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Major Lynden Gibbs and Jo receive a Star Approved Community certificate from the charity’s representatives Emma and Lynn

meeting in the corps garden. We met for much-needed mutual support and socialising and the sun shone on us each week.

This activity – which was just one part of a weekly programme available to those in recovery in the area – continues to take place, with people meeting inside every week. Continuity is so important when you are on a recovery journey.

Some of those who attend are from our first Recovery Course, so we have been able to build on those friendships. Others have been affected by addiction – for example, losing their children to drugs – but want to help and support others. We chat about all sorts of things over coffee and treats. We celebrate success and encourage each other when we’re struggling and each session concludes with a positive thought, Bible verse and prayer.

We have been blessed to be part of the Steps to Active Recovery (Star) community pilot and have helped to mould the Star charity, set up by Emma Heath, our good friend and supporter who leads the recovery ministry in the Bournemouth area.

Star believes in transformation, bringing hope, building community, boosting confidence, being broad and being inclusive and so aligns with the Army’s mission.

From January to April this year, we were privileged to run the Star Life Course in person. The new, free course has been written by an experienced team and provides a holistic approach to recovery that considers body, mind and spirit.

We welcomed 22 guests over the 12 weeks and our team was a wonderful example of collaborative working between churches. We have all been encouraged by positive feedback.

Star wants to give churches and organisations the confidence to deliver recovery ministries safely, to equip and help churches in providing a recognised standard of support for those with – and those affected by – destructive habits and behaviours and to offer a unified community approach that helps break down fear and stigma.

Our plan is to continue and grow the current recovery ministry and put in place ongoing education and training for the corps and community centre to break the stigma around addiction and increase knowledge on how to support those affected by destructive habits.

In recent weeks we have met with Core Recovery Development Officer Major Lynden Gibbs (THQ) and we are looking forward to being part of the Army’s Core Recovery Church.

Recovery ministry is messy – we see people at their absolute lowest. But by showing them that we care, and that God wants the best for them, they can know that there is hope, that recovery is possible and that he can transform their lives. It is wonderful to see our friends moving forward on their journeys and to see just how far they’ve come.

As a Christian community, we have a role to play in supporting positive changes to people’s lives. We should never underestimate what God can do.

ANONYMOUS FEEDBACK

‘I used to get drunk and it caused me a lot of pain and suffering and screwed me up. Now I am eating and sleeping better. Also, my mind is clearer than it was. A lot of anger and turmoil has gone.’ ‘I have been given the tools. I am putting them into practice and feeling much healthier, choosing the right people to be around me. This course has opened my eyes to other people who have been through worse situations and have fully recovered.’

JO NOBLE-GRESTY

Winton

The Lord will provid

Captain Wendy Stanbury reminds us that God listens to his people

NUMBERS 11:4–35

IF we ever needed evidence that human nature has changed little over the past 3,000 years, the story of the Israelites in Numbers 11 is it. We pick up this story as the people of God are wandering the desert, having left Egypt many years before.

Throughout their wanderings, God has provided for his people, clearing a way through the Red Sea for them to leave their Egyptian oppressors, guiding them through the desert with a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night, and providing manna for them to eat – no mean feat.

By this point the Israelite population has grown to such an extent that it is like trying to feed the population of Birmingham on a daily basis. Nonetheless God faithfully gives his people what they needed.

QUESTIONS

What are you grateful for? How does God provide for your needs?

The first 10 chapters of Numbers are a generally positive account of obedience. However, as we come to chapter 11, there is a distinct change. The people rebel against Moses and God.

They are no longer content to eat the manna that miraculously appears each day. For 40 years, this grain-like substance was ground, like flour, and baked into loaves, providing a staple, if somewhat monotonous, diet. The disgruntled Israelites forget that manna was once described as the ‘grain of Heaven’ and the ‘bread of angels’ (Psalm 78:24 and 25). Instead they look back to the halcyon days of Egypt, when their diet was plentiful and varied.

As they discontentedly whine for the meat and wonderful food they ate in Egypt, the Israelites conveniently forget the harsh oppression of the slave owners and the merciless killing of their children.

QUESTION

Are we also in danger of looking back with rose-tinted glasses instead of seeing what God has provided for us, here and now?

It has often been said that misery loves company. What begins as the complaints of a few gains momentum until Moses finds himself inundated with wailing and whining people. Eventually it all becomes too much for him. The burden of carrying these unhappy, ungrateful people is so overwhelming that he finally breaks down and cries out in desperation to God: ‘I’ve had enough. Let me out of here’ (Numbers 11:15 The Message).

Through the week with Salvationist

– a devotional thought for each day

by Major Howard Webber

SUNDAY

O Jesus, Saviour, hear my cry,/ And all my need just now supply!/ New power I want, and strength and light,/ That I may conquer in the fight./ O let me have, where’er I go,/ Thy strength to conquer every foe! (SASB 779)

MONDAY

Lord, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy; in your faithfulness and righteousness come to my relief... Answer me quickly, Lord; my spirit fails... Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. (Psalm 143:1–8)

TUESDAY

Unto thee will I cry,/ Shepherd, hear my prayer!/ Poor and needy am I,/ Shepherd, hear my prayer!/ Deep is calling unto deep,/ Rugged are the heights, and steep;/ Guide my steps and keep;/ Hear, O hear my prayer!/ Hear, O hear my prayer!

(SASB 794)