12 June 2021 NZFTS War Cry

FAITH IN ACTION 12 JUNE 2021 | Issue 6769 | $1.50

Ministry Opportunity in Rotorua A Taste of the Pacific in New Café

Rear-Mirror Views: Early Ministry to Chinese Community Midland Division’s Youth Online Initiative

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WAR CRY The Salvation Army

New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa Territory TERRITORIAL LEADERS Commissioners Julie & Mark Campbell | GENERAL Brian Peddle | FOUNDERS Catherine

& William Booth

The Salvation Army’s message is based on the Bible. Our ministry is motivated by love for God. Our mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and meet human need in his name without discrimination. War Cry exists to support and advance The Salvation Army’s message, ministry and mission.

EDITOR Vivienne Hill | GRAPHIC DESIGN Sam Coates, Lauren Millington | STAFF WRITERS Holly Morton, Louise Parry, Bethany Slaughter | PROOF READING Major Colleen Marshall | COVER PHOTO Self Denial 2021 OFFICE Territorial Headquarters, 204 Cuba Street,

PO Box 6015, Marion Square, Wellington 6141, Phone (04) 384 5649, Email warcry@salvationarmy.org.nz, salvationarmy.org.nz/warcry SUBSCRIPTIONS Salvationist Resources Department, Phone

(04) 382 0768, Email mailorder@salvationarmy.org.nz, $75 per year within NZ PRINT MANAGEMENT makeready.nz | PAPER Sumo Offset

is an environmentally responsible paper produced using Elemental Chlorine Free (ECF) FSC® certified Mixed Source pulp from responsible sources and manufactured under the strict ISO14001 Environmental Management System.

Member of the Australasian Religious Press Association.

All Bible references from the Holy Bible, New International Version, unless otherwise stated.

Articles are copyrighted to The Salvation Army, except where indicated, and may be reprinted only with permission.

Seasons in God The cold, dark early mornings are a reminder that we have now entered a winter season. In this territory’s island nations the change of season is not heralded by frosts, but rain, shorter daylight hours and cooler temperatures.

In this edition of War Cry, Major Barbara Sampson writes about a spiritual winter season and what this meant for her. The winter season of her life came upon her without warning and lasted longer than she expected.

Our spiritual winter seasons often come with mixed blessings. There can be times when we are not as productive and so we can rest, but they may have come about through unexpected loss of a job, a sickness or a marriage breakup and this can be distressing and disorienting. But God created the winter and the summer in order to obtain the seedtime and harvest. For many seeds, particularly fruit tree seeds, cold temperatures are necessary in order for the seed to germinate.

This process of germination needs dark, dormant, damp, cold conditions in order for the seedling to break out of its shell or husk, bring forth its inner life and begin the push through the soil to the surface.

It is the same with us in our winter season. God will often allow times to come when we are not as productive, dormant even, as the conditions of our circumstances do their work and produce the growth that will eventually bring a time of harvest in our lives. No season in God is wasted. No matter what the circumstances, the present winter chill will eventually give way and lead to warm, longer days and eventually a harvest.

Vivienne Hill Editor

SalvationArmyNZFTS

Can we go too fast in saving souls? If anyone still wants a reply, let him ask the lost souls in Hell.

@SalvationArmyNZ

General William Booth

Publishing for 137 years | Issue 6769 ISSN 0043-0242 (print), ISSN 2537-7442 (online) Please pass on or recycle this magazine Read online issuu.com/salvationarmynzftwarcry

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Philippians 4:1 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends!

Piripai 4:1 Heoi, e ōku tēina aroha, e hiahiatia atu nei, e tōku haringa, e tōku karauna, tēnā rā, e tū i runga i te Ariki, e ōku hoa aroha.

Illustration: Martin Wilkinson

M

y friend Liz recently came to stay, whom I have not seen in a long time. We spent the weekend catching up and reminiscing on times past. During the conversation she reminded me of a dream I had about her many years ago, and she told me how the dream changed her walk with God. We were living in Auckland at the time and both of our families were part of the same homegroup.

This particular group proved to be life-changing for all of the families involved, and God used the group to shape not only the adults who attended but also our children.

At one stage, two of Liz’s children became very ill and were subsequently both diagnosed with cancer. The burden of such a diagnosis nearly sent Liz over the edge. As a group, we rallied around the family and supported them all as best we could, but my friend was not coping, not coping at all.

I remember one night after a visit with Liz, I went to bed and, before I went to sleep, I cried out to God for my friend. I asked Jesus about the many promises in the Bible, about his ‘peace that passes all understanding’, the calming of storms and the Holy Spirit’s presence and any other promise I could think of. I told him that I did not think my friend would make it through, and said, ‘Lord, why are you not comforting my friend, she has no peace and you promise us you will be with us through the storm?’

That night I had a dream. In the dream my friend was in the middle of a raging storm in a turbulent ocean. She was furiously paddling up to

the surface of the water, only for the waves to come crashing down on her and send her under. In front of her I saw a large rock and on the rock was Jesus.

He was reaching down to her within the storm and calling her name above the noise of the winds and waves. Liz did not reach out to grab his hand.

In my dream I asked Jesus, ‘Why won’t she grab hold of your hand?’

‘Because she does not know me,’ he replied.

‘She does know you; she is part of our homegroup, goes to church, talks about you and seems to love you,’ I replied.

‘She knows another Jesus,’ he replied, ‘the Jesus she knows is a hard taskmaster, unfaithful, cold and mean, that is not who I am. She knows the God of her father.’

I then understood, because I knew that Liz was brought up by a man who was very religious, but there was no joy, happiness, kindness or love in his teaching and modelling to his children about God. They were brought up with the hard, unloving Jesus that he believed in.

The next day I woke up and called my friend and I introduced her to my Jesus. The Jesus in the Bible who laid down his life for Liz, who could take all of Liz’s pain and sorrow and comfort her in all her fears.

Liz says from that day the presence of God never left her. Her children slowly recovered, and during those years Liz was comforted and looked after by the true Jesus.

BY VIVIENNE HILL 12 JUNE 2021 WarCry 3

Enter the Liverpool Song for Kindness Competition

TOPFIVE

Ever wondered how brands develop their iconic names? Here are five origin stories.

1. Adidas: ‘Adi’ was the nickname of brand owner, Adolf Dassler—Adi + Das = Adidas.

The Salvation Army’s UK visitor exhibition Strawberry Field is partnering with the Liverpool Song for Kindness Competition, which is now open for entries.

2. Lego: Comes from the Danish words ‘leg godt’, which means to ‘play well’. Coincidentally, in Latin ‘Lego’ means ‘I put together’.

The competition is part of the KIND20 initiative from global charity tuff.earth. It invites aspiring songwriters to pen a song filled with hope and optimism.

3. Skype: Originally ‘sky peerto-peer’, it was watered down to Skyper and then they finally dropped the ‘r’.

The winning musician’s track will be professionally produced, mixed and mastered at iconic Liverpool studio, The Motor Museum, which has produced music for acts such as Oasis, Arctic Monkeys and The 1975.

4. eBay: The plan was to call this buyand-sell site ‘Echo Bay’, but the domain name was already taken, so the concept was shortened.

5. Cisco: This one’s fairly simple, they removed the ‘San Fran’ from ‘San Francisco’, its founding city.

Strawberry Field already has a strong connection to music through inspiring the lyrics of The Beatles’ song ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’.

Major Kathy Versfeld, Mission Director of Strawberry Field, challenges songwriters from all around the world to enter. ‘Write a song birthed out of the heartache and hope you have experienced during this time of Covid-19, with words and music that will inspire and cause others to renew their faith in human kindness and the promise of better things to come.’

The final closing date for entries is 4 July—the 50-year anniversary of the recording of John Lennon’s song ‘Imagine’.

The Top 10 will be announced on 14 September and receive marketing and international exposure before the competition winner is selected on 9 October.

Musicians can submit their track in video or audio format at this online portal: sar.my/liverpoolsongcontest

SALLIEOF THEWEEK

Ian Leung (Auckland City Corps Community Ministries) Ian Leung is the food rescue coordinator at Auckland City Corps and has held the job at Auckland City Corps Community Ministries for over four years, having started at Royal Oak Community Ministries.

Ian not only volunteers his time, which often has him starting at 9am and not finishing until after 9pm, seven days a week, but he uses his own vehicle as well. The officers at Auckland City Corps say they simply could not do what they do through Community Ministries without the dedication of Ian Leung. Ian is a humble, committed, generous servant of God and that’s why Ian is our Sallie of the week!

Weird of the Week: A study found that people were more likely to agree with a statement which was printed in Baskerville than any other font.

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QUIKQUIZ

1 What word is used when a player plays all seven of their tiles in Scrabble?

2 What is the collective noun for flamingo?

3 What was the character of Mario originally known as when he first appeared in the game Donkey Kong in 1981?

Pork Belly with Apple Cider, Honey and Thyme 500g pork belly 2 cups apple cider (non-alcoholic) 1 Tbsp olive oil 1 tsp salt 1 tsp five spice powder ¼ cup honey 2 Tbsp lemon juice ¼ cup chopped herbs, such as thyme and parsley

Preheat oven to 150°C. Place the pork into a smallish oven dish and score the skin with cuts 1cm apart. Pour the cider around the outside. Rub with oil and sprinkle over the salt.

Cover with foil and place into the oven for 2 hours. Remove the foil and continue to cook for a further 1 hour. Turn up the oven to 180°C.

4 Which British film director directed the 2012 Olympic Summer Games opening ceremony?

5 What was the name of the eunuch placed in charge of Ahasuerus’s harem in the Book of Esther?

Answers on page 22

Rub the meat with the five spice and return to the oven for 30 minutes uncovered. Then turn the grill on high.

Grill, keeping an eye on the crackling for 3–4 minutes until crispy and golden.

To serve, cut into 2cm cubes. Combine the honey, lemon juice and herbs in a bowl, and drizzle over pork just before serving.

Source: eatwell.co.nz

WARCRYIN HISTORY

These Hamodava tea tins were advertised in the 1 July 1905 edition of War Cry. Hamodava (named after the word for ‘army’ in Sinhalese) was marketed in New Zealand and Australia from the 1890s onwards, with the profits going towards the Army’s missionary work. Hamodava tea is still a great, fair trade product today!

Drama Nomadland (M) Directed by Chloé Zhao The movie Nomadland is about a woman who is forced to move from a town abandoned after the closure of the town’s major employer, a gypsum factory. At first I thought the film was about finding a sense of place. But as the protagonist Fern, played by Frances McDormand, comes across a community of nomads, she forms relationships with those who have been travelling for years. It soon becomes clear that she is processing her grief and disorientation after her belated acceptance of her husband’s death. The nomads are older people who are identified by Bob Wells—who is a real-life nomad featured in the film—as ‘the workhorse that is willing to work itself to death and then be put out to pasture’. (Reviewed

by Louise Parry) 12 JUNE 2021 WarCry 5

In the lead up to the 2021 Self Denial Appeal, Principal Advisor in International Governance Major Seth Le Leu shares his experiences in India across 30 years in his roles in The Salvation Army and his connections to World Vision.

BY HOLLY MORTON

A

n incredible thing about the immense scope of India is the representation of The Salvation Army in comparison with the rest of the world. Globally, The Salvation Army has 1,231,838 soldiers, with 320,429 in India. On an international scale, 26 percent, or one in four Salvation Army soldiers, reside in India. India has a population of approximately 1.4 billion people, but in one north-eastern state, Mizoram, The Salvation Army makes up 3.2 percent of the population.

Yet in comparison with the reputation that The Salvation Army has in our own territory, Seth says that ‘through India’s eyes we are totally insignificant.

Because, you know, it’s just on a different scale of things’.

The Salvation Army’s mission to India Regardless of this, in the time Seth has been connected to India through his work, The Salvation Army has had a hand in some incredible change and support to Indian communities across the country.

‘In normal times, the Sallies are doing a good job over there. For a number of years, I was involved in administering Salvation Army projects from International Headquarters, working with territories of India. And to see the kind of things that they do there is truly inspiring. Long before New Zealand was thinking of wind farms, The Salvation Army International was investing in wind farms in India, and then the funds for those wind farms were going automatically into the coffers of the territory to provide support for social services. We haven’t even done that here in New Zealand, but India was doing that 20 years ago.’

Aside from contributing to energy and financial options for the territories, the Army has also over the years worked on many rebuild projects after natural disasters, like super cyclones and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

Women helping women Some of the most impressively transformative work happening in India is in Women’s Ministries, and the flourishing of women’s self-help groups across the country. The self-help groups are not exclusively run in India and are found in territories globally. ‘They are not a development project, they’re a development virus’, in the way they have rapidly spread. The self-help groups are made up of 20 or so women from a village and tend to initially be supported by The Salvation Army, but thereafter are generally self-organised.

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‘THE LORD’S PRAYER SAYS, “GIVE US TODAY OUR DAILY BREAD” AND THIS IS THE PRAYER OF THE MOST VULNERABLE POOR AROUND THE WORLD.’ To start, the women will all commit to contributing a certain amount of money to a communal pool that they can then use as a loan to fund businesses within their group; for example, opening small shops or purchasing livestock. In spaces where the women are illiterate or need help working out how to manage these loans, the Army will help set up accounting systems, but, as the groups reach a certain size and financial stability, they can receive support from local banks.

Seth explains that the backing the women can offer each other, both financially and socially, is what makes these projects so significant.

‘The women who we’re talking about, most of them are daily labourers, planting paddy fields and harvesting, but, when they become a group, two things happen; one, there is an economic empowerment, which is amazing; but more important than that, there is solidarity with other women who’ve got your back.’

Seth says that these groups have both savings and support, so they know that if something terrible happens, like having to go to a hospital, then they’ve got funds.

‘Now, I’m sure that at the moment, these groups have absolutely exhausted all their reserves because they work as a sort of a social security group together, but if you know that you’re going through tough times, your sisters are around you.

Psychological support is actually sometimes more important than financial support.

‘The Lord’s Prayer says, “give us today our daily bread” and this is the prayer of the most vulnerable poor around the world.

They may not know the Lord’s Prayer, but they pray it every day.’

Change through collective action On one of his trips to India, Seth spoke to a woman in a self-help group about their interactions at the bank. She was a Christian in the scheduled caste—the lowest people-group within the caste system—having to discuss bank loans with a Hindu man from a higher caste. But although it was hard at first, now he knows that they are trustworthy customers.

Seth explains, ‘The usual rate of repayments on loans in India is as low as 65 to 75 percent. But with the women’s 8 WarCry 12 JUNE 2021

empowering self-help groups, the rate of repayment is around 98 percent. Bank managers are not ruled by philanthropy or tender ideas, they’re ruled by money. And then they see these Dalit women, these lowest of the low, as being the best and most reliable borrowers, this is incredible.’ Seth goes on to say, ‘With a smile on her face the woman said, “These days … I just ring up the bank manager and tell him what we need. He does what we want”. And in that simple statement, you just see an empowerment that is breaking millennia of discrimination.’

These self-help groups are leading incredible change in their communities. Loan sharks are going out of business because of the women’s financial support, which is hugely restorative in India where there are still between 14 and 18 million slaves, and children are taken as indentured workers to pay off their parent’s debts.

In one area a few years ago, some women came together to back a politician running for state governor who offered her support to the women’s groups, and they got her elected!

When they have the space to mobilise, these women have had the power to overturn governments and free people from their otherwise oppressive financial realities.

‘THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A TIME IN THE LAST 30 YEARS WHEN I’VE BEEN WORKING WITH INDIA THAT THE SITUATION HAS BEEN MORE PRECARIOUS…’ Covid-19 in India Despite all the progress that The Salvation Army and empowered people have made to overturn poverty and injustice in their communities, there is hardly any doubt that, as Seth so aptly

puts it, ‘There are about 10 most pressing issues today in India, and they are Covid, Covid and Covid. Our leaders there and across the world are just beside themselves trying to manage keeping The Salvation Army running in a high, high prevalence Covid environment.’ There are territories across the country where The Salvation Army is having to almost exclusively focus on caring for their own soldiers with food and other items, due to the government’s imposed lockdown. Seth explains that for labourers, marketplace workers and those not on a set salary, being forced to stay home means starvation for most.

‘There has never been a time in the last 30 years when I’ve been working with India that the situation has been more precarious, and absolutely anything that we can do as part of the solidarity of this amazing movement called The Salvation Army would be beneficial. We should give until it hurts, because our people over there are suffering and dying. That’s not being dramatic. It’s not just the officers who are dying, it’s also soldiers and the communities where we are working.

When you look at the news it is so focused on the middle and upper class, talking about the need for oxygen. The guys at the bottom of the heap, they’re not even counted. The world is mostly focusing on India, but all the numbers [of cases and fatalities], according to those who know, would say they are out by a multiple of about ten.’

Seth asks that if people can’t give, can they please pray for our people. ‘I was talking to some leaders. I said to them “Guys, I know in all your years of leadership, you have never experienced anything like this. I understand, and we’re praying for you”. Because they’re just at their wit’s end, it’s not business as usual. [They are wondering] how do we manage in this cataclysm? At least some prayers would be useful. But a few dollars would be even better.’

Currently, The Salvation Army’s Just Gifts programme includes an option to purchase ten bottles of hand sanitiser for $20 that will be used in The Salvation Army in India and distributed to their communities. They are trying to meet their goal of buying 6000 bottles for India and would love for you to get involved. Go to justgifts.org.nz and click on ‘Hand Sanitiser’ to complete a credit card payment.

The Salvation Army’s response The Salvation Army across India has several hospitals and clinics and they are responding to the overwhelming number of Covid-19 cases, as India’s national hospitals reach capacity.

International Headquarters (IHQ) in London has convened a Covid-19 taskforce as the Army world copes with the global outbreaks. It recently discussed the surging death toll in India and looked at how the Army could strengthen response and aid to India as it faces a second deadly wave of the virus. IHQ have published details of Army hospitals and clinics and their response.

In the west of India in the state of Maharashtra, The Salvation Army’s Evangeline Booth Hospital in Ahmednagar is one of the few non-government-run facilities caring for Covid-19 patients. IHQ have sent supplies, which include an additional ventilator and essential personal protective equipment (PPE). They

are also supporting staff salaries and transport and meals as staff cope with night curfews.

Emery Hospital in Gujarat State is also responding to the crisis with 50 beds for Covid-19 patients being fully resourced. In Nagercoil in the south of India, the Catherine Booth Hospital is also caring for Covid-19 patients.

In the north of India in Punjab, MacRobert Hospital in Dhariwal—primarily an ophthalmic hospital with nursetraining programme—has a 150-plus bed capacity facility for Covid-19 patients. A group of 10 student nurses are also out in the rural community around the hospital to undertake PCR testing and other health checks.

In central India, Evangeline Booth Hospital in Andhra Pradesh has a new ambulance service and speciallytrained staff in full PPE gear supporting civic government public health initiatives.

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Should I Quit My Uni Course?

While it carries a bucketload of stigma, there are several reasons why it may be appropriate to drop out of university.

No matter how much time you spend poring over course catalogues, you can’t know whether it will be right for you until you start. Sometimes, life and financial pressures necessitate a change, or you might find the university routine does not suit you. That’s okay—you are not the first person to think this, and you won’t be the last. But it is a huge decision and one you need to think through carefully.

What is making me want to quit? Are you struggling to control your workload, or not finding fulfilment in your course? Are you struggling to afford the costs or keep a work–life balance? Are you suffering from homesickness or poor mental health?

Will I benefit from quitting my studies? Consider if dropping out will benefit your career development and/or personal life. Is there a better learning or work opportunity available?

What is my next step? What is your alternative plan? Do not tell yourself that you will figure it out after you leave—know beforehand. Is it transferring into a new course/college?

Securing a job? Starting a small business? Taking care of family?

Have I spoken with the people I care about? Discuss the situation with your loved ones. They may have another perspective about your next move, or how you can better cope with your studies. If your choice will impact them, or if they have offered financial assistance, it is especially important to make sure they are involved in the decision-making process.

It is often possible to defer your study, reduce your workload to part-time or take summer papers, which means your degree will take more years to complete, but it might benefit your workload, grades and/or mental wellbeing. If you are concerned about your mental health, talk to university counsellors or a therapist who can help you ascertain whether continuing with your current timetable is feasible.

Be honest with yourself. If it is possible to persevere and you can see yourself working in this field, reach out for help. Your university’s support services can provide tips and strategies for studying, structuring your workload and preparing for exams.

But if after long consideration you decide your course is not the best thing for you, your family or your career, do not be afraid to forge a new path.

WORK OUT YOUR PRIORITIES AND BALANCE THEM WHILE MAKING TIME FOR REST. University Wellbeing Tips • Eat healthily. Even on a budget, cheap seasonal vegetables will give you much more nutrition, study power and mood boosts than Mi Goreng.

• Make a budget to relieve financial pressure.

• Take advantage of student discounts and freebies.

Seek out free meals, giveaways or promotions happening around your campus.

• Get to know your classmates, but do not panic if you do not become best friends, especially if you are not sharing every class, as sometimes it is hard to strike up relationships.

• Study in bursts. There will always be something to work on whilst at university. Work out your priorities and balance them while making time for rest.

• Exercise, even if it’s only a walk around the campus between classes.

Source: oxbridgeacademy.edu.za

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TESTIFY! Naomi Tong is an accepted candidate for officership and will join the 2022 Defenders of Justice, Ngā Kaiwawao i te Tika, session.

I first gave my life to God when I was four years old. I was a very serious kid and so even at the age of four I didn’t take this decision lightly.

My relationship with God grew and deepened on a steady incline from that moment. There have been many points along the way which have been significant in this growth.

The first time I can recall having a Holy Spirit encounter was when I was around eight years old. It was at a kids’ camp during a response time. I felt so strongly the need and desire to respond and recommit my life to God. This moment stands out in my mind, not just because I encountered God, but because it was so out of my comfort zone. I raised my hands and fully surrendered to God. I was very blessed around this time to be with my parents who were planting Masterton Corps. I got the opportunity to be empowered and live out my faith in such a real way. I began inviting my friends to church and sharing Jesus with them because I was so in love with him. It was also around this age that I knew I wanted to be an officer or missionary. That was my desire and passion. I lived for God and knew that it was going to be a lifelong journey.

When I was 16, I went to an Amplify (Salvation Army arts camp) and again was reminded of God’s call on my life to officership. If I am honest, I was struggling with this. I knew what God was calling me to, but I was feeling the pressure from myself to pursue success and academia. We then moved, and suddenly school became less important and my relationship with God became my number one priority.

I was going into Year 12 and it seemed

OFFICERSHIP SCARES ME, IT FEELS COMPLETELY OUT OF MY COMFORT ZONE, BUT I KNOW THAT IT IS RIGHT. like the worst time to move. Looking back, I can now see that it was soaked in God’s purpose for my life. It was perfect timing. At a time of life when I was making career decisions and looking to the future, my eyes were shifted back to God. In 2019 I had the opportunity to go to the Salvos Discipleship School in Australia. This was a nine-month intensive time of learning and growing.

I came back as a different person. I grew in resilience, strength and faith. It was a tough year and there were many times I wanted to quit, but it was also the most rewarding year of my life. My confidence grew, and I fell in love with

God even more. I came away with an increased passion for people, a passion for preaching the Word of God and a heart for discipleship.

I believe that God has called me to live a life outside of my comfort zone.

This has been my story, time and time again. God has worked on my behalf in significant ways when I have been uncomfortable. My life has been a series of moments where God has worked when I least expected it. Officership scares me, it feels completely out of my comfort zone, but I know that it is right. I have learnt that God will never fail me when I follow his lead.

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Youth Online in Midland Division Midland Division launched Youth Online in December of 2020, as a YouTube-based livestream broadcast from Hamilton Corps, Midland Division—for youth, hosted by youth, which runs once a month on Sundays.

BY HOLLY MORTON

When you are one of only a handful of youth at your church, or even the only one, it’s easy to feel disconnected. As Captain Jordan Westrupp noticed when he started his role in Midland as the divisional youth secretary, many corps in the division were struggling with low numbers of youth in their corps (churches) and little to no support or programmes in place for those who were around.

It seemed that many of Midland Division’s youth support and resourcing had been designed for youth ministry 10 to 20 years ago, rather than for the young people of today. Many of the corps are more rural, and the churches, as Jordan describes it, have either isolated or disappearing youth groups. These are groups that have up to, or less than, five young people in their corps, and often have no dedicated leader for youth—whether paid or a volunteer. But because corps still have youth that need the same input as those with well-developed programmes, Jordan and the Midland Division team brainstormed with the hope of connecting the youth across Midland in a way that made sense with the current culture. The answer: Youth Online.

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A Strong Connection The idea is to meet and interact with youth in a way that made sense to them, Jordan explains. ‘If we were able to provide a social connection through the online medium, that would mean that we could traverse distances and we could break down borders. And with those corps in our division where they have like five or less young people, we could connect them to the wider division and the wider Army.’

Youth Online runs much like any other youth group: they play games, complete challenges, and there are times of sharing and reflection on Scripture. The team who are facilitating this programme are still discovering what can and can’t be done in a live, online format.

In some ways, there is more flexibility than in a more traditional church setting. Jordan wants Youth Online to be able to develop as they learn more about how to best run the service. He noticed during the national lockdown last year that as many churches were forced to move online, the reaction was to directly transfer what they normally did in person into an online format, and that was not necessarily the best use of the online format.

An exciting feature they have been able to make use of with the online medium is the ability to hear in real time from those that are tuning in across the division, as Jordan and the Youth Online team can cross live to anyone with a microphone and a camera. Jordan feels that it is a good way for these isolated or disappearing youth groups to be able to contribute to the content.

‘It’s a really great way to respond to the fact that most of our youth in the division, we’ve learned, exist in isolation, and that we have an ability to reconnect with those young people. If their experience of the corps is that they’ve rocked up on a Sunday—and maybe they’re the only teenager in their whole faith community—it’s an empowering thing for them to realise that even though that’s the Sunday reality, they are also a part of something much bigger.’

Livestream in the lounge The encouragement for people in the corps is to help their young people get connected by hosting them in their homes—to join in the livestream together—as a low barrier point of entry both for the youth and for those in the corps who want to support

‘IF WE WERE ABLE TO PROVIDE A SOCIAL CONNECTION THROUGH THE ONLINE MEDIUM… WE COULD TRAVERSE DISTANCES AND WE COULD BREAK DOWN BORDERS.’ them. ‘Someone from the corps can do that, maybe shout them pizza or just play hospitality ... We can bring the best practice of youth ministry into the living room. So for corps who feel they don’t have the skill sets or the abilities within their corps to do youth group well, and that’s been a big barrier to them wanting to, we’re saying, you just have to host them in your house—most people can do that—and we’ll do the rest, effectively, from Hamilton.’

As Youth Online only operates once a month, the goal is not to have it replace what is happening in each corps the rest of the time, but to add another point of

ongoing connection for youth who are struggling to find community in their corps. The youth work that all the corps are doing is vital in terms of discipling their youth and giving them opportunities to grow and serve.

However, particularly for corps that can’t maintain a youth ministry, Youth Online is a more sustainable way of doing mass gatherings, helping the young people they do have to get to know the other young people in their division and making it easier to feel they can join in on the larger in-person events during the year.

Like, comment and subscribe As Youth Online continues, Jordan plans to travel more around the division to film stories and testimonies of youth to include in the livestream, hoping to help blur the physical and online world for those watching. He is also eager to get reflections and feedback from the youth that the programme has been designed for, so that they can feel a sense of ownership over the space. A great example of this in action was them coming to a name for it in the first place. ‘When we launched at the end of last year, we were trying to think of what kind of cool name we could give it. We talked to young people and they were just like, “Well, it’s youth but it’s online, so just call it Youth Online”.’

12 JUNE 2021 WarCry 13

Café crew (from left): Major Anne Irwin, Alipate Mafile’o, Emeline Afeaki-Mafile’o, Major Alister Irwin.

A Meeting Place: New Community Café in Auckland

BY BETHANY SLAUGHTER

Auckland City Corps has collaborated with social enterprise Affirming Works to run Community Café within their building, to draw people inside for Pacific-sourced coffee and delicious food.

Next time you are in the Mount Wellington area of Auckland and craving a morning cuppa or bite to eat, swing past Auckland City Corps.

Thanks to a new partnership with Affirming Works, their centre is buzzing with the arrival of a new Community Café.

‘We’re really about connecting communities of all cultures and diverse communities,’ explains Affirming Works’ Executive Director Emeline Afeaki-Mafile’o. ‘We think that a café environment—if it’s the right environment—will create that, and we like to partner with organisations that have the same heart to serve the community.’

The café set-up at the Auckland City Corps building was ready and waiting, having previously been used by Education and Employment. Since the programme’s closure, Auckland City Corps Officers Majors Anne and Alister Irwin say they were regularly asked whether a new café would be opening.

In early 2020, they contacted Emeline about a potential partnership—however, the nationwide lockdown disrupted their early talks, and soon after a burst pipe upstairs flooded and ruined a considerable part of the kitchen.

Fast forward to 2021, Anne and Alister reached out to Affirming Works again, to see if there was still interest.

Not-for-profit café

Ministry opportunity

Community Café is a not-for-profit enterprise, founded in 2016, where all sales go back into funding its operations. Staff are trained in food handling and NZQA accreditation, on the clock.

The Community Café is now several weeks into operation, poised in a perfect location to attract local business workers.

‘There are probably 300 or 400 [people who work on the street]

14 WarCry 12 JUNE 2021

‘YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU SIT NEXT TO PEOPLE THAT YOU’VE NOT MET BEFORE ... I FEEL IT BRINGS DIGNITY TO A COMMUNITY WHEN YOU CAN HAVE A SHARED SPACE LIKE THIS...’ … walking past us every day to the dairy, so now we’re trying to retrain them!’ Anne says.

Anne and Alister have also shifted their desks downstairs, to be near the building entrance and café.

Creating a meeting place through Community Café is of utmost importance to Affirming Works.

‘You don’t know what happens when you sit next to people that you’ve not met before,’ Emeline says. ‘I feel it brings dignity to a community when you can have a shared space like this, and it’s okay to have need but still come in and enjoy a warm environment. It’s so complementary, I think, to the Family Store and also areas where food has been rescued and redistributed.’

‘People aren’t in a hurry when they sit for a meal; they’re here for quite a good time, a long time,’ Anne agrees.

Affirming Works also operates three other Community Cafés around Auckland, in the Mangere Arts Centre, Greenlane Parenting Place and Fresh Gallery Ōtara.

These sites were all looking to increase connections with the surrounding community and draw people in. As Emeline says, cafés attract people even if they do not necessarily have a need to enter the building—both because they want to be part of community and also for the food. ‘We knew that if we didn’t have food in the space then people wouldn’t come.’

Food and fellowship ‘When you read the gospels, most of what Jesus did was over food, in somebody’s house,’ Alister says. ‘By providing the space for meeting conversations, then because Jesus is in us, it just flows out of conversations with others—so this is the gospel in action.’

Community Café’s first priority is welcoming people into the space, even if someone cannot afford to pay. ‘This all comes down to how we are serving our community,’ says Affirming Works Executive Director and Community Café Head Chef Alipate Mafile’o. ‘People like telling us we’re giving too much to the community—but you’re never gonna be giving away enough to the community.’

and the work has continued,’ she says. ‘I felt God just made a way because then the coffee ended up being the capital to keep Community Café going and running and multiplying.’

The coffee brand is named ‘Tupu-anga’ which means ‘identity’ in multiple Pacific Island languages, including Tongan. It is fairtrade, produced in Tonga and blended with another Pacific brand from Papua New Guinea.

‘WHEN YOU READ THE GOSPELS, MOST OF WHAT JESUS DID WAS OVER FOOD, IN SOMEBODY’S HOUSE.’ ‘Having the coffee story, about how it’s supporting people in Tonga,’ Alister says, ‘that just added the cream on top.’

While the Mount Wellington café is starting as a threemonth pilot, early reception is positive from both the organisers and customers.

‘It’s lovely to see what The Salvation Army is to our community, and we do believe that here we are being called to the marketplace,’ Alipate says.

Some favourite foods Anne and Alister have tried so far include lasagne, toasted sandwiches, muffins and scones. As for the all-important hot drinks order, Anne’s pick is an almond milk chocolate, while Alister’s is a flat white (although he also notes that the Pacific-inspired ‘Otai fruit drink is another must-try).

The Community Café is open Monday to Friday, from 7am to 3pm, at Auckland City Corps. Everybody is welcome!

Pacific-inspired food and coffee The Mount Wellington location is the only Community Café where you can order off a menu. Alipate and his team make all of the produce in the cabinet display, and always aim to have healthy options available. Their pies are made fresh from their own kitchen—including Tongan lu sipi pie (made with taro leaves, coconut and lamb).

The Pacific influence on Community Café is also fuelled by the coffee itself.

‘We were in Tonga for a short period of time and a coffee business in Tonga was in liquidation and for sale, so we were able to buy the coffee business,’ Emeline explains.

‘We’re really fortunate to be in relationship with the coffee farmers and the production company and to run the factory in Tonga, and even with Covid-19, the factory has continued, 12 JUNE 2021 WarCry 15

Thank You Day On Friday 28 May, The Salvation Army celebrated ‘Thank You Day’ to acknowledge all of the wonderful New Zealanders who donated to this year’s Red Shield Appeal.

The 2021 Appeal donations will be used to strengthen the work of The Salvation Army in New Zealand.

‘We are extremely grateful to everyone who donates to us, even when they are facing uncertain times themselves,’ says Salvation Army Territorial Commander Commissioner Mark Campbell. ‘We really felt the support of so many during the Covid-19 lockdowns, and the amount raised this year shows that it’s continuing.

New Zealanders share our concern for the most vulnerable in our society.’

In the past year, The Salvation Army has provided: • 12,481 financial mentoring sessions to 4218 clients and families • 21,026 counselling sessions to 2684 clients and families • 72,112 instances of social work to 6920 people, an increase of 5 percent on 2019 • 8882 instances of practical assistance to 6831 clients and families, an increase of 25 percent on 2019 • 227,853 nights of accommodation to 1774 clients and families, an increase of 10 percent on 2019 • 118,783 attendances for activities such as Positive Lifestyle Programmes within the last year, by 8479 attendees.

Thanks to the funds raised and support entrusted through this Appeal, The Salvation Army can continue offering these services and programmes to transform the lives of more New Zealanders.

To the street collectors, online donors, social media sharers and spare-change givers, The Salvation Army thanks you for your incredible generosity.

Right: Junior Soldiers Meg and Hayley, of Mosgiel Corps, collecting for the Red Shield Appeal.

16 WarCry 12 JUNE 2021

Maybe you enjoy talking with God, but you don’t know how to go deeper. Or maybe prayer makes you uncomfortable because you are afraid of saying the wrong thing.

Sometimes, talking with God gets weighed down by our misconceptions about what prayer should be.

Prayer is simply having honest conversations with God, but you need to discover ways to take your conversations with God to a deeper level. For me, the deeper level came through praying the Lord’s Prayer.

When you see the word ‘prayer’, what thoughts or images come to mind? Does talking to God come easily to you? Do you struggle to pray?

Over 2000 years ago, Jesus taught his disciples to pray: ‘This, then, is how you should pray: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one”’ (Matthew 6:9–13).

This is now a famous example of how to pray. But do we apply it to our everyday twenty-first century lives?

In Matthew 6:6–8, Jesus also tells us quite clearly how not to pray. He says we are to go into a room and privately pray and we are not to use repetitive, rote prayers. If we’re praying to impress people or treating people like a box to tick, then we’re missing out on the power of prayer.

Prayer isn’t simply about the words we say. I believe prayer is, and always will be, a dynamic conversation with God. When we realise this, the Lord’s Prayer becomes a ‘space of freedom’ that helps us talk to God every day.

BY CAPTAIN SAIMONE GATAURUA

Rotorua Needs You! If God has been calling you into a career pathway ministering to children, then Rotorua Corps would love to hear from you! Rotorua Corps are recruiting a Children’s Ministries team leader who would bring their passion, ideas and experience of ministering to children in the community.

The Salvation Army is seeing how the outcomes of Covid-19 are affecting the community in Rotorua. The experience of homelessness, lack of housing and the cost of living are impacting many families’ lives. The statistics of family harm are on the rise and mental health challenges are also increasing. The government and the local community are working on addressing these issues, but it’s a long and complex situation to resolve.

Meanwhile, children and families are losing hope, feeling helpless and broken, and Rotorua Corps want to do something about it.

Rotorua Salvation Army is a small community with a big heart for others. They’re doing their part to bring

help to this crisis through providing transitional housing, family harm and welfare support, but their greatest concern is about the wellbeing of children and their families. ‘We’re at the beginning of discovering what it could look like to connect children to the love of Jesus and bring hope and joy to them and their whānau’, says Captain Kylie Overbye, corps officer at Rotorua Corps.

‘Maybe you’ve been thinking about a move for yourself or your family. Maybe God is calling you to mission right here in Rotorua. Are you someone who has a heart for mission and ministry to children who could join the team at Rotorua Corps?’ she asks. ‘Will you make Rotorua your home and become a part of the local mission in this pastoral leadership role that will help our corps develop and implement initiatives for the tamariki of our community?’

APPLY | If you are interested in a career ministering to children, they would love to hear from you. Email rotorua.corps@salvationarmy.org.nz

Booth College of Mission’s Pink Ribbon Mufti Day and Morning Tea On Thursday 20 May, Booth College of Mission had a Pink Ribbon Mufti Day and Morning Tea to raise awareness and funds for the Breast Cancer Foundation. The day was organised by Cadet Rebecca Howan, in honour of women in The Salvation Army— officers, soldiers, staff, church members and volunteers—who have fought or are still fighting breast cancer, including Rebecca’s sister-in-law, Lieutenant Emma Howan, who has just completed twelve months of treatment for breast cancer.

All cadets, officers and staff at Booth College of Mission were encouraged to dress up in pink for the day, and the dining room was also decorated pink for the occasion. While people enjoyed delicious pink baking over morning tea, there was a quiz about breast cancer in Aotearoa to help educate everyone on the risks and how to get checked, as well as information and goodies from the Breast Cancer Foundation available for people to take home.

A really special part of the morning was the wall of ‘Our Wāhine Toa’, which gave people the opportunity to pin up the name or photo of someone they knew with breast cancer.

There were lots of names and photos shared of wives, sisters, grandmothers, friends and colleagues, some who are still with us and some who have passed. It was a beautiful way to honour their courage and a good reminder of how breast cancer affects so many people in Aotearoa, including those who serve, work and worship at The Salvation Army.

It was also great to have the Joyful Intercessors (Lieutenant Emma Howan’s session) and Personnel Department take part in the morning tea, as they were on campus for the session’s Officer Five-Year Review.

Between cash donations on the day and other donations from friends and whānau online, the event raised well over the target of $500, with a total of $741.70 raised for the Breast Cancer Foundation.

12 JUNE 2021 WarCry 17

Little Teacher General John Larsson (Retired) shares fascinating glimpses of the early Army.

Even before The Salvation Army reached China, the Army flag saved a village in its far interior from destruction and its villagers from death. It was all thanks to Adjutant Catherine Hine, a missionary to the Chinese who never left Britain.

Hine served as a corps officer until, for health reasons, she was given a headquarters appointment. She was allocated quarters in Limehouse. This turned out to be an answer to prayer, for The Chinese corps in action.

Catherine Hine felt called to work among the Chinese people, and in Limehouse she was to live in the heart of flag of salvation for one of her converts.

London’s Chinatown.

Hugh Redwood told the story in his 1930 book God in the In her spare time Catherine learnt her way around the Slums. ‘To one of her converts, on his departure for his native labyrinth of streets where laundrymen, stewards, sea cooks and land, the adjutant gave an Army flag by way of a keepsake. They restaurant keepers dwelled. She increased her slender knowledge laughed at him when he returned to his village, in China’s far of the Chinese language through hard study, often late into the interior; laughed at his flag and at his strange new creed. But he night. She started English language courses at Limehouse Corps was patient, as the Little Teacher had been patient with him, and hall, and soon was known to all as ‘Little Teacher’. She not only in time he too began to gather followers. taught a language, she ‘Then came a wave of trouble. Civil war raged: murder and also shared her faith. destruction stalked the land. Word was brought that a rebel Little Teacher held army was marching on the village. Torture and death had been classes for her students the lot of native Christians everywhere along the rebels’ path and fear laid hold upon the small community. They sought their at all hours, for they leader with crumbling faith. Here was indeed a test. If prayer often worked at odd could move God’s arm, as Little Teacher had said... times. They sat at her feet ‘He looked at her flag, hanging from the wall of his room, and while she taught them he took it down and prayed. He made reply to his questioners to read, write, count and that God would certainly protect them. Then, flag in hand, he understand the essentials went out to meet the raiders—alone. of the Christian gospel.

‘He had no very clear idea afterwards of what it was he She then began to hold had hoped to do. It did not matter, in any case, because what meetings in Chinese, happened was something he could not possibly have foreseen. first for children, then The colours carried by the self-appointed envoy were recognised for women, and then for by the leader of the rebels. He also had lived in London; had everyone. As the work known and reverenced the Little Teacher. grew, a Chinese corps ‘By curious question and excited answer the two men proved was launched.

Open-air Catherine Hine. the bond between them, and the hand of death was stayed. The meetings were held where raiding column passed on its way, nor was the slightest hurt Chinese Salvationists could speak to their compatriots in their inflicted on any in that village.’ own language.

In 1917 Hine was given early retirement so that she could devote herself full-time to her ministry among the Chinese Reprinted with permission from War Cry United Kingdom community—a ministry lasting 20 years, which Christian with the Republic of Ireland, 10 April 2021. author Hugh Redwood declared to be ‘one of the most exalting records of devoted service that the annals of The Salvation Army can produce’.

The upstairs room that Little Teacher used for classes was decked with Chinese symbols, and to enter it was like passing into another world. But the symbol that attracted people the most was the Salvation Army flag. To them the colours were like the ideograms of their language and they never tired of reciting what the colours stood for. The Army flag was literally to prove a

issuu.com/salvationarmynzftwarcry issuu.com/salvationarmyuk

18 WarCry 12 JUNE 2021

GAZETTE Promotion to Glory: Major Raewyn Fridd on Monday 31 May 2021, from Palmerston North Hospital, aged 69 years. Raewyn Margaret Fridd was born in Invercargill on 21 August 1951. She entered Training College from Aranui Corps, Christchurch, in 1978, as a cadet in the Joyful Evangelists session. On 19 January 1980, Raewyn was appointed as secretary and finance officer to the Training College, Wellington, followed by corps officer, Oxford Corps in 1982.

In May 1982 she was appointed to Territorial Headquarters as assistant officer to the Finance Department then assistant officer Editorial Department (1984), followed by study leave in 1989, receiving a Diploma in Social Studies in 2000. In 1991 she was appointed assistant officer Community and Family Services, Porirua, followed by appointments as assistant officer, Community and Family Services, Wellington (1993), assistant director (1995), director, Community and Family Services, North Shore (1996), Royal Oak (2001) and Dunedin (2005). In 2007 she was appointed to Hamilton Homecare as national mission director and it is from this appointment that she retired on 19 January 2009. Raewyn was also secretary to Wellington Disabled Persons Assembly, editor and Southern Representative for the Little People’s Association and President of the Little People NZ Inc. We honour Major Raewyn Fridd for her courageous spirit. She was a woman of strength. Please uphold Raewyn’s cousin Jenny, and close friends at this time of loss and grief. Well done good and faithful ‘Joyful Evangelist’ of Jesus Christ!

Bereavement: Major Rex Johnson, of his eldest sister Irene Kitto, on Monday 17 May 2021 (in her 90th year) from Metlifecare Highlands, Auckland. Irene was a member of the Standard Bearers session, commissioned in 1951. We ask you to uphold in prayer Majors Rex and Geraldine Johnson, along with other members of Irene’s family, at this time of grief and loss.

Appointment: Effective at conclusion of previous appointment, Captain Hana Seddon has been appointed as Divisional Mission Projects Officer (pro-term).

Captain Hana Seddon will conclude her appointment as Hēkeretari-ā-Wehenga raki Manatū Māori (Divisional Secretary for Northern Division Māori Ministry) and take up her new appointment.

We pray that God will continue to bless Hana as she takes up this new appointment and acknowledge with thanks the significance of the past seven years in pioneering the role of Divisional Secretary for Māori Ministry.

BE SILENT, LISTEN AND DARE TO BE WISE.

I recently found that one line of my family tree has a coat of arms. I’ve always wanted one of these, and there it was—the shield, the unicorn and the motto emblazoned beneath the elaborate crest, Suum Cuique.

Upon learning the meaning of this motto, however, I was devastated— Every man for himself. The irony is that my family motto was changed in 1764, because of a family conflict. The original motto had been Aude, Tace, Sapere: Be silent, listen and dare to be wise. It would seem that my family had forgotten the power of its own motto.

The Territorial Strategic Framework has a motto too: He Waka Eke Noa or All of us together in one waka. To me this is a little more inspiring than Every man for himself, but it is true that it takes more intentional effort to achieve.

My family and I had the privilege of serving in Tonga a few years back. One thing we loved doing together was paddling out around the local smaller islands on our double kayak. One week we had the territorial auditor, Graeme Tongs, with us. A cancelled flight meant that he and I had the opportunity to go exploring in our kayak. We had a great time. But just before we were to head back to Nuku’alofa (1.5km away), the weather changed rapidly. We jumped into the kayak and paddled our hearts out. The wind and waves got higher and higher and we had to work incredibly hard to remain focused on our destination and to be coordinated with our movements. Any slight over-balance could have had potentially devastating consequences. We made it— suffice to say that it was a wild ride—and Graeme found out later that he had a heart condition requiring stents!

The Covid-19 experience has shown us what can be achieved in a crisis when we all focus on the same goal, putting our shared resources and efforts toward the same outcomes. In peaceful times (as now), a shared vision is less straightforward. Our individual views and goals can quickly (re)emerge and our balance as a movement can begin to wobble. Paul, in his letters to the churches, recognised that unity was a personal and collective choice, but he was resolute in his call for unity. Philippians 2:1–4 is a great example: Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

This is, as Paul recognises in these verses, what it is to become more like Jesus.

Unfortunately, and too often, ‘I’ can get in the way of the ‘we’, therefore making unity difficult. I take heart, however, that with the Holy Spirit’s help, we can foster such a culture and experience the joys of being together in one waka. He Waka Eke Noa. Captain Bryant Richards Territorial Assistant Secretary for Personnel 12 JUNE 2021 WarCry 19

Winter—the very thought of it sends a shiver up the spine of certain people I know. Cold bleak days with no sunshine and little colour. No warmth apart from what the heat pump or open fire can throw out. Only a memory of the ease of getting dressed into summer shorts and tee shirt, and long lazy days at the beach.

Winter, no thanks!

BY MAJOR BARBARA SAMPSON

Author Katherine May in her book Wintering—The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times has a different take on the season of winter. She writes about the fallow periods of our lives, times when we must retreat to care for and repair ourselves. Just as the tides come in and out all year round, in the same way winter is the ebb to summer’s flow, an essential part of the cycle of our lives.

20 WarCry 12 JUNE 2021

Prayer in the Winter Season

No matter what season we may be in, there is work to do, wonder to behold, watching and waiting. Ah, maybe that’s the hardest part of winter. How to be in the waiting period, how to rest without slumping into laziness or boredom, how to hold on to God through the bleak, dark patches and at the same time to have a summer-time assurance that God is holding on to us.

Unexpected winter Winters can come on gradually or all of a sudden. An unexpected pain somewhere in the body that leads to a shocking diagnosis, an accident that turns our life upside down, a shaking of our world—either inner or outer.

Suddenly something, maybe even everything, has changed. Where we are today is not where we were yesterday, and where we will be tomorrow is totally unknown. Winters can be scary in their suddenness.

Winters can also be welcome. Katherine May was diagnosed with autism in her 40s and the permission to take stock of her life came as a relief from the relentless rush and roar of her days. It was as if she could not allow herself to stop and rest, but this ‘intruder from the inside’ acted as her doctor, her wise inner sage.

So the question is: How do we live when these times of wintering come upon us? We look into Scripture to find some answers.

After the birth of Jesus and the visit of the shepherds, the Scriptures say that Mary treasured what they had said and pondered them in her heart (see Luke 2:19). That word ‘pondered’ sounds like ‘ponderous’ giving a hint of the heavy matters that Mary needed to sit with.

In the Old Testament the prophet Elijah came upon a widow who was preparing a final meal for herself and her son before they died. He interrupted her, asking for some food for himself. She declared her extremity but went in obedience to his request and found her resources abundant and overflowing (see 1 Kings 17).

HAVING LIVED FOR DECADES WITH A STRONG SENSE OF WELLBEING, IT WAS A SHOCK TO FEEL BATTERED AND VULNERABLE. We read how the disciples, after the death of Jesus, went back to their fishing boats, practising what they knew. They were not abandoning their faith but they needed time out in their own familiar environment to think about all that had happened so recently (see John 21).

Each of these people experienced a winter season that came upon them in varying degrees of suddenness. What did they do? Mary pondered, the widow prepared, the disciples practised what they knew.

Maybe those ‘p’ words are helpful for us when life hurls us into winter.

Dark Days In late summer this year I was plunged into a winter season of my own when I underwent complex surgery at the hands of a skilled surgeon. She warned me that the recovery period would take some weeks, but I did not anticipate the deep place it would take me to.

Having lived for decades with a strong sense of wellbeing, it was a shock to feel battered and vulnerable. Yes, that was the word—‘vulnerable’, meaning ‘able to be wounded’. I could not do anything to hurry the process along. Even ten days after the surgery I felt as if I was still falling down a deep hole and had not yet reached the bottom or begun the upward climb towards healing. For weeks I had to simply listen to what my body was saying and wait. My mantra became, ‘This will take as long as it takes’.

As summer gave way to glorious autumn, I found com-fort (‘with strength’) in watching the changing colours of trees as they let go of their leaves to make way for a new season of growth. Now into the month of June and the official start of winter, I look

back and give thanks that even in that toughest of seasons there was work to do, but also wonder to receive and God’s grace to experience.

Winter-time opportunities Katherine May wrote, ‘When everything is broken, everything is also up for grabs.

That’s the gift of winter: it’s irresistible.

Change will happen in its wake, whether we like it or not. We can come out of it wearing a different coat.’

How to pray when we are going through this winter season? Very simply, with open hands and an open heart. I held on to verses from Psalm 56: ‘When I am afraid, I put my trust in you … This I know, that God is for me’ (Psalm 56:2,9).

I sang, ‘Breathe on me, breath of God, fill me with life anew’. On some days that was about all I could do. I left the rest up to God and to the loving friends who prayed for me.

Clothe me, winter God with a cloak of compassion that from a place of understanding I may give shade and warmth to others.

Rest me, far-seeing God with deep deep sleep that I may prepare for the coming season of fruitfulness.

Renew me, God of surprise and invitation with joy and hope like sap rising, bursting, breaking out.

Cover me, winter God with your bright wings.

I LOOK BACK AND GIVE THANKS THAT EVEN IN THAT TOUGHEST OF SEASONS THERE WAS WORK TO DO, BUT ALSO WONDER TO RECEIVE AND GOD’S GRACE TO EXPERIENCE. 12 JUNE 2021 WarCry 21

OFFICIAL ENGAGEMENTS Commissioners Mark (Territorial Commander) and Julie Campbell (Territorial President of Women’s Ministries) 12 June: Lunch with second year cadets, BCM 21 June: Pre-retirement Seminar dinner and questions, BCM 22–23 June: Visit to Midland Division 24–25 June: Territorial Governance Board visit to Southern Division Colonel Gerry Walker (Chief Secretary) 21–23 June: Pre-retirement Seminar, BCM 24–25 June: Territorial Governance Board visit to Southern Division Colonel Heather Rodwell (Territorial Secretary for Women’s Ministries and Spiritual Life Development) 14–18 June: Officer Retreat, Home of Compassion, Island Bay, Wellington 20 June: Senior’s Celebration, New Lynn Corps, Auckland 21 June: Pre-retirement Seminar dinner and questions, BCM 24–25 June: Territorial Governance Board visit to Southern Division 26 June–2 July: Northern Division Officers Fellowship and Auckland visits

PRAY Tokoroa Corps; Tonga Alcohol and Drug Awareness Centre, Corps and Community Ministries; Kolovai and Sopu Kindergartens and Regional Headquarters; The Salvation Army in Norway, Iceland and the Faeroes.

Come Aside, Come Together Retreat

10–12 September 2021 Be enriched and refreshed in the stunning environment of Living Springs on the Banks Peninsula. Take time to go deeper in your relationship with God. Single and shared accommodation available. $180 per person + travel.

Contact Colonel Heather Rodwell to register your interest heather.rodwell@salvationarmy.org.nz

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BCM Library to the rescue!

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From reference books for study and sermon prep to biographies and Christian living, enjoy unlimited access to the EBSCO eBook Religion Collection as part of a Booth College of Mission Library membership.

Email library@salvationarmy.org.nz for more info.

Waihi Corps Anniversary 125 years (+1)

Want to Know More?

I would like: to learn about who Jesus is information about The Salvation Army The Salvation Army to contact me prayer for the following needs:

24–25 July 2021 FEATURING

Name Email Address

Guest Leaders Lt-Colonels Rod & Jenny Carey *Conversazione*Celebration Dinner* TO REGISTER YOUR INTEREST

(07) 863 7812 • Waihi.Corps@salvationarmy.org.nz

Phone Send to: warcry@salvationarmy.org.nz or War Cry, PO Box 6015, Marion Square, Wellington 6141 Quiz Answers: 1 Bingo, 2 A flamboyance, 3 Jumpman, 4 Danny Boyle, 5 Hegai (Esther 2:8,15).

22 WarCry 12 JUNE 2021

Unjumble!

Unjumble these words to complete The Beatitudes! (You can get out your Bible to help you—we are using the NIV translation!)

Matthew 5:1–12 ‘Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His CSDPILSIE

‘Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.’

Matthew 5:12

came to him, and he

began to teach them. He said: ‘Blessed are the poor in RISPTI

, for theirs is the

3

kingdom of heaven. 4Blessed are those who NROMU

,

for they will be comforted. 5Blessed are the KEME

, for

they will inherit the earth. 6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be LEDFLI

. 7Blessed

are the merciful, for they will be shown YMRCE

.

8

Blessed are the RPUE

9

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called NICDLHRE

in heart, for they will see God.

of God. 10

Blessed are those who

are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of NAVHEE .

11

‘DSLEBES are

you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

12

Rejoice and be DLGA , because

great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.’

Spot the difference!

Can you find 10 differences between the two pictures?

We all have moments when we don’t feel particularly joyful.

You might be grieving the loss of a close friend or family member. You might feel shy and nervous. You might believe that you have been treated unfairly.

You might worry that you aren’t good enough. You might fear that people are treating you differently because of your faith in Jesus.

This is the encouragement which Jesus offers to each and every one of us: it’s going to be okay. God sees us as we are and knows our heart, and as long as we look to him for our value, we can feel content and face whatever comes at us with joy.

When we mourn, we will be comforted.

When we are merciful to others, we will be shown mercy. When we are pure of heart, we will see God’s hand over our lives.

Here’s the biggest contradiction of all: when we are persecuted, we are blessed. God tells us to be glad, even in these moments, because our true reward isn’t on earth—it’s in heaven.

We are not the first people to have experienced these struggles and tough times, but if we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, we can face anything.

Think About...

God calls us to be peacemakers; how can you spread peace to those around you this week?

12 JUNE 2021 WarCry 23

WINTER PEAK

WHEN

WHO

COST

Anyone aged 14–17 years.

WHAT

The ultimate six-day snow adventure.

Whether snowboarding, flying off a waterfall or deep in a snow cave, challenge your body, mind and spirit to discover your massive God-given potential. Make lifelong friends, incredible memories and screeds of Facebook-worthy stories.

12–18 JULY 2021 $440 per person (GST inclusive). Cost includes six nights’ accommodation, six days of adventure activities, food, qualified instructors and specialist gear.

ACTIVITIES

May include: white water rafting, caving, kayaking, mountaineering, abseiling, rock climbing, canoeing, tramping, high ropes, campfire nights and more!

phone 07 892 2630 | bmac@nzf.salvationarmy.org

bluemountainadventure.org.nz

@bluemountainadv facebook.com/BlueMountainAdventureCentre