What is The Salvation Army?
2 COMMENT AND CONTENTS • WAR CRY • 19 October 2019
The Salvation Army is a Christian church and registered charity providing services in the community, particularly to those who are vulnerable and marginalised. Motivated by our Christian faith, we offer practical support and services in more than 700 centres throughout the UK to all who need them, regardless of ethnicity, religion, gender or sexual orientation. To find your nearest centre visit salvationarmy.org.uk/find-a-church
From the editor’s desk MORE than half of all parents in the UK would love their family to spend more time together. That’s according to a survey commissioned by Cadbury Heroes, with 54 per cent of mums and dads hankering to spend more time with their children. Many of them have taken an interest in their offspring’s favourite activity in an attempt to connect with them. Concerned parents are putting this disconnection down to children spending all evening on their phones rather than with their family. The concept of family occupies an important place within our society. A fully functioning family unit is still regarded as the best environment in which to bring up children. In this week’s War Cry two parents talk about their experiences of family in two separate articles. Emma Rutland candidly recounts the difficulties she faced when she was pregnant and how she had times when she doubted God because of the ‘senselessness’ she saw in a child being conceived, only for the pregnancy to end in a stillbirth. However, Emma also explains how, despite her questioning of him, she learnt to ‘lean into God’ in her loss and describes how ‘God has helped me get through it’. Tomorrow (Sunday 20 October) is the final day of this year’s National Adoption Week, and in our second family-themed article, Krish Kandiah talks about his experiences of fostering and adopting children. ‘People should not have a rose-tinted picture of fostering or adoption,’ he says, as he explains that some children in need of a family have had a traumatic start in life. However, he is motivated to act because he wants the children who come to him and his wife to know that they are ‘unconditionally loved’. Every family, no matter how it is made up, functions best when there is that unconditional love and good interaction between its members – it’s something that children as well as their parents would do well to remember.
What is the War Cry? The Salvation Army first published a newspaper called the War Cry in London in December 1879, and we have continued to appear every week since then. Our name refers to our battle for people’s hearts and souls as we promote the positive impact of the Christian faith and The Salvation Army’s fight for greater social justice.
SINCE 1879
140 YEARS
OF THE WAR CRY Issue No 7445
Editor: Andrew Stone, Major Deputy Editor: Philip Halcrow Production Editor: Ivan Radford Assistant Editor: Claire Brine Assistant Editor: Sarah Olowofoyeku Staff Writer: Emily Bright Editorial Assistant: Linda McTurk Graphic Designer: Rodney Kingston Graphic Designer: Mark Knight War Cry office: 020 7367 4900 Email: warcry@salvationarmy.org.uk The Salvation Army UK Territory with the Republic of Ireland 101 Newington Causeway London SE1 6BN Tel: 0845 634 0101 Helpline: 020 7367 4888 Subscriptions: 01933 445445 (option 1, option 1) or email: subscriptions@satcol.org Founder: William Booth General: Brian Peddle Territorial Commander: Commissioner Anthony Cotterill Secretary for Communications: Lieut-Colonel Dean Pallant
Published weekly by The Salvation Army ©The Salvation Army United Kingdom Territory with the Republic of Ireland ISSN 0043-0226 The Salvation Army Trust is a registered charity. The charity number in England and Wales is 214779, in Scotland SC009359 and in the Republic of Ireland CHY6399. Printed by Walstead Roche Ltd, St Austell, on sustainably sourced paper
Your local Salvation Army centre
Contents FEATURES 3 Weathering the storms Problems need to be sounded out in Singin’ in the Rain 5
‘People cheered when I stood up’ How one man overcame paralysis
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‘My miscarriage really rocked me’ The pain of wanting to be a mother
10
Family matters Author on the joys and challenges of fostering and adoption
REGULARS 4
News and media
12
Browsing the Bible
13
Faces of Faith
14 Puzzles 15
War Cry Kitchen Front-page picture: Courtesy of BFI – Warner Bros
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