Solomon Islands District Tok Stori (Volume 6, Issue 3)

Solomon Islands District

International Women’s Day

(Report by Major Vanessa Evans, District Director Women’s Ministries)

women also shared in some cultural dancing, which was great to see the police force having some fun; which the crowd loved. The other event was the International World Day of Prayer, with Taiwan this year’s focus. Major Robert had the opportunity to share the Word of God from Ephesians

of Women. It is a month when women of all walks of life are celebrated through the annual International World Day of Prayer and International Women’s Day. This year, The Salvation Army in Honiara was able to celebrate and take part in events that were held in Honiara. On International Women’s day, a small group of members came together and tookpartinthemarchfromthe Honiara City Council to the Justice Park. The Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) Band led the parade, followedbyastrongcontingent of RSIPF, Australian Federal Police, Correctional Services, Australian High Commission staff, The Salvation Army, Ministry of Education, World Vision, Oxfam, Church of Melanesian Mothers Union, Catholic Women, as well as

and private sector organisations. The program at the Justice Park included speeches from the Minister for Women, Youth, Children & Family Affairs, the Australian High Commissioner and Christine Lasaqa, who is the first woman to serve as the CEO ofOur Telekom. Christine spoke about women, young and old, pursuing their goals with ambition, confidence and responsibility. The RSIPF

1:15-19 ”I have heard about your Faith,” as the youth of Honiara Corps held an all night prayer meeting. Throughout the program different people read aloud the stories of women from Taiwan and how they had been impacted by the Gospel. It was great to see the many different age groups come together to spend time praying, not only for the country of Taiwan and for the support that Taiwan has given the Solomon Islands over the last 40 years, but also for the Honiara Corps and Solomon IslandsDistrict.

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Honiara Corps New Home

On Sunday, 5th March, Honiara Corps commenced worshipping at their new location in the Mbua Vale High School Hall. Thisnewfacility isideally located in central Honiara, behind the new Kukum Market, with excellent exposure to the public and a welcomed sea breeze that provides natural cooling. The much larger open space easily accommodated the 114 corps members who were delighted to make this place home. At the previous location, Honiara Corps was restricted to three hours on a Sunday morning, before being rushed out by hotel security to make way for the next group using the same space. This

prevented any meaningful time of fellowship after church. The small space also limited Sunday School to colouring sheets in the corner during the service. OnthefirstSundaytheCorpsdisplayeda high level of energy and excitement by the freedom to linger and enjoy each

District Trip to Auki

MajorRobertandEnvoyAlicktravelledto Auki in Malaita Province earlier this month to address a leadership matter at one of the village churches. During this visit, a couple of unexpected encounters presented themselves that opened the door to future mission opportunities. One of these encounters was a meeting withLazarusfromMagetodiscussalong standing invitation for The Salvation Armytocommenceinhisvillage. Lazarus was keen to share his vision for Mage andpleasedthatMajorRobertandEnvoy Alick took the opportunity to walk to his village to scope out his mission context

s company after the service and the48children had alot more funwith a fuller Sunday School program. While Honiara Corps continues to pursue the purchase of a suitable property for their permanent home, the move to Mbua Valeisasignificantstepforward.

during their visit to Auki. The second encounter was with the Director and CoordinatoroftheRuralTrainingCentres (RTC),whohappenedtobestayingatthe same motel. Together, they discussed the possibility of engaging the carpentry students at local RTC’s to build Officer Quarters as their practical assignment. This proposal was received with great enthusiasm, as this is exactly what the RTC’s are looking for in the provinces, instead of sending their students to Honiara for their practical field training. These unexpected encounters added enormousvaluetothis24hourtrip.

Gateway Corps Mission Trip to Kafomuari

Over the weekend of the 18th and 19th March, members of Gateway Corps set off for a mission trip to Kafomauri New Opening in north east Malaita. A small group of Gateway youth initiated this mission and ministry to their neighbouring Salvation Army church. The

Salvation Army has two active churches in North Malaita who are proactively supporting each other and serving their surrounding communities. Since Envoy Charles was ‘promoted to glory’, his wife Envoy Judith has been supported by her daughter Margaret, CSM Sam and Nominees Jimlee and Joanna in leading Gateway Corps on a trajectory of growth that has positioned their church as a powerful ministry in North Malaita. The District Team is deeply encouraged by the regular stories of mission, service, combined church interaction and youth ministry in this remote area. It is also

terrific to see how Gateway Corps takes the initiative to support Kafomauri New Opening through these type of mission and ministry trips, as an encourage to congregation leaders Moses and Mary, who are actively engaged in ministry around Suafa Bay, North Malaita. During the District Easter Campaign this year, Webster and Elizabeth will travel to Kafomauri with a team from Honiara Corps to conduct the Easter services and provide training in the new Gudfala Laef fo Evri Gele an Evri Boe material to equip the Sunday School leadersatourvillagechurches.

Fouele New Opening Mission & Ministry

Following the Christmas holiday period, Fouele has had a very active start to the year reconstructing their church building and serving their community from the funds they have raised through their fuel depot social enterprise. The materials donated by their local member of

locally obtained bush materials to upgrade their deteriorating church. Under the shelter of their partly rebuilt church, the Fouele Home League conducted a special program to feed the widows from around their village. This

beautiful time of service and fellowship was a practical demonstration of The Salvation Army’s ‘Heart to God, Hand to Man’ mission, which was well deeply appreciated by their community. Under the leadership of Robinson Fugui and Fred Abana, Fouele New Opening is growing in their mission impact and has proved their viability as a Salvation Army congregation. Last month, the District team recommended that Fouele be granted Fellowship status (the next step in formally recognizing church growth anddevelopmentinthePNGSITerritory). Their mission and ministry activity this monthaffirmsthis recommendation.

Emergency Relief for House Fire Victims

A few weeks ago, Envoy Alick presented a request to the District team for emergencyassistancetosupportafamily in his community who were victims of a house fire. Their house was burned to the ground and they lost all their belongings, leaving them only with the clothes they were wearing. To facilitate this request, Envoys Alick and Esther were given access to a supply of Vilij Kaleko at the District Quarters, where theywereabletogatherenoughclothing for the parents and household goods to replace some of their lost items. The District also contributed funds to replace

Preaching Workshop

As a part of his training plan for 2023, Aux Capt Wency asked the District Leaders to conduct a preaching workshop for Honiara Corps. He proposed for the workshop to coincide with the upcoming District Easter Campaign, to equip the travelling teams for their ministry in the villages. The one-day workshop was conducted by Major Robert with 32 participants from Honiara Corps, including a few from North Malaita and South Malaita who were in town. The format of the training included two morning sessions on defining preaching, types of sermons,

preparing sermons and preaching resources. The two afternoon sessions provided an opportunity for the participants to put the theory they learned in the morning into practice by breaking into two groups to write sermon outlines for this year’s Good Friday and Easter Sunday messages, using the theme ‘Sacrificial Living’ and associatedScripturesprovided. Thelevel of enthusiasm by all and quality of their participation was inspiring! It was also great to see the equal participation of both men and women, not yet a cultural norm in the Solomon Islands. Most of

their mattresses and bedding. The Salvation Army Solomon Islands has received a number of requests over the past couple of years for emergency assistance that fall through the cracks in the very limited emergency support structures in Honiara. To be better equipped to fill these gaps, the District is looking to establish a local emergency relief fund to more adequately respond to future requests. The recipients of this most recent support expressed their appreciation to The Salvation Army affirming, “This is the kind of help churchesshoulddo.”

the young adults present will be accompanying the District Team Leaders to various locations across the district over the Easter weekend and will be using the sermon outlines prepared during the workshop on Good Friday and EasterSunday.

The Salvation Army Solomon Islands

District Officers - Majors Robert & Vanessa Evans

PO Box 323 Honiara, Solomon Islands

Phone: (677) 30344

Fax: (677) 30344

Mobile: (677) 749 4524

Email: solomon.islands@png.salvationarmy.org

Website: www.png.salvationarmy.org

Support Needs:

 Building funds for new Officer Quarters: You can support by donating funds to contribute to the construction of Officer Quarters at our village churches in the provinces.

 Purchase of furnishings for Officer Quarters: You can support by donating funds to purchase furniture and appliances for Quarters at each of our village churches.

 Purchase of Toyota Hilux for SAES: You can support by donating funds to purchase a suitable vehicle to tow our Emergency Services trailer.

Please contact Major Robert Evans at robert.evans@png.salvationarmy.org for more information if you are able to help with any of these needs.

Prayer Points:

 District Easter Campaign

 Preparation of Candidates for Officer Training College

 Follow-up of three New Opening opportunities in Malaita

 Establishment of a District Emergency Relief Fund

 New Mission Support Projects (MSP) proposals

Personal Reflection…

After the Christmas celebration, we said farewell to 2022 and welcomed 2023 in the New Year’s celebration. During those celebrations we celebrated the goodness of God in our lives and in the life of our ministries within The Salvation Army church. As we started the year 2023, we looked back and saw what God had done, and it amazed us. We are so grateful to God for what he has done. While we thank God for the past, we are looking forward to partaking in what God is going to do through The Salvation Army in the future. Greater things are yet to come!

In the first month of 2023, things were going well. At the beginning, we were worshiping at Rock Haven Inn and the attendances during Sundays started picking up and people who went on holidays to the Provinces were coming back slowly. At the beginning of the second month, we received a letter from the management of Rock Haven Inn. In that letter, the management increased the rental rate significantly above what we could afford and they accused us of using unauthorised instruments on Sundays, which is not true.

The instruments that we are using are the ones used for the last 11 years. Based on that letter, the Corps Council met on the second day from the date of receiving the letter to discuss our position and the way forward in relation to that letter. The Corps Council, during its deliberation, agreed to cease using the Rock Haven Inn with an immediate effect as the new rates were unaffordable.

As God’s Word says, ‘the devil is like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour’, especially those who become a threat to him. God is doing great things through The Salvation Army in the Solomon Islands and the devil will try all that he can do to destroyed that good work. Those problems that we encountered have a direct impact on our ministry. However, God is always faithful. After the Corps Council’s decision to terminate our use of Rock Haven Inn, the Honiara Corps was displaced for three weeks and we defaulted to the District Quarters for our Sunday services. During those three weeks we were tasked to look around for another venue. We were praying and looking. Finally, Envoy Alick

one of our leaders found Mbua Vale School Hall. He talked with the School Principal about us using the school Hall. The school administration, through the Principal, were very kind to allow us to use the school hall on Sundays and their rate is affordable. Praise God. The space at the School Hall accommodates our Sunday programs very well. The first Sunday of this month we went to the school hall for our service. The congregation members were very surprised to see that bigger space, which excited them and they have the freedom to chat with each other after our services over a cup of coffee. The school hall presents a different environment compared to Rock Haven Inn. This is evidence that God is in control and performs signs, wonders and miracles.

As the Corps Officers for Honiara Corps, we are so grateful to God for his provision of this venue for our Sunday services. All glory and honour unto Him and Him alone in Jesus name. Amen. Aux