From the editor’s desk
What is The Salvation Army? The Salvation Army is a Christian church and registered charity seeking to share the good news of Jesus and nurture committed followers of him. We also serve people without discrimination, care for creation and seek justice and reconciliation. We offer practical support and services in more than 700 centres throughout the UK. Go to salvationarmy.org.uk/find-a-church to find your nearest centre.
WHETHER or not truth – as the saying goes – is the first casualty of war, the truth is that people are surely the foremost casualties. People die. People are bereaved. People lose their whole way of life. When the Ukraine-Russia conflict broke out, the international leader of The Salvation Army, General Brian Peddle, urged people to ‘pray for faith and courage for every Christian’ living in the region, emphasising that The Salvation Army’s service to God ‘transcends national identity and crosses international borders without prejudice or discrimination’. He asked that there would be prayers ‘for the safety of those who are fleeing and for those who are already displaced’ and for ‘adequate hospitality from neighbour countries’. In an interview in this week’s War Cry, a member of The Salvation Army’s International Emergency Services gives a glimpse into how the church and charity has responded to the crisis. In the early days of the conflict, Captain Matthew Beatty travelled to the Polish-Ukrainian border, where he met some of the people fleeing. To help Salvation Army centres offer an adequate welcome, his team supplied cash vouchers that could be handed out to refugees as they started to rebuild their lives. He had another task: to get initial supplies into Lviv so that the Salvation Army church in the city could distribute food and other essentials to people there and farther afield. Not without difficulty, it was a task that succeeded. Other shipments of humanitarian aid followed. ‘The Salvation Army in Lviv is based in an apartment, and people go there for help,’ says Matthew, who has remained in contact with the church. ‘It has been handing out food and other stuff while the sirens have been going off and the town is smouldering from cruise missiles.’ On whatever side of whatever border, and in sometimes dark situations, The Salvation Army the War read is aiming to care for those in need, because it Cr ve y ’ u believes in the truth that God’s love endures and encompasses all people.
What is the War Cry? The Salvation Army first published a newspaper called the War Cry in London in December 1879, and we have continued to appear every week since then. Our name refers to our battle for people’s hearts and souls as we promote the positive impact of the Christian faith and The Salvation Army’s fight for greater social justice.
WAR CRY Issue No 7577
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Email: warcry@salvationarmy.org.uk The Salvation Army United Kingdom and Ireland Territory 101 Newington Causeway London SE1 6BN
CONTENTS
Tel: 0845 634 0101 Subscriptions: 01933 445445 (option 1, option 1) or email: subscriptions@satcol.org Founder: William Booth General: Brian Peddle Territorial Commander: Commissioner Anthony Cotterill Editor-in-Chief: Major Mal Davies
FEATURES
3 Published weekly by The Salvation Army © The Salvation Army United Kingdom and Ireland Territory ISSN 0043-0226 The Salvation Army Trust is a registered charity. The charity number in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is 214779, in Scotland SC009359 and in the Republic of Ireland CHY6399. Printed by CKN Print, Northampton, on sustainably sourced paper
Situations comedy Hypothetical explores the absurd
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Plot development A guide round a church garden
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Ukraine
Help for people fleeing and staying
INFO
10 Maternal truths
Black mums connect to share
Your local Salvation Army centre
their experiences
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2 • WAR CRY • 21 May 2022
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Editor: Andrew Stone, Major Deputy Editor: Philip Halcrow Production Editor: Ivan Radford Assistant Editor: Sarah Olowofoyeku Staff Writer: Emily Bright Staff Writer: Claire Brine Editorial Assistant: Linda McTurk Graphic Designer: Rodney Kingston Graphic Designer: Mark Knight
REGULARS 4
War Cry World
12 Team Talk 13 Now, There’s a Thought! 14 Puzzles 15 War Cry Kitchen Front-page picture: UKTV/SIMON WEBB