Volume 5, Issue 2 1editor on the AJSAH

Photograph of Major Kingsley Sampson2

2 Photograph courtesy of Philip Sampson.

as members of the ‘Followers of Christ’ session. I also began studying for a diploma of education with Massey University in 1971 and completed this in 1976. During my schooling, university and early teaching years, I was associated with Invercargill, Dunedin South, Dunedin North and Gore Corps. I completed higher grade corps cadets and for several years, sang in the songsters and played in the band (cornet and baritone). I played guitar in corps pop/rhythm/beat groups in the 1960s at Dunedin South (The Heralds) and Invercargill (His Ambassadors) and was a YPSM for a total of four years at Dunedin North and Gore. For this role, further training with Child Evangelism Fellowship helped me apply what I had learned in teacher training to Sunday school work in a corps. We had one year in training college (1973) and were then appointed as cadet-lieutenants to Island Bay, a small suburban corps in Wellington for one year (1974). Our daughter Joanne was born during this year. We were commissioned in January 1975 and appointed to Chikankata Secondary School in Zambia for what we thought would be a lifetime of missionary service. I taught history, civics and English among other things at the school and for two-three years, had responsibility for the corps attached to the school. I also participated in an initiative called Chikankata Bible School. These were short Bible courses run in the school holidays for corps leaders and local officers. They were an attempt to give some Bible teaching to Zambian Salvationists who, due to the scarcity of officers had been placed in positions of responsibility but with little or no bible and leadership training. Coming to grips with a new environment and culture was daunting. At times, even though I was 30 years old, I felt like a baby who knew nothing, especially when various customs were the complete opposite of what I was familiar with in New Zealand. Today we would call this culture shock and it highlighted to me the need for cultural orientation and language learning before missionaries take up an appointment in a country not of their birth. Fortunately Lieutenant David Wells, a staff member at Chikankata had realised this lack and had prepared some helpful orientation material for new arrivals. While we were at Chikankata, the term of service for missionary officers in southern Africa was reduced from five to four years but we served less than three and a half years – from February 1975 to June 1978. Our early return to New Zealand was precipitated by two things: Barbara needed repeat surgery for melanoma and our daughter needed heart surgery. We hoped we could return to Chikankata and overseas service after the surgeries and a period of recuperation but that proved impossible. Instead we settled back into life in New Zealand where we have remained ever since, apart from some short overseas trips. We still look back with gratitude to our Zambia days and the colleagues we worked with have remained life-long friends. We remain especially grateful for the medical care given by the Chikankata hospital doctors, Captains Paul du Plessis and Graham Calvert. Back in New Zealand, I served on territorial headquarters (THQ) from late 1978 until the end of 1983. My first appointment was as an assistant in the youth and candidates’ department (1978 –1981) and then as secretary for education (1982 – 1983). During these years I had responsibility for candidates’ lesson and post-commissioning studies, refresher courses for officers and other assigned duties. These years at THQ helped me come to grips with Salvation Army administration procedures, something which proved valuable in subsequent appointments. Barbara had no official appointment during this time and concentrated on her health and our children. She also began writing.3 We attended

3 For more, see Barbara Sampson, “Meet the author. Words”, The Australasian journal of Salvation Army history, 5, 2, (September, 2020), 69 – 72.

Island Bay Corps again, this time as officer soldiers. I eventually took up the role of corps sergeantmajor. In 1984 we were appointed to New Lynn Corps in west Auckland. The corps had begun in the neighbouring suburb of Avondale in 1928 and after a period of growth in the 1960s and 1970s, had relocated to New Lynn in 1976. The corps had a full roster of musical and YP sections and a large home league. I found it a very challenging appointment, especially trying to manage the various competing groups in the corps and hold them to an agreed purpose and direction. I also discovered how much of a corps officer’s time is taken up with administration. Among initiatives during our time were the employment of an office secretary and a corps youth worker plus the introduction of a computer for corps administration. These were right at the beginning of such developments, things which are now standard and taken for granted. During these years the increasing complexity of corps finance and secretarial tasks convinced me that the time would come when these would no longer be done on a voluntary basis by a corps treasurer and a corps secretary. I had been captivated by the concept of church growth since my days in Zambia. New Lynn had already planted a new corps further west at Massey (now Westgate) in 1982 and I wondered where else the Army might be planted in west Auckland. We did some initial planning for this in our final year (1988) and after we were transferred, two new corps were planted, one at Henderson (called Waitakere Central Corps, aka the Faith Factory) in 1991 and one at Glen Eden in 1993. Waitakere continues strongly but Glen Eden closed in 2020. Our next appointment was Sydenham Corps in Christchurch. This was another corps with strong musical and other sections but facing leadership challenges due to a number of children of the regiment becoming nominal rather than active Salvationists. This meant that there were fewer younger, energetic Salvationists to replace older soldiers in leadership positions, some of whom had held their roles for many years. After two years at Sydenham (1989-1990), we were appointed to the officer training college in Upper Hutt. This ‘new’ college in a campus style had been opened in 1983 as the territory’s centenary project. My role as education officer brought together all the pre-college training I had done and all I had experienced in the first 16 years of my officership. I remained at the college until I retired, serving first as education officer (1991-2001) and then as academic registrar and education consultant (20022007). I also completed a Bachelor of Divinity from Melbourne College of Divinity during these years.

As well as the administration involved in the education officer’s role such as timetabling, teaching resources, library oversight and assessment of cadets, I had a full teaching load in a variety of subjects. In addition, for six years, I taught in an in-service officer training course in preaching introduced to New Zealand by Major Barry Pobjie and Captain Peter Farthing. I also taught two preaching courses for the Singapore and Malaysia Command in 1994 and 1995 and along with Barbara did teaching on holiness and preaching in the Southern Africa Territory in 1997. Being back in Africa made it possible for us to return to Zambia for a week. It was a delight to visit former places and to see how The Salvation Army in Zambia was progressing since our departure nearly 20 years earlier. The New Zealand officer training college went through a number of developmental phases during my time on staff. The creation of the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) by the government in 1989 meant we had to have both the college and our courses officially accredited if we were to continue training overseas cadets. The later development of the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) also impacted on the college. As a private training establishment (PTE), we had

regular audits of our programmes and for some years, cadets who qualified were paid a student allowance by the government. In 1999, the college entered into an agreement with the Bible College of New Zealand (BCNZ; now Laidlaw College). This enabled us to align our college courses with those taught by BCNZ and for cadets to receive credit towards BCNZ diplomas and degrees. My hope was that college studies would give cadets up to half of a BCNZ qualification and that once commissioned, officers would continue and complete undergraduate degrees such as the Bachelor of Theology or the Bachelor of Ministry. At the end of 2002, the college was renamed Booth College of Mission and was comprised of three schools: the School for Officer Training, the School for Bible and Mission (SBM) and the Centre for Leadership Development (CLD). The SBM offered bible, theology and ministry courses for people who did not have officership in mind. In practice, these students joined in the courses taken by cadets. The CLD grew out of the territorial education department which was relocated to the college and offered a variety of in-service courses for officers and employees. The growth in the college programme and government requirements was such that by 2002, the role of education officer was too much for one person. The role was subdivided and as academic registrar and education consultant, I took responsibility for educational administrative, compliance and accrediting tasks and remained, along with some teaching in this role until mid-2007. I then undertook some light duties until I retired at the start of 2008 and settled in Christchurch. During my years on the college staff, I was also involved with the Christian Theological and Ministries Education Society, a grouping of Christian PTEs offering theological and ministry education and with the Ecumenical Institute of Distance Theological Studies, a venture by five churches offering distance theological education throughout New Zealand. I served as a board member and on occasions as chair of both organisations. The college also had links with the Wellington Theological Consortium, a regional theological group and the New Zealand Association of Theological Schools.4

Cover of Many voices in mission, Kingsley Sampson contributed an article to this book

4 For more, see Kingsley Sampson, “A new training era” in Many voices in mission: 25 years of The Salvation Army in New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga 1983 – 2008, (Wellington, NZ: Flag Publications, 2008), 77 – 79.

I had always been interested in history from my high school days and had read Salvation Army history over the years. As well, the territory’s pre-eminent historian, Rtd CSM Cyril Bradwell was both a friend of my parents in their youth and an inspiration to me through his research and scholarship. But it was not until I retired that I was able to focus more on this topic. While I wrote a lot during my officership, it was more likely to be things like sermons, teaching notes, discussion papers, lesson plans and what seemed like endless and complex audit and compliance reports. At first, I joined the team working on the Hallelujah! project for which I wrote the occasional article and helped with sub-editing.5 It was through this project that I was able to meet other Salvation Army historians from Australia. Then I was involved in establishing the Christchurch Salvation Army History Group which has met quarterly over the past seven years. As well as invited speakers and talks on topics of interest by members, we have held three field trips. The first was to Salvation Army sites of historical interest in central Christchurch, the second was to a local cemetery to visit Salvation Army graves of interest and the third was a day’s bus trip covering towns adjacent to Christchurch where corps and outposts once operated. For each of these, a booklet giving brief details was produced. Finally I have been a member of the editorial team producing the Australasian journal of Salvation Army history (AJSAH) and have written the occasional article for this publication.

Some covers of Hallelujah magazine. Kingsley Sampson contributed articles to issues and helped with sub-editing

A big project in the last four to five years has been working along with others on Under two flags, a book about the New Zealand Salvation Army’s response to the First World War.6 I contributed several chapters and edited the book. As part of the research for this book, I was able to visit sites of interest to New Zealand Salvationists on the Western Front in 2017 and 2019 with Ron Inglis of Campsie Corps, Sydney, Australia. With Inglis’ help, we were able to visit the grave of nearly every New Zealand Salvationist killed on the Western Front and to leave a small memorial plaque. Photographs taken on these trips were included in an unpublished 400-page companion to Under two flags entitled For God, King and Country: A supplement to under two flags containing pictorial and

5 Hallelujah! was a joint effort between three Salvation Army territories – Australia Eastern, Australian Southern and New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga. A total of twelve full-colour booklets were published between 2007 and 2010, each with a theme featuring some aspect of Salvation Army history and current ministry. 6 Kingsley Sampson (ed), Under two flags: The New Zealand Salvation Army’s response to the First World War, (Wellington, NZ: Flag Publications, 2019).

additional information for NZ First World War soldiers with Salvation Army connections.7 The text for this supplement was largely the work of Major Dr Harold Hill.

Cover of Under two flags, Kingsley Sampson was contributing editor of the book

With the completion of Under two flags, my recent research has been focused on producing a 60th anniversary history of the Hornby Community Ministries of The Salvation Army here in Christchurch and researching the story of The Salvation Army Students’ Fellowship in New Zealand. The SASF story is being published in AJSAH8 and I hope the Hornby story will eventually become a small book. After that I have family research that needs to be completed and written up and maybe a Second World War sequel to Under two flags. I do not see myself as an author as such. Compared to other Salvation Army historians, my output has not been great. Rather I see myself as someone with an interest in Salvation Army history who enjoys research and then writing up my discoveries, some of which I hope might be of use to future historians. What I have done since retiring has been for both personal interest and with the aim of safeguarding the Army’s story. My hope is that I have played a small part in keeping that story alive for future generations.

7 Harold Hill & Kingsley Sampson, For God, King and Country: A supplement to under two flags, (Unpublished manuscript, 2019). 8 Kingsley Sampson, “‘To meet a need in the life of Salvationists Students’: The story of The Salvation Army Students’ Fellowship in New Zealand. Part one: From the mid-1950s to the late 1960s”, The Australasian journal of Salvation Army history, 5, 2, (September 2020), 129 – 149.; Kingsley Sampson, “‘To meet a need in the life of Salvationists Students’: The story of The Salvation Army Students’ Fellowship in New Zealand. Part two: From holiday treks to attempted reactivation”, The Australasian journal of Salvation Army history, 6, 1, (March 2021), 6 – 20.