There are hundreds of corps and centres up and down the United Kingdom Territory with the Republic of Ireland, but what makes them The Salvation Army? In this series, Salvationist discovers just that
WE LIVE BY FAITH, NOT BY SIGHT says Ballymoney corps officer Major Jane-Marie Cook
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ALLYMONEY is a market town in Northern Ireland that sits on the Antrim Coast, home of the Giant’s Causeway. The corps is 107 years old, but when my husband and I were appointed here in 2016 it was very small, with three active members and a small group of people supporting from other churches. Three years on this has grown into a community-based corps of believers, living, working and worshipping together, having fun and showing the love of Christ to each other and to those we meet. When we arrived, we were tasked with developing a fresh expression of The Salvation Army in the town. After a lot of research and gathering of statistics to find out where the gaps and needs of the community were, we began meeting with other agencies. It was through this networking and prayer that we slowly started to discover and develop the vision that God was giving us. Our corps building was in need of major repair and refurbishment, and we faced the problem of having nowhere to worship. God provided by leading us to a nearby Methodist church, where we worshipped for six months. Then in 2017 our divisional headquarters gave us the green light to start implementing the vision God had for us. God kept giving me 2 Corinthians 5:7: ‘For we live by faith, not by sight’ – and we now occupy a unit in the town on a three-year lease. This unit has become the place where we can be The Salvation Army. At the same time our small nucleus of corps members met and prayed over many months using the Faith-Based Facilitation cycle. Through this God transformed our thinking, helping us to
stop worrying about our lack of a hall. The cycle had such a powerful impact on us that we started to understand how we could continue to be missional without a building. This was the turning point for Ballymoney. Since then we have begun increasing in number. We feel blessed and privileged that in 2019 the corps has seven soldiers, nine adherent members and a junior soldier, with more waiting to complete membership classes. The most important thing we found in our ministry is that people want to belong and feel they have something to give. One of the main concerns in our community is loneliness and social isolation – which is a common need generally in society today. In networking with agencies in our area, we began to recognise that the vision God was giving us was the need for a befriending service. We named the project Saint (Salvation Army in Touch) and took up the mission statement, ‘Jesus: to declare Jesus, to engage and serve in his community and to show unity and support in all we do.’ With trained volunteers we visit 12 people at home on a regular basis, with 24 more on a waiting list. And the project is not limited to people in their homes. We see our drop-in, which is open Monday to Friday from 10 am to 4
pm, as an extension of this, as it provides a warm safe space for people to get in touch with others. We engage our service users with activities such as board games, word searches, jigsaws, arts and crafts and Stitch Away Stress knitting and crochet classes. These have helped so many of our people, some of whom live with anxiety or depression. It’s now become so popular that we get referrals from other groups who are trying to get people to start engaging with others. Some of them come in to have a coffee and a chat and others will come in for referrals to the food bank or for practical help. We’ve found that our availability as an open door has been a great witness to the town. Every day at midday we have a five-minute Bible reflection and prayer, during which people can write prayer requests to leave in our prayer area. It’s great when they come back and tell us how God has answered them. We thank God for all those we have the privilege of supporting in our community. As Ballymoney is growing we are seeing more people take on responsibilities. People have started volunteering, helping with the War Cry ministry in the town and taking part in a monthly book club that meets in a nearby coffee shop. The book club was started to engage with people who don’t yet come to the corps. We have been encouraged to see people building relationships and sharing their personal stories of faith, and we see them bringing others week by week to our Sunday worship. Our café-church style works well where we are, as it is interactive in a relaxed setting. We’re now at a point of outgrowing the unit we rent – praise God! – and we would ask readers of Salvationist to pray for the future of the corps as we look towards returning to our building. Salvationist 23 March 2019
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