An Adventure in Ministry

  This last week has been an interesting week in ministry and it has been a real challenge to juggle our mission of helping the needy in our community, especially the homeless.   Jesus says in Matthew 25:35-36: “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” The salvation army has always encouraged its people to look after and minister to the people who are often forgotten in society. Its founder William Booth felt passionately about caring for peoples physical needs as well as its practical needs. He once said: ‘What is the use of preaching the Gospel to men whose whole attention is concentrated upon a mad, desperate struggle to keep themselves alive?’ However, as is often the case when we are doing God’s work, the enemy doesn’t like it. Unsurprisingly, as we star...

  I have recently returned from a fantastic weekend at the riverbank, a conference for women within The Salvation Army and I had such a brilliant time. The fellowship was sweet, the worship was spirit-filled and the teaching challenging, and I am only beginning to unpack all that God did over our time together. Today I am thinking about the keynote speaker Dr Helen Paynter who powerfully brought us the story of Esther - a woman in the bible who discovered she can! Dr Helen Paynter presented the account of Esther in a fresh light showing the tyranny of the powers of the day and how her story was truly one of resilience and pain. She talked about the call on her life to make a stand for God and how in spite of the barriers, she gave her risky yes.  While talking about the call on Esther’s life, Helen used a phrase that has been bouncing about in my mind for a little while, and one that I felt God had been challenging me with. This is the command of “Speaking Truth to power.” Est...

  I have recently returned from the powerful Riverbank conference, a weekend away for women in The Salvation Army in the UK. The weekend was packed full of worship, community and above all truth and I am still trying to unpack it all. Today I have been thinking about our first evening at the Riverbank and the life transforming message of Major David Betteridge the Director of Family ministries  Before David came to speak to us we spent some time in worship and we sung this years ‘theme song’ for the conference. The words were striking and seemed to provide the scaffold for all the words of truth that we would hear throughout the weekend. One of the verses said: Thou are the bread of life, O lord, to me,  Thy Holy word and truth, That saveth me; Give me to eat and live With thee above; Teach me to love Thy truth,  For thou art love.  What a profound statement “Teach me to Love Thy truth, for thou art love.” As I sang those words, little did I know what liberating...

  I have just returned from a truly special and spirit-filled weekend at The Salvation Army’s women conference called the riverbank. Often when we think about time spent at a riverbank we think of words such as refreshment, rest and restoration and this year the conference did all this for me and more besides. This year’s conference theme was ‘Truth be told’ and to start off my recap series I thought I should take the time to tell “The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth!”  The truth is I almost didn’t make it to the riverbank! up until 3pm on the Friday afternoon (and the conference started at 4pm!) I didn’t know if I would be at the conference or in the hospital awaiting surgery! At the beginning of May I had undergone an operation on my back and there had been a number of post-op complications.The last few weeks had been painful,  (both physically and emotionally) Frustrating and confusing and it had been a steep learning curve for me about trusting in God...

  In a couple of weeks time I will be joining lots of other women at The Salvation Army’s Riverbank conference. I attended last year and it truly was a special spirit-filled weekend. To be honest I wasn’t altogether prepared for the conference and it took me a long time to unpack all that God had revealed to me. This year I didn’t want that to be the case once more, so I am actively trying to prepare my heart, mind and soul for the weekend. Not only am I thinking about what clothes, shoes and other stuff I need to pack in my suitcase, I am also thinking about what I need to spiritually pack, or unpack before I go. So I thought that I might blog my thoughts so that if you are coming along you can prepare too! The name of the conference, riverbank, comes from  Acts 16:13-15 and the encounter that a group of women had with Paul and ultimately the Holy Spirit. It is a powerful story and one that is overlooked so I encourage you to take some time to look at it. The verses say: “On ...

  I spent some time last week at The Salvation Army’s William Booth College, learning about the history of the church and The Salvation Army, and it has been absolutely fascinating.  I thought I knew a lot about The Salvation Army, However I have realised that there is so much more to know. There were some things in our Salvation Army history that I thought I knew, but learned that in fact it was different to what I had thought and there were some things that were just plain wrong!  One of the days we went on the ‘Booth Cruise,’ a tour of the East London and some of the significant places in the early days of The Salvation Army. As we walked the streets, we heard stories of how Jesus changed the lives of many people through the work of The Salvation Army. The tour culminated in a visit to the graves of William and Catherine Booth and other people significant in the early history of The Salvation Army, and as we sang ‘O Boundless Salvation’ and considered the people who ga...