Feature

Connecting the community

Continuing a series on Salvation Army chaplaincy in diverse settings, community chaplain Territorial Envoy Lynette Skutt talks to Shanelle Manderson about her work in Liverpool

COMMUNITIES are built on connections, yet many people live lonely lives. Community chaplains such as Territorial Envoy Lynette Skutt help rebuild those connections by going out to people in their communities, fostering caring relationships, providing spiritual, pastoral and practical support and meeting them in their place and time of need.

Lynette was born and brought up in Liverpool and began her service as a community chaplain more than 15 years ago after the corps she soldiered at closed.

‘I really felt a call to work in my neighbourhood,’ she says. ‘I felt God was telling me to stay and to work in the community, so I did.’

Most community chaplains in the UK work within the prison and probation services, but Lynette is heavily involved in community initiatives, working with community groups and social services and strengthening ecumenical connections.

‘I have done a lot of work with older and vulnerable people over the years,’ adds Lynette. ‘I worked for several years with Liverpool city council at a day centre. I eventually started a Sunday service, which lasted for many years until the centre closed. Then, through connections made by networking, I was invited to a day centre for people with severe dementia, with whom I still work.’

Lynette also works with community groups to combat the isolation and loneliness that some older people can experience.

‘As they’ve known me for many years, they appreciate the spiritual side of what I do, so I run many groups like Cameo,’ says Lynette. ‘At one stage I wanted to meet more older neighbours, so I built up a list and now at Christmas and Easter I put together Good Neighbour parcels to cheer them up. They usually include food and other things, but I’ll always share the message of Christ.’

The scope of Lynette’s work changed significantly during the Covid-19 pandemic. In the lockdowns, she spent a lot of time on her own and had the opportunity to reflect on what it is like to be older and vulnerable.

‘I live by myself,’ she explains, ‘but usually every day is buzzing because I encounter people all the time.

‘The pandemic made me more aware of the pastoral needs of people – those who might appreciate a phone call or somebody to check up on them – and I got to know people a little better.’

Lynette also wanted to keep her prayer group together, so she started a newsletter.

‘Although Zoom has been a great gift during the pandemic, not everyone is IT savvy or can access it, so I started a newsletter. It’s been so successful that I have decided to keep it going. It is a good way of keeping in touch with people.’

Lynette says community chaplaincy is also an important prayer ministry.

‘I’m constantly being asked to pray for people. As I don’t drive, I walk around everywhere and very often people will stop me and we’ll chat.

‘During the lockdowns I couldn’t meet people in person, but many asked me to put their friends and family on the newsletter’s prayer list. It’s made me aware that pastorally there’s a great need, which I will continue to try and meet.’

Lynette finds that the most rewarding element of chaplaincy is having the opportunity to share with people where they are.

‘Everything I do is rooted in being God’s person where I am,’ she enthuses. ‘I usually take a little cross with me, and I always say wherever I place my cross becomes church in the community.’

She works mainly in the north of the city. People there are grateful for Lynette’s presence and respond favourably.

‘There is a lot of positive stuff,’ she reflects, ‘but there are also frustrations because I’m limited in what I can do with people and what I can do to help them. In those situations I leave it with the Lord and ask for his grace.’

Lynette says that, as long as God gives her the health and strength to continue doing what she does, she will keep going: ‘God is good and he has called me. I’m also incredibly grateful for The Salvation Army, which over the years has caught the vision and enabled me.’

Lynette Skutt

SHANELLE IS A FORMER EDITORIAL ASSISTANT WITH SALVATIONIST

How do we receive joy?

Matt Little continues a monthly series exploring the four questions used in The All Terrain Podcast

ALFONSO Cuarón’s 2006 film, Children of Men, imagines an apocalyptic world where two decades of unexplained human infertility has plunged a despairing world into anarchy. A fragile glimmer of hope arrives in the form of a refugee, Kee, who is discovered to be pregnant. Theo, a civil servant, is tasked with escorting her to safety in secret – no mean feat, particularly when the baby is born prematurely on the journey.

In a film peppered with the sounds of conflict, destruction and human suffering, the final scene stands out. (The following paragraphs contain spoilers for the movie.)

Theo, Kee, the hidden baby and dozens of others are stuck in a block of flats that is being bombed by military forces. The infant is woken by a nearby explosion and starts to cry. Surely the newly discovered child will now be taken, fought over, perhaps killed in envy. Instead, a woman starts singing. Others bow in awe, make the sign of the cross or smile at the miracle they are witnessing. They clear a path for the three to walk out of the building.

An angry armed soldier bursts into frame – but his fury dissipates as he recognises the wonder of the moment. A ceasefire is called. Instead of war and death, the sounds of new life permeate the chaos. Like a green shoot breaking through frozen, lifeless earth, unexpected joy transforms the moment.

MAKING TIME FOR JOY

The first two questions covered in this series relate to change and suffering – two uncomfortable elements of our discipleship journey that most of us would rather avoid. But the third question seems confusing. Why would anyone have difficulty receiving joy?