also require some central building in which to hold our more private meetings, and in which to

‘I confess to having grown deeply interested in this mass of humanity’

preach the gospel when not engaged in special work elsewhere ...’

They found a new place to meet: a dancing-room, sometimes known as the Assembly Room, in New Road, Whitechapel. Seats had to be carried in for the meeting after the dancing finished in the early hours of Sunday morning. The hall, which was long and narrow, held about 600 people. A room at the top of the building was used as a photographer’s studio, and on their way up customers had to pass the meeting hall. Some would stop and listen to the message of salvation as they walked past, and it was a challenge to the speaker to say something appropriate to them.

William later reflected: ‘We had wonderful meetings in that room, and in connection with it I put in many a hard Sunday’s work, regularly giving three and sometimes four open-air addresses, leading three processions and doing three indoor meetings, the bulk of the labor [sic] of all of which fell on me. But the power and the happiness of the work carried me along, and in that room the foundation was really laid of all that has come since ...’

The growing movement needed a larger hall for Sundays, to hold at least 1,000 people, but for that they would need to raise more funds. Two men went out with a ‘Bible-carriage’, to sell Bibles and preach the gospel, but they needed an enclosed carriage to protect the books from the rain in the winter, so they also had to raise money for that...

With the opening of the Oriental Hall, Poplar, on Sunday 17 March 1867, the East London Christian Revival Society, [as it had then been renamed] had nine buildings in east London for preaching the gospel ... It was estimated that only about 20 per cent of the east London population attended church or chapel, so the society continued to open more buildings, to try to meet the needs of the people.

By September 1867, William Booth’s East London Christian Revival Society had become known as the East London Christian Mission and had acquired a new headquarters in Whitechapel. The Eastern Star, in Whitechapel Road, a ‘low beerhouse, notorious for immorality and other vices’, had been rebuilt after being destroyed by fire. William saw its potential, and thought it would be good if this newly built public house could be obtained for use as a mission hall. ‘It would be one hotbed of drunkenness and vice the less in the neighbourhood, where the temptations to intemperance and sin are but too numerous.’

OC TOBE R– DE C E M BE R 2015 | ALL THE WORLD |

21

COUNTRY OR THEME

SNAPSHOTS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

International Headquarters

Passion for fashion

The Salvation Army’s International Headquarters (IHQ), in central London, has witnessed many notable events over its 134-year history on the site. What it had never seen, until this year, was a fully coordinated fashion show, complete with models, catwalk, lighting and music.

The Inspiration show and a subsequent exhibition were organised by the Salvation Army Housing Association (SAHA) in coordination with the IHQ Communications team. Special guests included General André Cox and Commissioner Silvia Cox (World President of Women’s Ministries), the Chief of the Staff (Commissioner William Roberts), Commissioner Nancy Roberts (World Secretary for Women’s Ministries) and Commissioner Marianne Adams (Territorial President of Women’s Ministries, UK Territory with the Republic of Ireland).

SAHA is a registered provider and charity which began developing housing and services in 1959. A wholly controlled subsidiary of The Salvation Army in the United Kingdom, it has grown into a specialist provider of support and accommodation, with approximately 3,500 units of accommodation located across 64 local authority areas in England.

After a successful art exhibition collaboration with IHQ in 2014, SAHA wanted to try something different this year and – taking the lead from suggestions from residents – the fashion show/ exhibition idea was born.

Taking as its inspiration the fact that 2015 marks The Salvation Army’s 150th anniversary, clients were asked to provide designs that were inspired by the work that SAHA and The Salvation Army undertake in helping people, and based on the iconic Salvation Army uniform, creating a futuristic or alternative version.

Residents worked with designers and tailors to create their own outfits. Some even modelled their own designs in front of an appreciative audience.

For many of the people involved, most of whom will have dealt with difficult situations in their lives and are getting back

on their feet through help from SAHA, the project is an opportunity to develop new skills and self-confidence. The Inspiration show and exhibition celebrate their creativity but also celebrate them as human beings.

The General picked up on this point while presenting an award at the event, telling the audience and participants: ‘This evening and this exhibition are reminders that each life counts and that each life can be an inspiration.’

‘Each life counts and each life can be an inspiration’

ADVERT

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22 | ALL THE WORLD |

OC TOBER–DEC EM BER 2015

£10 plus postage: UK £1.20/ Europe £5.09/RoW £7.31

£10 plus postage: UK £2.50/ Europe £7.65/RoW £12.86

SNAPSHOTS

150th anniversary

4

South America East Territory

The Salvation Army’s 150th anniversary has been celebrated across the world, with many Salvationist publications creating covers that feature artwork inspired by the anniversary or images of the international congress in London.

There are too many to feature all of them in these pages, but here are a few that caught the eye!

El Salvacionista showed members of the territorial band taking part in the march along The Mall which brought the international congress to a close New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga Territory

4

This cover image of The War Cry by Kieran Rynhart uses an old-fashioned illustration style to show some of the work carried out by The Salvation Army today

4

United Kingdom Territory with the Republic of Ireland

4

The War Cry’s commemorative issue had a photo of a model dressed as Salvation Army Founder William Booth on the front and an old-style illustration of the same scene on the back page

Canada and Bermuda Territory

Salvationist.ca magazine overlaid the international congress logo onto the Earth seen from space – to striking effect

Europe

Refugees welcome here and here and here and ...

The International Headquarters website, www.salvationarmy.org, is currently hosting an interactive map to show The Salvation Army’s response to the refugee crisis in Europe. The map at sar.my/europerefugees shows some of The Salvation Army’s current refugee assistance projects in 14 countries across the continent. Each country with a known response is represented by a Salvation Army red shield, and clicking on the shield brings up the latest information from that country.

General André Cox is taking a personal interest in the refugee situation. In an open letter to European governments, the General called for a compassionate, coordinated response to the crisis. ‘These are our brothers and sisters,’ he wrote,

‘and we must help with all urgency and with great practicality ...

‘For 150 years The Salvation Army has been welcoming people in God’s name, standing alongside those who struggle to get by and others who are ignored or even rejected by the communities in which they live. As the citizens of Europe welcome thousands of people into their towns and cities, The Salvation Army – through its national programmes but also in its local centres – will be waiting with arms open.’

Communications Section, The Salvation Army International Headquarters, 101 Queen Victoria Street, London EC4V 4EH, United Kingdom

Salvation Books publications are also available as e-books from Amazon and Kobo

£5 plus postage: UK £0.91/ Europe £3.66/RoW £4.68

£5 plus postage: UK £1.20/ Europe £4.77/RoW £7.31

Please include your name and address Salvation Books publications are also available from territorial trade/supplies departments and on www.amazon.co.uk, although prices may vary.

Email IHQ-Editorial@salvationarmy.org for further information

ADVERT

PLEASE MAKE CHEQUES PAYABLE TO ‘THE SALVATION ARMY’, ADDRESSED TO:

This artwork is available to download from sar.my/rememberboundless

And now, hallelujah!! hallelujah the rest of my days shall gladly be spent IN promoting HIS PRAISE

Remembering BOUNDLESS 2015 The Salvation Army’s 150th Anniversary International Congress www.boundless2015.org