Solomon Islands District - 10th Anniversary

Special Report written by Major Robert Evans, District Leader...

General Albert Osborn, former international leader of The Salvation Army, wrote a hymn acknowledging, “What a work the Lord has done, by His saving grace,” which rings true today as The Salvation Army has just celebrated ten grace-filled years of mission and ministry in the Solomon Islands.

The 10th Anniversary weekend kicked off on Friday, 19th November with Honiara Corps cultural dancers and timbrelists leading a procession of the District Officers, Area Officers and Church Leaders into the Opening Program. The evening commenced with video greetings from Colonels Garth and Patti Niemand, Territorial Leaders of the Papua New Guinea & Solomon Islands Territory. Their words of encouragement set the tone for the weekend, as the Solomon Islands District reflected back on the past 10 years with gratitude and looked forward to the next 10 years with great anticipation, echoing the refrain of General Osborn’s hymn, “Greater things! Greater things! Give us faith, O Lord, we pray, faith for greater things.” Pastor Jimmy Vasula from Gateway CRC Church, who hosted the anniversary weekend, was the guest speaker for the Opening Program. He congratulated The Salvation Army for ten faithful years of mission and ministry in the Solomon Islands and challenged the local Salvationists to go on to the ‘next level’.

The weekend proceeded with two workshops on Saturday morning where Major Vanessa introduced the World Vision ‘A Good Life for All Boys & Girls’ Sunday School resource and Major Robert launched the Territorial Strategic Plan. After lunch an Open Air and March of Witness with the Royal Solomon Islands Police Brass Band provided an amazing display of over 100 Salvationists marching from Henderson Police Station back to the venue for a brass band concert, that included the Honiara Corps Brass Band. The evening featured the youth of the District who led a powerful evening of worship and items from each of the church youth groups, including the enrollment of 16 new Junior Soldiers. Sunday morning commenced with a combined worship service with the CRC church hosts, followed by a celebration feast of pork, chicken, kasava and taro that was cooked overnight on a traditional ‘motu.’ After lunch the main Worship Service included the enrolment of six Soldiers, recognition of two new Churches, and the warranting of six non-commissioned Officers, with a video message by the Territorial Commander.

The finale for the weekend was a spectacular Mission & Cultural Celebration that was opened by a video greeting from international leaders General Brian and Commissioner Rosalie Peddle, along with other video greetings from several previous Territorial and District leaders. The evening was also attended by a number of community and business leaders who are great supporters of The Salvation Army. Major Robert presented an overview of the mission activity throughout the District, after which, each church presented cultural items representing their villages and provinces. A highlight of the evening was the unveiling of a commissioned artwork portraying The Salvation Army flag in an abstract Solomon Island style

The theme for the weekend ‘Greater Things’ was creatively manifested through song and dance, leaving no doubt that the best is yet to come!

Special Report written by Major Vanessa Evans, District Leader...

2021 theme for the Solomon Islands District was “Greater Things.”  Jesus said "You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that" (John 1:50). To help with this theme one of the songs that became a bit of an anthem particularly at Honiara Corps was Chris Tomlin’s God of this City. The chorus says, ‘Greater things have yet to come and greater things are still to be done in this city, Greater things have yet to come and greater things are still to be done here.’ This song was not only sung throughout the year but was also the theme song for our 10th Anniversary weekend celebration. We wanted to celebrate all that had happened over the last 10 years as well as holding on to the promise that we would see greater things in the future.

 

Friday night was our opening program and what a program that was! The District Leaders, Corps Officers and Village Church Leaders were led into the CRC Gateway church by traditional dancers from the Honiara Corps, supported by the Honiara Timbrel Brigade. There was lots of singing, dancing, messages from the PNGSI Territorial Leaders Colonels Garth & Patti Niemand, as well as greetings from our 9 church leaders. We were also blessed to have a Historic Video Presentation that reminded the Solomon Islands that they “Were always on His mind.” This presentation showed some wonderful historic pictures of The Salvation Army being connected to the Solomon Islands as far back as 1894. Pastor Jimmy from CRC Gateway was our guest speaker. Pastor Jimmy and his wife Mama Mary are great friends and supporters of ours and allowed us to use their beautiful facilities for our Anniversary weekend.

Saturday was a full day. There were two workshops that were held; the first was on the Sunday School curriculum from World Vision called ‘A Good Life for Boys & Girls’. I have had the privilege of being a part of the working group to put this together. The second workshop was led by Rob who spoke on the Territorial Strategic Plan - ‘Restore, Renew, Rebuild’ and how each of our congregations can use this theme next year as this will become our overall theme for the District. Saturday afternoon consisted of a March of Witness along the main road of Henderson with the assistance of the RSIPF band, which then led to a Brass Band concert. It was great to see our band and the RSIPF band play together and we thank the RSIPF for their support over the last 3 years. Saturday night was the youth meeting which was amazing. 16 Junior Soldiers were enrolled and I preached on how to Stand Out From The Crowd (1 Chronicles 4:9-10). I was humbled and amazed at the work of the Holy Spirit as 51 adults, youth & children responded to God’s Word. Sunday afternoon was a great celebration of the future with the enrolments of 6 new soldiers and the warranting of our new Auxiliary Captains and Envoys. Sunday evening was again another amazing celebration of culture and mission as we were led in by the Gateway Corps traditional dancers. Each corps and church fellowship presented items throughout the night with messages from previous leaders. It was great to see our many friends from different networks that we have developed over the last 4 years join in the celebrations. The other highlight of the evening was the unveiling of the Commissioned Artwork “God’s Light in the Darkness” by Riaz Haikiu Maninga.

Greater things are yet to come and greater things are still to be done in this country of Solomon Islands.