Welcome to Develop

A message from our UK Engagement Co-ordinator Hayley Still

I recently attended the United Kingdom and Ireland Territory’s Children and Youth Conference. I was responsible for the International Development UK stand in the conference marketplace. It was a great weekend in which I had a lot of interesting conversations, shared some of our resources – such as the materials for Helping-Hand 2023 (page 8) and our GLIMPSE resource (page 7) – and sold some products (T-shirts and bags) to raise money for international projects.

I was also able to attend some of the conference’s main sessions and seminars. The theme of the weekend was Shalom.

What does this word bring to mind?

During the weekend, it was noted that while for many the word is synonymous with ‘peace’ – the absence of conflict, the silence after an argument, the result of noise-cancelling headphones on a busy train – shalom is so much more than that. It is wholeness, justice, and community. It is life in all its fullness, for all of creation.

‘In a landscape of brokenness, grief, loneliness and fear, we as followers of Jesus are called to receive and offer shalom. Not just a babbling brook and place of quiet rest, but a roaring river that shapes and transforms the landscape.’ (Conference Brochure)

We can see glimpses of shalom in the projects featured throughout this issue of Develop.

Our Team Leader, Benjamin Gilbert, shares about his recent visit to Ukraine where he witnessed the power that compassion and community can have for people seeking sanctuary from warfare (page 18).

On page 5 we share an update about The Salvation Army’s emergency response work following the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria.

This year’s Helping-Hand Appeal is featured on page 8. We hear from Esther Kaonga, chairperson of her village development committee in Karonga, Malawi, as she states how inclusive community ownership in the WASH project can ensure sustainable change.

In ‘Saving for the Future’ on page 24, Hudson Mouhaliar writes about how Village Savings and Loans Associations have contributed to economic justice for women in Turkana, Kenya.

Justice is a central component of shalom, and this issue of Develop highlights two practical opportunities to speak up about importance issues. One way is through Great Big Green Week (page 6) which gives us an opportunity to raise awareness about and take action for climate justice; and on page 12 Major Heather Grinsted highlights another call to justice as she highlights the Illegal Migration Bill, its impact on modern slavery and how we can urge our country’s leaders to make the changes that are necessary to protect vulnerable people.

We are invited to be shalom-makers – to practise and pursue the Kingdom of God, here and now.