Solomon Islands District
NEWSLETTER April 2020 Volume 3, Issue 4
District Easter Campaign Original plans for the District Easter Campaign were altered this year in response to the potential threat of COVID-19 in the Solomon Islands. The State of Public Emergency declared at the end of March resulted in the proposed action of shutting down all sea travel between provinces in the event of the first confirmed case of Coronavirus. With this in mind the District
Officers decided not to send out the Nominees (Candidates), as planned, to village churches in Malaita to conduct the Easter Services in case they ended up stranded without a means of transport home. Instead, Area Officers Envoys Joshua and Edith relocated to Malaita so that Salvation Army leadership stays accessible during these uncertain times. These changed conditions meant that the District Easter Campaign was only conducted at Honiara Corps and Ramah Fellowship this year, with sermon outlines sent to the other three congregations to enable them to at least participate in the District Easter theme - “Jesus, Light of the World.” Yet, despite these changes two other villages were invited to attend the Easter
weekend by Ramah Fellowship, resulting in another 18 new recruits completing Soldiership Classes on Easter Saturday and being enrolled as Soldiers on Easter Sunday! Thirteen of these new Soldiers are youth from Rauai Village who were previously engaged in drinking kwaso and chewing betel nut. After the Easter weekend they returned to their home village
Nominee Daniel Hagi, who preached on Good Friday. The Good Friday Service was held at the District Quarters with 68 people gathering for a powerful time of worship. Easter Sunday was a time of great celebration of the resurrection of Jesus with Major Robert preaching on ‘Light Overcoming the Darkness.’ The highlight of the service was David Aebata performing an original worship song he composed called “It Is Real.” This simple but powerful song speaks of the name of the Lord being our strength and refuge, which is a timely message for such a time as this. While the Easter Campaign didn’t proceed quite as planned across the entire District, God clearly worked anyway with outcomes that could never have been anticipated in the Malaita
Inside this issue:
COVID-19 Update with Church Leaders
2
Malaita Area Meeting
2
Area Junior Soldiers Sergeants
2
Preaching Workshop
3
Rauai Village Mission
3
Acknowledgement of Territorial Leaders
3
Personal Reflections
4
Special points of interest: completely transformed, which amazed their parents and community leaders. The changed lives of their youth has prompted an enthusiastic invitation for The Salvation Army to establish a new congregation in Rauai Village, the second for West Kwara’ae. The Easter services in Honiara were led by Majors Robert and Vanessa, with the support of
Province. Ramah Fellowship, which experienced some very real challenges last year, has become ‘Salt & Light’ as the staging point for significant growth that has not only produced a large number of new Soldiers over the past two months but is likely to see two new openings this year. Greater things are still to come!
COVID-19 Impact Mission Support New Leadership Equipping the Saints Mission Expansion Farewell
COVID-19 Update with Church Leaders Just prior to Easter the Prime Minister declared a two night curfew for the emergency zone in Honiara to test the capabilities of the RSIPF and other relevant agencies. In readiness for the curfew, the Deputy Police Commissioner called together all the church leaders in Honiara to discuss the impact of the curfew for the Easter weekend. Despite there still being no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the Solomon Islands the government were taking the practice curfew very seriously with heavy penalties in place for anybody who broke the curfew. Church leaders were asked
with a variety of responses from some church leaders present who were somewhat disappointed by the timing of the curfew.
to ensure that any Easter services held over the weekend operated within a timeframe that gave enough opportunity for congregation members to return home before the curfew. This was met
Solomon Islands remains COVID-19 free to-date and still enjoys relative freedom of movement while the rest of the world is subject to social distancing, quarantine or lock down rules. Yet, while there are appropriate cautions in place within the emergency zones, churches are still able to meet for Sunday worship. The Salvation Army is staying connected to official sources to ensure compliance with any change of conditions.
Malaita Area Meeting With Envoys Joshua and Edith now based in Malaita, along with their children Jade, Irene and Lloyd, an Area Meeting was planned after Easter for the District Officers to touch base and catch-up with
all the great mission and ministry going on under their leadership. Prior to their relocation, Envoy Joshua would travel periodically to Malaita to support the village church leaders. Now with a full-time presence in Malaita he has easier access to the growing presence of The Salvation Army in this province. It also means that Envoy Edith is now ministering alongside her husband, with the participation of some of their family members. This has proven to be a powerful family partnership in ministry that has greatly encouraged the congregations they have visited so far.
The Aebata family are in the process of building a home on their family land at Trinity Hill, which will become the base for yet another new congregation as they establish themselves in this village.
Area Junior Soldiers Sergeants During the Malaita Area Meeting Major Vanessa put on her District Director of Women’s Ministries hat and did some planning with Envoy Edith and met with her daughters Jade and Irene to discuss their newly appointed roles as Area Junior Soldiers Sergeants to develop this discipleship program across Malaita. Jade and Irene are passionate young Salvationists who have grown so much in their faith over the past two years. They have also stepped up in their involvement with other areas of ministry at Honiara Corps and now with their parents in Malaita. At present, there are
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48 Junior Soldiers in the Solomon Islands with 34 of them at three congregations in Malaita. Jade and Irene are now equipped with the preparation classes
and lesson material to introduce Junior Soldiers at the new openings and expand its impact in existing congregations. This children’s discipleship program is an important tool to help integrate faith and life at a village level, so these children grow and mature in their faith and avoid falling into destructive patterns of alcohol and drug addiction that is on the increase among the youth of this nation. The District looks forward to a wave of growth among the many young people who gather at Salvation Army congregations right across the Solomon Islands.
Solomon Islands District
Preaching Workshop As a part of the District strategy to raise up and develop indigenous leaders of The Salvation Army, a one day Preaching Workshop was conducted for Nominees (Candidates) preparing to enter the Officer Training College. Interest in this workshop expanded beyond the group of six Nominees to other congregation members who feel a calling towards a ministry role in The Salvation Army. This resulted in 16 participants from Honiara Corps attending the workshop. The workshop offered four sessions to provide a basic overview of how to prepare and preach a sermon:
Session 1—Preaching Fundamentals Session 2—Preaching Preparation Session 3—Preaching Exercise A
(Group Work - Prepare an Outline)
Session 4—Preaching Exercise B (Individual Work - Present an Introduction)
With Mother’s Day only two weeks away, it provided an ideal topic for the participants to apply the knowledge they learned in the morning sessions. By the end of the day three sermon outlines were prepared, with one of the participants volunteering (with a little bit of peer pressure) to preach one of these outlines on Mother’s Day. Major Robert will repeat the Preaching Workshop in Malaita in the coming weeks for the new Applicants applying Officership and any other interested Salvationists in this province to “equip the people of God for the ministry.”
Rauai Village Mission
Prior to the District Easter Campaign, a group of people from Rauai Village travelled to Ramah to learn about the mission and ministry of The Salvation Army in the Solomon Islands. Over the following weeks two large groups of young people completed the Soldiership Training Course and were enrolled as
Soldiers, returning to their village with a powerful testimony. After Easter, village leaders invited Envoys Joshua and Edith, along with a group from Ramah Fellowship to conduct a two day mission at Rauai. Early reports of this mission indicate a real sense of excitement and anticipation for The Salvation Army to establish its second church in the West Kwara’ae area. Land has already been set aside and cleared for a new church. While it’s a little unusual to have 30 enrolled Soldiers from a village where there is no Salvation Army church, it is a testament to the work of the Holy Spirit
who is actively preparing the way for the continued expansion of The Salvation Army throughout Malaita. This growth cannot be stopped and who would want to! Given this mission is underway at the time of publishing this newsletter, a fuller report about its overall impact will have to wait until next month.
Acknowledgement of Territorial Leaders This week saw the conclusion of Colonels Kelvin and Julie Alley’s term as the Territorial Leaders of the Papua New Guinea & Solomon Islands Territory as they returned home to Australia to enter into retirement. Over the past two years Majors Robert & Vanessa have had the pleasure of being under their leadership while serving as District Officers in the Solomon Islands. Throughout this time, the Colonels have demonstrated their strong support for the growing ministry of the Solomon Islands District and a deep affection for Solomon Islanders. They facilitated the recognition of
Volume 3, Issue 4
Solomon Islands as a District of the renamed PNGSI Territory and eagerly gave their endorsement to new opening applications and mission initiatives that crossed their desk at THQ. The times they visited the Solomon Islands gave
enormous encouragement to new Salvationists who welcomed their personal interest with much gratitude. The District Officers, Corps Officers and Soldiers of the Solomon Islands District extend their deepest appreciation to Colonels Kelvin and Julie for believing in this new expression of The Salvation Army and for supporting its growth from Territorial Headquarters. May God abundantly bless and guide you both as you transition into retirement and reorient yourselves with your home culture in Australia. Mifala prea blessing blo God lo iutufala evritaem an evriwea.
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Support Needs: Mission Travel Budget You can support the follow-up of increasing mission requests for The Salvation Army to commence in other villages by contributing to travel costs between the Provinces. Building Funds for construction of Officer Quarters: You can support by donating funds to support the construction of Quarters at each of our village churches.
The Salvation Army Solomon Islands District Officers - Majors Robert & Vanessa Evans PO Box 323 Honiara, Solomon Islands Phone: (677) 30344
Additional School Fees Loan Funds: You can support by donating funds to distribute to parents applying for a loan to pay School Fees for next term. 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.
Fax: (677) 30344 Mobile: (677) 749 4524 Email: solomon.islands@png.salvationarmy.org Website: www.png.salvationarmy.org
Prayer Points: Protection from Coronavirus New Opening Application from Rauai Village Development of Applicants and Nominees for Officership Funding requests and applications currently being explored Vehicles for Malaita Area Officers and SAES Trailer
Personal Reflections... The preaching workshop was my tip of the ice berg of our responsibility as preachers of the gospel of God’s kingdom to people. This reminded me of my commitment and love for the Word of God, feeding God’s people from the milk of the Word of God for the maturity of God’s people. Even though it’s only an introduction part of the preaching workshop, it does help us understand how to properly communicate the gospel to the world.
Nominee Daniel Hagi
The preaching workshop has helped me a lot to understand the different methods of preaching, with their advantages and disadvantages, as well as how to prepare a sermon. It was a great session where we not only listened to what was taught but were also given the opportunity to put it into practice. I really enjoyed the session and the fun time everyone had that day. God is equipping us through this workshop and I am so thankful for the leadership of Major Robert and Vanessa for your heart and level of support to equipping us members of the Solomon Islands District.
Nominee Jennifer Kinikoroa
I am thankful for the presentation at the Preaching Workshop, as it was clear and easy to understand. I learned new things and I am really blessed. If anyone was to ask me to preach now, I would be able to look and follow what I have learned and know the process that is needed to write and deliver a sermon.
YPSM Webster Buakalo