9 minute read
Plant Life
Nurturing the seeds lovingly planted by previous officers, Captains Faye and Steve Molen are now in their sixth year as leaders of The Salvation Army Manurewa Corps (Church) Plant in South Auckland. With roots now strong and deep within the community, the couple are not only loving plant life, but the mission of The Salvation Army in Manurewa is blooming.
WORDS Jules Badger
Captains Faye and Steve Molen are passionate and intentional people. With a background in youth work, the couple are renowned for serving the mission of The Salvation Army in creative and innovative ways. Their approach to the appointment they currently find themselves in is no different.
Originally named Clendon Corps Plant, Faye and Steve took their lead from the local marae, with an official name change to the more expansive Manurewa soon after their arrival in 2018.
‘The name was really important,’ explains Faye (Ngā Puhi/Ngāti Awa/Ngai Tūhoe). ‘We followed the same line of thought as Manurewa Marae. Everyone who lives in the area belongs there and so we wanted the corps name to reflect that. We [The Salvation Army] belong to all of Manurewa, not just a small part.’
Vibrant and beautiful
Faye and Steve feel very much at home in Manurewa. ‘It’s a good place to live and we love it,’ says Faye. However, she also adds that the media does Manurewa no favours.
‘Not everything you see on the news is accurate or true. For me, Manurewa is a vibrant place. There are many different cultures and ethnicities reflected in our community and in our church family too. There are a lot of families—big families—with generations living in the same area. There’s a lot of life and action in Manurewa.’
Statistically, Manurewa is categorised as a low socio-economic area with high unemployment. Where there is employment, wages are low, but the rent is high. Domestic violence is an issue, and there is a prevalence of sole parent households.
‘We very much want people to know that Manurewa is vibrant and beautiful, but at the same time there are social issues and there is dysfunction—some generational, others are systemic—making Manurewa the perfect place for The Salvation Army to be,’ affirms Steve.
‘People here still have the same hopes and aspirations for their own whānau as anywhere else,’ says Faye. ‘They want better for their kids and for themselves, but they struggle to get ahead because there are so many factors against them. There can be this feeling of helplessness because there are all these things that are outside people’s control that affect and impact them heavily. People are trying to navigate their way through housing needs while at the same time not having enough income to cover the basics. These external factors cause family stress that is sometimes hard for people to manage in a positive way, because it’s consistently coming at them. But this is why it’s the perfect place for us to be. We are not exempt from some of those things so we can show an alternative way of coping. We can support one another and hopefully offer another way of living.’
Blended ecology
Over the years Faye and Steve’s ministry philosophy has morphed into something new and exciting. When they first arrived, the priority was getting to know the community, setting up some appropriate programmes and consolidating a Sunday expression. But Steve notes that as time passed, releasing people to set up missional expressions birthed from their passions out in the community became just as important.
‘You get this blended ecology of multiple missional expressions where the corps and those missional expressions all benefit from one another,’ explains Steve. ‘And then this hub of excitement is created.’
Steve uses expansive phrases like beautiful synergy, evolving community and creative expressions to describe some of what is emerging in Manurewa. ‘They might stand alone with their own sense of belonging, discipleship and community or be linked back into the corps, but both support and live off each other in this beautiful blend of ecology. What you find is that when people are released into their passions and excited about planting new expressions in their own community then there is this vibrant life that happens between the two quite naturally. We don’t have to control everything.’
‘What we do in the community is never in competition with church,’ says Faye. ‘For us they sit together naturally and neatly.’
Manurewa Corps Plant is cleverly funded, with both Domino’s Pizza and Country Fried Chicken renting space out the front of the multi-purpose building on Roscommon Road. This space also houses one of two Family Stores (the other in South Mall), Kiwi Kai Co-op headquarters (with three more community led co-ops recently set up), as well as office space and a kitchen/ dining room for shared meals.
Awhina Mai (Positive Lifestyle Programme) is a flourishing facet of corps life, as are various creative community expressions like Kaha Wahine Kotahitanga (strong women in unity). Group leader Te Rena Goodwin was recently interviewed by Women’s Ministries and you can hear her inspiring story on the Disturbance Podcast (women.salvationarmy.org.nz/disturbance-podcast, episode 11).
Faye and Steve are quick to acknowledge not only the collaborative support of their leadership team, but also the encouragement they’ve received from Salvation Army leadership. ‘We’ve always been empowered by leadership,’ affirms Steve. ‘We love our Army and being here has been so freeing,’ says Faye. ‘We can try new things, but we do also calculate the risks before we do anything. We make sure what we are trying is meaningful and intentional—we’re not just trialling random things.’
Collective revelation
One of those experiments is Manurewa’s Sunday format. A multi-purpose facility means that church is held in the onsite Family Store, with couches and coffee tables being the furniture of choice. At first glance, church at Manurewa appears typical, but a commitment to building spiritual confidence in people means that when it comes to the message, the gift of collective revelation is given. ‘We use Discovery Bible which is based on the premise that everyone carries revelation from the Holy Spirit, not just the person preaching from the front,’ explains Steve. The priesthood of all believers is alive and well in Manurewa.
‘For us as facilitators, we present some of the context and background to those things that are hard for us to wrap our heads around in 2023, but then it’s discussed and the questions that are asked and answered apply to what’s happening in people’s real lives today,’ says Faye. ‘This builds confidence in our people because they know they are in a safe place to share and that what they have to say is as important as anyone else as we go on this spiritual journey together.’
Collateral beauty
Faye and Steve describe their time in Manurewa as a season of surrender. Prompted by the Holy Spirit and with the support of divisional leadership, they rented out the officers’ residence provided by The Salvation Army and moved into a rental property in Randwick Park.
‘Initially I thought it was a ridiculous idea,’ admits Steve. ‘But the more we thought and prayed about it, the more we sensed that this was something God was calling us into.’
Now members of UNOH (Urban Neighbours of Hope), the couple are apprentices of incarnational living. Faye and Steve are supported and guided by experienced UNOH members who gather every week in a rhythm of prayer, training and friendship.
‘For me there is this beautiful synergy of life and connection that wasn’t there before. Yes, some of our neighbours are living in hardship. Some nights bottles are smashed on the street and loud music plays at all hours. People fight in the street and police cars turn up. It’s chaos sometimes, but there’s also collateral beauty because we get to connect in the mix of all that and be present with people. We know their stories. There might be someone creating chaos on the street but often we know who they are and why they are reacting in that way because we know the family and the backstory. It’s been life changing for us,’ explains Steve.
‘We get to be part of the community as neighbours first, and not necessarily as the officers. There is a different level of relationship with people. I wander down to the dairy and we are visible, present and accessible,’ says Faye. ‘The wins look different, too. If our neighbours come into our home and make their own cup of tea, that’s a win; and if we go to their place and they let us in without feeling ashamed that we are there, that’s a win.’
‘We can be so programme-based in The Salvation Army,’ says Steve. ‘So, we’re not starting from this place of we are here to do this for you, but instead there’s this reciprocal exchange of relationship and generosity that thrives within the context of being neighbours.’
‘God is still the God of hope,’ says Faye. ‘And he lives in our neighbourhood. There’s a lot of brokenness but that’s why Jesus came, and we can help by partnering with him. We can help soothe some of that brokenness and support people as they come through life’s challenges.’
Planting passion
Faye and Steve don’t think what they are doing is any better than any of the other amazing initiatives around the territory—it’s just what they believe is right for The Salvation Army in Manurewa in this season. Both are passionate about the mission of The Salvation Army, and the strong sense of calling they both have as officers to share the love of Christ.
‘We carry something of the Army’s prophetic calling to walk as the caring feet of Jesus amongst the lost and the broken,’ says Steve. ‘But we all carry something inside of us—a passion planted by Jesus. It’s planted in the heart and the attitude. Everyone has it, and we all need to be released to live out that passion—especially if it means trying new things, because when it’s something that Jesus has planted inside us, it needs to be encouraged to grow.’
