Solomon Islands Ministries - Territorial Leaders Conference

Last month Vanessa and I had the opportunity to spend some quality time interacting with Territorial and Divisional leaders from The Salvation Army Papua New Guinea Territory.  Our time in Port Moresby commenced in response to an invitation to attend the Territorial Leaders Conference, which gave The Salvation Army Solomon Islands Ministries representation at the TLC for the first time.  While Solomon Islands has been a part of this Territory since it's launch in 2011, the TLC ushered this relatively new expression of The Salvation Army into a new era of growth with an announcement by the Territorial Commander that IHQ had approved a name change for the Territory, which will now be known as The Salvation Army Papua New Guinea & Solomon Islands Territory, with the Solomon Islands being granted 'District' status.  So the Solomon Islands Ministries is now officially the Solomon Islands District, which means Vanessa and my position has been changed from 'Officers in Charge' to 'District Officers'.

The TLC was led by Commissioners Willis & Barbara Howell from the USA Southern Territory, with Colonel Julie Alley from PNG setting the tone for the weekend with the keynote address by declaring, "The kingdom of God does not rise and fall on our ability.  We are to lean into the supernatural ability of Jesus Christ."  This powerful introduction was followed by two days of amazing teaching from the guest leaders who spoke around the theme 'Following Christ, In Leadership.'  In the opening session, Commissioner Willis spoke on the importance of 'guarding your heart' from Proverbs 4:23 - "Above all else, guard your heart, for it affects everything you do."  Later, Commissioner Barbara led an interactive session inviting the leaders present to share the characteristics of leadership we found most inspiring and then spoke about the nature of servant leadership.

On the Sunday morning of the conference Vanessa and I gave a presentation about the growth in the Solomon Islands over the past six months, which was enthusiastically received by everybody present.  During our presentation, Vanessa spoke about our new Solo Army Lavalava project and presented the Commissioners and our Territorial Leaders with a lavalava each as a gift from the Solomon Islands. This gift made a real impression on Commissioner Barbara who ordered 40 to take back to the USA Southern Territory for a Divisional Women’s Weekend. 

During the week following the TLC, we engaged in a number of meetings at THQ with Cabinet Secretaries and department heads to discuss some of the new initiatives ready to launch in the Solomon Islands.  These meetings proved very productive with a strong commitment of support coming from THQ for the ongoing development of The Salvation Army in this emerging district of the Papua New Guinea & Solomon Islands Territory. 

Solomon Islands Ministries - Auki Mission

Over the past few weeks there has been some exciting movement around Auki in the Malaita Province concerning The Salvation Army, which does not yet have a presence in this town.  The movement I speak of is the activity of Holy Spirit who is stirring the hearts of some local pastors who are feeling restless, as they have been disconnected from any real denominational alliance for some time (that is a whole other discussion for another time and place).  Their restlessness led to a meeting with their spiritual mentor Joshua Henry who happens to be a Salvation Army soldier at Honiara Corps.  Joshua met recently with seven of these pastors to respond to their call to learn more about The Salvation Army because of their respect for his leadership and his strong witness.   

Throughout their time of worship and sharing together Joshua felt the Lord speak the following prophetic words for this group of pastors:

"As far as the Solomon Islands is concerned, The Salvation Army is the newest move of God in this country for NOW!"

"As far as The Salvation Army is concerned, everybody in the Solomon Islands who are Christians could all be citizens of the Kingdom of God already.  But to join the military of a nation there is a separate recruitment.  The Salvation Army is now that recruitment for a mission movement of God in the Solomon Islands."

"The Salvation Army is the fresh stream that is flowing into this country and out of this country."

As Joshua relayed these messages to me I felt both excited and terrified by the potential implications of such utterances!  Imagine if all seven pastors responded to Joshua's message by saying, 'sign us up!'  Well, we have dared to imagine such an outcome, despite not having the resources at this point in our journey to support an immediate burst of growth like this.  We dare to believe in a God who "is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine" (Ephesians 3:20) and who "will meet all [our] needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19).

Alongside this prophetic word from Joshua we have proactively stepped into this mission space to pursue a couple of social enterprise opportunities to build a foundation for sustainable growth throughout the Malaita Province by developing a mission base in Auki.  We continue to look and listen for where the Spirit is at work so we can join in on His mission activity.  We continue to trust God to lead the development of His Army not only in Malaita but right across the Solomon Islands.  We continue to prioritise the development of future leaders and financial sustainability as we develop further ministries.

Solomon Islands Ministries - North Malaita Visit

Before arriving in Solomon Islands we read about a new Salvation Army Fellowship that had commenced during May 2017 in North Malaita after two newly enrolled soldiers from Honiara Corps returned to their home village on the Kwai River.  Their arrival home was good news for their village as the church they left behind had disbanded due to the infidelity of the pastor.  After sharing their joy of joining The Salvation Army in Honiara, their witness led to a number of conversations among the community leaders that resulted in their decision for the discouraged church members to become the first Salvation Army Fellowship in North Malaita.  Previous leader of The Salvation Army Solomon Islands Ministries, Major Malcolm Herring, visited this fellowship just before returning to New Zealand and 15 new soldiers of The Salvation Army were enrolled!  As the newly appointed leaders of The Salvation Army in Solomon Islands we knew straight away that we would need to plan a visit to this Fellowship early in our role to see for ourselves the progress of what God had commenced in this remote location and to encourage this newly formed Fellowship of The Salvation Army.  We also wanted to make a strong statement to these new Salvationists that our appointment was not just to Honiara but to wherever The Salvation Army extended throughout the Solomon Islands. 

Our trip to Malaita started at the port of Honiara on a passenger ferry that took three hours to sail to Auki on the west coast of Malaita.  From there we climbed onto the back of a public truck with nearly 20 other passengers and a mountain of luggage for a bumpy four hour drive to the furthermost point of North Malaita.  The road trip took us through some stunning tropical landscapes, over some precarious river bridges and along the beautiful western

coastline of Malaita.  We were greeted upon arrival by a very enthusiastic congregation dressed in their full uniforms eager to meet their new leaders.  This warm welcome extended to a weekend of generous hospitality and rich fellowship that expressed deeply the kingdom values of Christ and their cultural values of community.

While our visit was certainly to meet and greet the members of this Fellowship, it was also to provide some teaching and to participate in their worship services.  Each day commenced with a 4:30 am Prayer Meeting and concluded with a two hour Fellowship Meeting that featured some of the most passionate worship and prayer we have ever experienced!  In many ways, Vanessa and I felt like spiritual dwarfs among these people.  If we thought the singing in Honiara was inspiring (which it is), this church took it to another level.  

On the Saturday I conducted a Teaching Seminar in two parts to teach on 'Salvation Army Symbolism' and 'Salvation Army & Sacraments'.  For such new Salvationists, these themes filled in a lot of gaps in their knowledge and understanding about the distinctives of Salvation Army worship and culture.  They fully engaged with the teaching and asked appropriate questions to seek clarity and to make sense of my Aussie accent.  During this Teaching Seminar Vanessa took 17 children through Junior Soldiers Preparation Classes, which is a young people's discipleship program in The Salvation Army.  At the end of the classes 7 children indicated that they wanted to become Junior Soldiers; which is the first group of Junior Soldiers in the Solomon Islands.  

Sunday Worship was something special!  Their church building is an old wooden, open-walled structure, positioned on top of a very steep hill that stimulated nearly as much physical energy to get to church as the spiritual energy that was generated during church.  A congregation of 46 gathered to celebrate their love for Jesus in their usual passionate style.  One of their leaders led a lengthy testimony time that had people eager to not only share their testimony through words but also through song.  Vanessa then had the absolute pleasure of enrolling the 7 Junior Soldiers before I had the privilege of preaching the Word of God.  It is always humbling to see people respond to the Word of God, but to have 13 of these soldiers kneel at the make-shift Mercy Seat (that I had taught them about the day before), recommitting their lives to God and His mission in North Malaita, was a truly overwhelming experience.  The afternoon included a Leaders Meeting, another first for North Malaita, that completed the picture for us about the scope of ministry already occurring in and beyond this village.  To listen to their leaders express their vision for the future was energising.  I cannot wait to write up my report for the PNG Territorial Commander about this growing ministry!

Throughout our stay in North Malaita we enjoyed fully engaging in the simplicity of village life.  From swimming in the river with the kids, watching food being prepared with cultural methods, eating food grown in the village, to showering under a tap behind a canvas screen out in the open air; life in this village offered an unexpected richness that is rarely experienced in the city.  

Returning home to Honiara was a bitter sweet experience.  Despite our enjoyment of village life, we did miss being connected to the wider world.  Yet, leaving this place, even after only a few days, was like being separated from a sense of family again.  There is something supernatural about the body of Christ that transcends culture and language through a deep unity of the Spirit, I imagine much like the disciples experienced in the early church.  We left North Malaita with a great deal of excitement for the future of this Salvation Army Fellowship.  We also left with enormous anticipation for what might be ahead in the second part of our journey to visit another Salvation Army Fellowship in South Malaita next week.