Salvationist - September 2014

Why Should Christians Care About Climate Change?

Beginner’s Band Plays a New Song in Peterview

The End of Privacy in the Digital Age

Salvationist The Voice of the Army

MEET THE NEW TERRITORIAL COMMANDER Commissioner Susan McMillan returns home with a global perspective

September 2014

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BOOTH BOUND 2014 In October, we set aside a special weekend for young Salvationists to visit our campus and experience what life as a Booth UC student is all about. From attending classes and participating in a service learning project (part of a Service Learning program unique to Booth UC) to exploring Winnipeg, enjoying the great food and shopping, and experiencing the culture – Booth Bound 2014 is an experience you don’t want to miss!

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Inside This Issue Cert no. XXX-XXX-XXXX

September 2014 Volume 9, Number 9 www.salvationist.ca E-mail: salvationist@can.salvationarmy.org

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Features 8 Mission as a Way of Life Cert no. XXX-XXX-XXXX

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Commissioner Susan McMillan brings a global perspective as Canada and Bermuda’s new territorial commander Interview by Giselle Randall Cert no. XXX-XXX-XXXX

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12 Taking Her Spirit Back

A First Nations mother finds healing through storytelling and faith

Departments 24 Cross Culture in God by Brianne Zelinsky PRODUCT LABELING GUIDE FOREST STEWARDSHIP COUNCIL 4 Editorial 25 Celebrate Community 14 Boundless 2015 Let There Be Light

by Geoff Moulton

Enrolments and Recognition, Tributes, Gazette, Calendar

5 Around the Territory 10 Talking It Over

29 Convictions Matter

Full Disclosure

by James Read and Aimee Patterson

16 World Watch

Triune God

by Major Ray Harris

30 Ties That Bind

Turn Over a New Leaf

by Major Kathie Chiu Cover photo: Timothy Cheng

17

As co-ordinator of the Army’s upcoming international congress, Lt-Colonel Eddie Hobgood shares what Salvationists can expect in London, England, next year Interview by Major Jane Kimberley

17 On the Bright Side

The Salvation Army’s Brighter Futures children’s sponsorship program offers hope and transforms lives by Major Donna Barthau

18 A New Song

A beginner’s band brings the next generation to Peterview Corps, N.L. by Kristin Ostensen

20 The Gathering Storm

18

Atmospheric scientist Katharine Hayhoe explains why climate change is a social justice issue that demands action now Interview by Kristin Ostensen

23 Passing the Baton Salvationist music teachers strike a chord with students

by Steve Pavey

Inside Faith & Friends Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

Alsha Wilson was focused on her law studies until a brush with blindness put her future at risk

Keeping His Grip on Life

Golfer Ben Crane has parlayed his good fortune into helping children around the world

The Organization Man

Larry Julian shows Christian business leaders how to live out their values

A Lesson in Hope

For at-risk schoolchildren in Regina, The Salvation Army helps keep hunger at bay

Share Your Faith When you finish reading Faith & Friends, FAITH & frıends pull it out and give it to someone who needs to hear about Beyond a Reasonable Christ’s life+ Doubt changing  power September 2014

faithandfriends.ca

Inspiration for Living

A frightening brush with blindness put Alsha Wilson’s law future at risk

SALVATION ARMY’S FREE LUNCHES GIVE HOPE TO REGINA SCHOOLKIDS

Putting a Face on Human Trafficking

Can Christianity and Capitalism Coexist?

Get More Salvationist Online There’s more to Salvationist than the printed page! /salvationistmagazine Like us on Facebook and get the latest updates and photos from our territory and beyond.

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world. Share your own updates and photos using the hashtag #SalvationArmy Visit salvationist.ca, our award-winning website, where you can add your comments and read web-exclusive articles

@Salvationist Follow us on Twitter for breaking news, photos and updates from around the Army Salvationist • September 2014 • 3

EDITORIAL

T

Let There Be Light

his summer I visited International Headquarters (IHQ) in London, England, for the first time. IHQ is perfectly located between St. Paul’s Cathedral and the Tate Modern art gallery. Over five million people pass its front door every year as they cross the Thames River via the Millennium Bridge.

The Army has occupied the same site since 1881. The first building was destroyed during the Blitz, replaced in 1963, then rebuilt again in 2004 after territorial headquarters moved to nearby Elephant and Castle.

When the new IHQ was completed, Jonathan Glancey of The Guardian wrote, “This crystal-clear, six-storey building is filled with light, purpose and a sense of modernity. It may seem at odds with the Victorian image of the Sally Army— all rattling tambourines, beribboned bonnets, martial flags and Dickensian Christmas streets—but it is the image that is at fault, not the building.”

IHQ’s design is indeed a great leap forward for our corporate image. The f loor-to-ceiling windows not only provide a fantastic view of the city, but also are deliberately designed to invite passersby into the space. The glass walls are etched with the gospel message: “Jesus said, ‘I am the light of the world.

Whoever follows me will have the light of life.’ ” Architect Martin Sagar notes that the goal was to “display the Army’s core values in three dimensions, design a building where transparency is the theme, where nearly half the space is dedicated to public interaction.”

Accordingly, the General’s office is not tucked out of sight on the upper floors. His desk sits on the first floor, exposed to the busiest intersection. He can look out; others can look in. It’s a bold statement, an image of transparency.

It’s the same transparency that General André Cox called for in July as Army leaders met in Singapore to discuss International Headquarters in London, England 4 • September 2014 • Salvationist

the Army’s future (see page 16). “Salvationists run the danger of putting up barriers today,” he says, “in order to ‘protect’ themselves from the world ‘out there.’ God, by contrast, wants to meet with people. He wants us … to be agents of change in this world where darkness and despair seem too evident.”

Commissioner Susan McMillan, our new territorial commander (see page 8) also believes in the necessity of engaging with a messy, broken world. In this month’s cover story, she shares how breaking down barriers begins by meeting people in their own space. In Latin America, she notes, many officers live in Army buildings in squatter settlements and slums. “That’s where the Army is, so that’s where our people are.”

Even as we move into the public space, we must never lose our connection to the source of our mission. The IHQ architects understood this. The chapel, which overhangs the street, is adorned with layers of bevelled glass. Angled toward the sky, they mirror the sunlight and passing clouds, letting in a little bit of heaven. The chapel is designed to glow a bright orange at night—a beacon for lost souls, a light in darkest England.

GEOFF MOULTON Editor-in-Chief

The Editorial Department thanks our summer intern, Brianne Zelinksy, for her excellent contributions and wishes her well as she returns to university.

Salvationist

is a monthly publication of The Salvation Army Canada and Bermuda Territory André Cox General Commissioner Susan McMillan Territorial Commander Lt-Colonel Jim Champ Secretary for Communications Geoff Moulton Editor-in-Chief Giselle Randall Features Editor (416-467-3185) Pamela Richardson News Editor, Production Co-ordinator, Copy Editor (416-422-6112) Kristin Ostensen Associate Editor and Staff Writer Timothy Cheng Senior Graphic Designer Brandon Laird Design and Media Specialist Ada Leung Circulation Co-ordinator Ken Ramstead, Brianne Zelinsky Contributors Agreement No. 40064794, ISSN 1718-5769.

Member, The Canadian Church Press. All Scripture references from the Holy Bible, Today’s New International Version (TNIV) © 2001, 2005 International Bible Society. Used by permission of International Bible Society.

All rights reserved worldwide. All articles are copyright The Salvation Army Canada and Bermuda Territory and can be reprinted only with written permission.

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Mission

The Salvation Army exists to share the love of Jesus Christ, meet human needs and be a transforming influence in the communities of our world. Salvationist informs readers about the mission and ministry of The Salvation Army in Canada and Bermuda. salvationist.ca salvationist@can.salvationarmy.org facebook.com/salvationistmagazine twitter.com/salvationist

AROUND THE TERRITORY

Staff Band Marks 45th Anniversary THE CANADIAN STAFF Band (CSB) held its 45th anniversary festival at Scarborough Citadel in Toronto this May. The group honoured its alumni members by featuring three former soloists and two former bandmasters.

Robert Venables and Robert Miller presented The Heavenly Light and The Better World, respectively, while Deryck Diffey, former member of the CSB, presented a beautiful arrangement of Someone Cares. Kevin Hayward, former bandmaster, conducted Brian Bowen’s My Comfort and Strength, and Colonel Robert Redhead, who led the band from 1976 to 1985, conducted the group in his own composition, Quintessence. Video greetings were given by Lt-Colonel Norman Bearcroft and Brian Burditt, two previous bandmasters who were unable to attend.

The program featured a wide variety of music including the premiere of a major new work, Judgment Day, by Canadian composer Marcus Venables, and a lighthearted rendition of the Gowans and Larsson song Down the Street, featuring Bill Way. A devotional message was

given by Colonel Mark Tillsley, chief secretary. Video presentations throughout the night honoured the memory of CSB alumni members now deceased, as well as members of the original Canadian Staff Band who perished in the Empress of Ireland disaster 100 years ago.

The Canadian Staff Band, with alumni

Pilley’s Island Proud to Celebrate 123 Years

“Rising Above” Conference Brings Healing

IT WAS WITH joy that the Pilley’s Island Corps, N.L., celebrated its 123rd anniversary in May with a weekend of events.

On Saturday evening, the corps met under the banner of Old Time Army, with readings from past issues of The War Cry (predecessor of Salvationist), followed by a time of fellowship and the cutting of the anniversary cake.

Major Calvin Fudge, area commander, Newfoundland and Labrador Division, and Major Loretta Fudge, community ministries director, Corner Brook Social Services, N.L., were guests for the weekend. Major Loretta Fudge challenged the corps with a message from Joshua, saying, “The way forward is a way of faith.” Major Calvin Fudge spoke from Colossians about Christ as the head of the church. Many seekers were moved to come forward to the altar.

MORE THAN 300 people gathered in Prince Rupert, B.C., in June for the Rising Above Healing Conference, organized

by The Salvation Army in partnership with the Rising Above Association and other local churches. The purpose of the four-day conference was to help First Nations peoples and all victims of abuse in their journey toward healing.

In particular, Rising Above addressed issues surrounding sexual abuse, suicide, self-esteem, grief and post-traumatic stress caused by the Canadian Indian residential school system. Using Scripture to bring hope to victims of this abuse, guest speakers at the conference encouraged participants as they attended workshops and counselling sessions and shared their stories.

The conference was made possible in part by a $25,000 grant from the Army’s Territorial Mission Focus Fund. Captains Gary and Nancy Sheils, corps officers at Prince Rupert Community Church, applied for the funding and approached the Rising Above Association, a Christian organization that reaches out to aboriginal people, about hosting the conference.

Captains Sheils see reaching out to the First Nations communities of northern British Columbia as a primary focus of their corps ministry. This conference was an opportunity to address issues that First Nations people face today.

“The conference was a catalyst,” says Captain Nancy Sheils.

“You can’t create that kind of healing in four days, but you can set a foundation to continue the journey.”

“I’m so thankful that The Salvation Army brought this to Prince Rupert,” says Inez Shanoss, a First Nations woman who participated in the conference. She shares her story in this issue of Salvationist (see page 12).

From left, Mjr Loretta Fudge; Mjr Josie Oxford, CO; CSM Doreen Payne; Stanford Colbourne; Mjr Lindsay Oxford, CO; and Mjr Calvin Fudge cut the anniversary cake

Salvationist • September 2014 • 5

AROUND THE TERRITORY

Bermuda Divisional Band Holds Festival

A SELECTION OF resources has been made available online ahead of The Salvation Army’s Annual Day of Prayer for Victims of Human Trafficking 2014. Sunday, September 28, 2014, has been set aside as this year’s day of prayer, when Salvation Army corps and centres around the world are encouraged to call on God, through focused prayer, to bring hope and freedom to the staggering number of people who are trafficked every year.

Even though more people are becoming aware of the issue, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reports that “people trafficking is the fastest-growing means by which people are enslaved, the fastest-growing international crime, and one of the largest sources of income for organized crime.” A report by the International Labour Organisation estimates that at least 44 percent of the 21 million people who are victims of forced labour worldwide have been trafficked.

This is the eighth year that a day has been specifically set aside by The Salvation Army to pray for the victims of trafficking. The Bible verse chosen as the theme for the 2014 day of prayer is Jesus’ words from John 10:10: “I have come that they may have life” (NIV).

A powerful array of resources—including a sermon, Bible study, poem, prayer ideas, PowerPoint presentations and information about The Salvation Army’s anti-trafficking ministry— can be accessed from a new anti-trafficking section of the International Headquarters (IHQ) website: www.salvationarmy. org/ihq/antitrafficking.

THE BERMUDA DIVISIONAL Band (BDB) held its 18th annual Spring Festival of Music at North Street Citadel in Hamilton, Bermuda, in May. With the theme Good Ol’ Army, the evening featured selections that captured the Army’s long history as a force for the salvation of souls. Commissioners Brian and Rosalie Peddle, then territorial leaders, were honoured guests at the event.

As people arrived, they were treated to a PowerPoint presentation on the history of the Army and the BDB, followed by the prelude Banners and Bonnets, during which several female band members sported bonnets, providing a glimpse into the past.

A vocal ensemble joined the band on several selections, as did the Hallelujah Lassies, a timbrel brigade led by Shonette Wilson. The Lassies provided a traditional drill to I’ll Go in the Strength of the Lord, as well as a contemporary presentation entitled Souled Out. Former BDB member Vanessa Gaiton offered a moving liturgical dance interpretation of People Need the Lord.

“For some, it was a spiritual awakening and, for others, it was a time of reflection and joyful praise,” says Warren W. Jones, divisional bandmaster. “Whatever their take-away, we are believing that God was glorified.”

Artwork by Berni Georges

Anti-Trafficking Prayer Resources Available

Deputy Bandmaster Jamel Bean sings Banners and Bonnets

for

Victims of Human Trafficking Sunday 28 September 2014

This poster is available to download from sar.my/doptraffick2014

AnnuAl DAy of prAyer

Vanessa Gaiton performs a liturgical dance 6 • September 2014 • Salvationist

AROUND THE TERRITORY

Summerside Celebrates Expansion THERE WAS CAUSE for celebration as The Salvation Army in Summerside, P.E.I., officially cut the ribbon on its renovated community and family services facility in June.

The renovations added more than 200 square metres of space to the facility, increasing the capacity of the soup kitchen, which serves 60 hot meals each day, five days a week. And with the added space, the Army’s community and family services and food bank are now under one roof.

“We are excited to see this work completed, and to show what we can now offer the residents of Prince County,” says Major Willis Drover, corps officer, Summerside Corps. “Increasing the size of our soup kitchen facilities will help us continue to meet the needs of our community, while bringing all of our services under one roof allows greater accessibility to all the services we offer.”

About 60 percent of the funding for the $900,000 project came from The Salvation Army, with the rest coming from individuals, businesses and the provincial government.

“Today is only possible thanks to the continued support of the community. Without their generosity, we would not be able to bring dignity and hope to those in need,” says Major Alison Cowling, divisional commander and divisional director of women’s ministries, Maritime Division.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony was led by Commissioner Brian Peddle, then territorial commander. “This soup kitchen brings hope to the community,” he said. “I want to thank the volunteers for their integral role for making a soup kitchen like this happen on a daily basis.”

Comr Brian Peddle plants a tree at the expanded Summerside facility

Mjr Alison Cowling speaks at the grand opening ceremony

Welcome Service & Official Installation of: Commissioner Susan McMillan Territorial Commander Officiated by

Commissioner William Roberts International Chief of the Staff

Commissioner Nancy Roberts

World Secretary for Women’s Ministries

Salvationist • September 2014 • 7

Mission as a Way of Life Commissioner Susan McMillan brings a global perspective as Canada and Bermuda’s new territorial commander

O

INTERVIEW BY GISELLE RANDALL, FEATURES EDITOR

n September 1, Commissioner Susan McMillan takes up responsibility as territorial commander for the Canada and Bermuda Territory. A Canadian by birth, she has served in various appointments around the world, most recently as territorial commander for the South America East Territory. In this interview, she shares about her spiritual journey, understanding of mission and vision for the Army.

Tell us about your background and calling.

My parents are officers, so the idea of officership was always there. After I finished school and started working, I visited Mexico on a holiday and I felt God calling me there. I attended training college and was sent to Mexico a few months after graduating, where I had to learn Spanish very quickly! I went on to complete a master of business administration and certified general accountant designation, and held appointments in Canada, Argentina, Chile and International Headquarters. Most recently, I have been the territorial commander and territorial president of women’s ministries for the South America East Territory (Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay).

You’ve lived and served in the developing world for many years.

How has this shaped your faith?

I couldn’t have been a leader in these years without relying on God completely.

South America is a beautiful place, but it can be a dangerous place, too. There have been many times over the years when I’ve known that the Lord protected us. I was travelling in Bolivia with some officers when we came across a protest on the highway. People were throwing dynamite at a bus in front of us, so we backed up and tried to go around by driving across a field in the dark of night. Suddenly a face appeared out of nowhere, and a young man said he knew the way. We decided to trust him and got through to safety.

8 • September 2014 • Salvationist

“I couldn’t have been a leader in these years without relying on God completely,” says Commissioner Susan McMillan

What impact has it had on your understanding of mission?

It has had tremendous impact. You learn that you have to depend on God. In South America, the social problems are acute—poverty, lack of services, discrimination, corruption—and our resources are limited. We don’t have the kind of support that you find in Canada, such as regular funding and large numbers of highly qualified personnel, so you have to rely more on God and your people. It means we need to be more grassroots, to understand what people are going through—not provide a menu of services, but rather be with the person and walk with them through their difficulties. Although we do have some social services with professionals—nurses, doctors and teachers—the main work is our officers and soldiers going out into their communities and caring for people.

It’s very much incarnational ministry.

Can you say a little more about incarnational ministry?

It means they are part of the community they serve. In Latin America, officers live in the Army’s buildings. Some are in the middle of a city, but others are in squatter settlements and slums. That’s where the Army is, so that’s where our people are. They don’t come in to work and then go home at night—they live in the community and do their best to reach out to that community.

Can you give us an example?

There’s a community clinic in a very poor neighbourhood in Paraguay, where the corps goes into the community to teach basic hygiene and nutrition. They don’t bring people to a building or project; they sit and talk with a circle of moms under a tree in somebody’s garden. Women are getting prenatal care, home births have decreased and the infant mortality rate has dropped markedly. Children are healthier. But it’s not because there’s a big hospital—it’s because of a small group of people who live in the community and live out their faith.

So the clinic and the corps work hand-in-hand.

Yes. It’s also known as integrated mission. Integrated mission isn’t a program; it’s a way of life. It’s how you be, not how you do—the understanding that we’re all in it together. It can be difficult to get the concept across in North America, where things are much more professionalized. But it’s really the concept the Army started with—“soup, soap and salvation,” holding together word and deed, evangelism and social action. It was that way from the very beginning.

How will this perspective inform your leadership?

I hope that it becomes more of a focus for us in North America. One thing I learned while serving overseas is that it’s not about us telling them how to do things— they already know how. Sometimes they get it really right in the developing world, and we need to look at what they’re doing.

We can learn a lot about integrated mission from South America.

Neighbourhood children perform a typical folk dance at the inauguration of a new building in the city of Asunción, Paraguay. The building includes a student residence, an educational support program for high-school students called Youth Space and an outpost called Rayito de Luz

How can the Army do a better job of integrated mission in Canada and Bermuda?

I’ve been away from the territory for 11 years, so I don’t think that’s a question I can answer until I get my feet on the ground and see where the territory is. I think it’s very positive that our territory has appointed an integrated mission secretary.

What is your vision for the Army?

I think we have all captured the international vision of One Army, One Mission, One Message. It doesn’t matter what we do, whether we work at a corps, a big social services centre, a thrift store or headquarters, we need to be focused on that vision, to get back to grassroots, doing what we do best— reaching out and helping to transform lives. And wherever we work, we need to be talking to people about Jesus, helping them have an encounter with him. That’s our main mission, what everything we do is aimed at. As our culture becomes more and more affluent and materialistic, people seem to see their need for God less and less. There’s an urgency to the call of the gospel.

What are the strengths of the Army in this territory?

I think the rest of the Army world looks to us for leadership in several areas. We

Visiting corps in the farming community of Axul Q’hocha, Bolivia

stayed on an even keel through the financial crisis of the last 10 years, when other territories were much more adversely affected. Our Ethics Centre is a valuable resource to the Army worldwide. Booth University College partners with many territories in the developing world to offer continuing education for officers.

What is your favourite way to relax?

I like to sew and do crafts. I’m always reading something, either a mystery or something to help prepare a sermon. I recently read Love—Right at the Heart by Commissioner Robert Street. The central message is really important—that you have to have love right in your heart and you have to be right in your heart, to fulfill the Army’s mission. It’s written for leaders, with discussion questions and suggestions for practical applications,

and we worked through it at several officers’ retreats.

Can you share something that makes you unique?

My family has a long history in the Army.

My mother’s grandfather was a doorkeeper in the Christian Mission, before William Booth changed the name to The Salvation Army. If somebody was rowdy or disruptive at a meeting, he put them out. My dad’s family has also been in the Army almost since the beginning. But you have to make your own way, your own history.

What do Salvationists in this territory need to know most about you?

I recognize I’ve been gone a long time, but I’m coming back to listen and understand.

Salvationist • September 2014 • 9

TALKING IT OVER

Full Disclosure

Photo: © Depositphotos.com/maxkabakov

Is privacy a thing of the past in the digital age?

In their Talking It Over series, Dr. James Read, director of The Salvation Army Ethics Centre in Winnipeg, and Dr. Aimee Patterson, Christian ethics consultant at the centre, dialogue about moral and ethical issues.

DEAR AIMEE,

I

saw the word “sexting” for the first time when I was in London, England, in 2008 for a meeting of the International Moral and Social Issues Council. It was in a story on the front page of one of those British tabloids. Headline-grabbing fluff, I thought.

A couple of days later, the picture on the front page of the same paper showed young stockbrokers exiting an office tower carrying boxes of their personal belongings. Lehman Brothers had collapsed and they were suddenly out of work.

So sad, I thought.

Six years ago, I had no inkling of the huge importance of either of these stories. And I didn’t connect them at the time.

But looking back, I see several common themes, one of them being privacy.

The collapse of the financial sector was partly about not enough disclosure of information. Investors had no way of assessing the real risks of bundled “securities.” It’s no surprise that I myself wouldn’t know a lot about sub-prime loans, but when my bank uses my savings to buy sub-prime loan derivatives, I expect them to know what they are doing.

10 • September 2014 • Salvationist

Sexting, on the other hand, seems to involve disclosing too much information. According to WebMD, 28 percent of American high-school youth have texted or e-mailed pictures of themselves naked and 70 percent of the girls had been asked to! What I thought was a quirky tabloid story in 2008 now makes me heartsick. Rehtaeh Parsons, a teenager in Nova Scotia, was sexted, cyberbullied and eventually committed suicide. Who can smirk at that?

Disclosure, privacy, cover-up, confidentiality. Lehman Brothers and Rehtaeh Parsons cry out for society-wide solutions. But it’s tough terrain to negotiate, don’t you find?

Grace and peace, JIM DEAR JIM,

T

he privacy concerns you’ve mentioned are both precipitous and sweeping in their range. And we haven’t even gotten to Edward Snowden!

I think the error comes when we apply similar standards for information disclosure to different kinds of relationships.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer once asked the question, “What does it mean to tell the truth?” His answer has more to do with the context and kinds of relationships involved than the particular words used.

Bonhoeffer reminds us that it is our parents who first ask us to be truthful. While we are young children, they demand

TALKING IT OVER that we tell them the truth—the literal truth. When I ask my child, “Did you steal that cookie?” I do not want him to reply, “Well, Mum, it depends on what you mean by ‘steal.’ ” But it is also perfectly normal and correct, Bonhoeffer argues, that the kind of literal truthfulness required of children is not always mirrored back from parent to child. Parents tell their children the truth in different ways. Sometimes it is told literally. But other times parents must reveal the world in a way appropriate to the child’s age and experience. Say I tell my child, “If you put your tooth under your pillow, the Tooth Fairy will leave you some money.” Am I telling him the truth? No. Not in terms of what one might call material reality. But I keep up the legend of the Tooth Fairy as a means of encouraging imagination, creativity and fun—things I think ought to be part of any child’s life.

So telling the truth means different things depending on who is doing the telling and who is doing the questioning, as well as the circumstances of the questioning. There comes a time when all kids “outgrow” the Tooth Fairy. But if I limited my kids to the strictures of material reality, I would only be offering them what Bonhoeffer calls “the appearance of truth.”

Hmm. The appearance of truth. That sounds an awful lot like what Lehman Brothers offered all of us prior to the 2008 stock market collapse.

Still, I know telling the truth isn’t very easy in the digital age. I want to offer my parents, who live thousands of kilometres away, photos of their grandchildren. I want them to be able to share them with their friends. I suppose I want to offer them the opportunity to really feel like grandparents, which is true to what they are. But I know that putting photos online creates multiple opportunities for our children’s lives to be exposed to the wrong people. What do you think? Am I being overcautious?

Grace and peace, AIMEE

How much control should I have over what “truth” is known about me?

How much say should I have over what truth is kept from me?

DEAR AIMEE,

I

don’t think it is simply a matter of caution. Of course, it is that. You have to be concerned about what harm your children could come to. But there is also the matter of control.

Who has a right to control what is revealed? Who determines how wide the circle of knowledge is?

What Bonhoeffer says is insightful. Thank you for that.

But it is not just the subtlety of what constitutes truth-telling that is at issue. In your illustration, you are the parent, and your child is your child. You get to decide how to disclose the truth about his tooth loss. You also get to decide how much he knows about your personal lives. He does not have the same options.

I think that gets at questions that are troubling a lot of us.

How much control should I have over what “truth” (material or imaginative) is known about me? How much say should I have over what truth is kept from me?

The Book of Common Prayer contains this great prayer: “Almighty God, to whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hidden….” Sometimes the thought of God’s omniscience takes my breath away. God knows it all. God can see it all. Nothing, absolutely nothing, is hidden from God. What fools Adam and Eve were to think they could hide. No one can control what God knows.

These are not always comforting thoughts. It is only the realization that God is love that allays my fright of God’s information access.

I have no similar expectation that the police or Facebook users or government databanks or credit-card companies love me. Which is one reason I am fearful and angry at what they can know about me without my even knowing they know.

And it is one reason I am happy to see courts and legislators imposing limits. Have you been following that?

Grace and peace, JIM DEAR JIM,

A

mong the number of recent privacy rulings, the most interesting to me is the “right to be forgotten” law enacted by the European Union. Essentially, people can make a claim to have information about them removed from Internet search-engine results if that information is “inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant.” As the media report it, what the law really ensures is that people will be able to avoid embarrassing episodes of their past. None of those three criteria would necessarily have helped Rehtaeh Parsons. Yet if anyone deserved to have her digital life erased, it was Rehtaeh.

There’s a host of reasons to regard this law as a feeble attempt to keep up with technology and privacy issues. As Google slowly begins following up on information removal requests, the ruling has prompted the response, “Are we rewriting history?”

In reading your response, my thoughts went to the Johannine stories of Jesus’ encounters with the Samaritan woman (see John 4:1-42) and the adulterous woman about to be stoned by religious leaders (see John 8:1-11). In both cases, Jesus knows all about their sinful histories. He is both loving and forgiving. But he doesn’t rewrite their histories. Rather, Scripture conveys that their histories no longer matter.

I also thought of Paul. He recounts his own sins and calls himself the most sinful of all. He doesn’t need a right to be forgotten. What matters to him is that Jesus showed him mercy and allowed him to be an example for others who would seek eternal life.

It’s probably misleading to think of Christian saints as people who were so close to God that they lived near-perfect lives, needing very little to be struck from their records. In a world with data protection laws that don’t have a preferential option for the exploited, I’m not certain ordinary people like Parsons will ever escape their virtual identities. But perhaps the church can learn better purposes for technology use.

Material for another discussion?

Grace and peace, AIMEE Salvationist • September 2014 • 11

A First Nations mother finds healing through storytelling and faith in God

BY BRIANNE ZELINSKY, STAFF WRITER

I

t was a day Inez Shanoss would never forget. Shanoss was just 13 when she was taken from her home on the First Nations reserve, along with many other Aboriginal children from British Columbia’s Nisga’a Valley and the surrounding communities. She stared out the bus window and watched in terror as the buses departed, leaving behind an entire community of helpless, weeping parents. Her final destination was a government boarding school, where years of traumatic events left her with deep emotional scars.

It was a long time before Shanoss, who attends the Salvation Army church in Prince Rupert, B.C., took her first steps toward healing. “I can’t see any other way but through prayer and asking God to help me, and trusting and believing that it’s going to happen,” she says.

A Long Way from Home After leaving the reserve, Shanoss was first taken to Prince Rupert. “I was brought to a hairdresser and got my long, black hair chopped off to my ears,” she recalls. “They ripped out all of my top teeth and stuffed my mouth with gauze. I didn’t look like who I was anymore.” In just hours, Shanoss was stripped of her smile, innocence, culture and family.

Ill-equipped for the journey and paralyzed by the agony of undergoing an oral procedure without proper care, Shanoss was crammed into one of ten buses and transported to a boarding school in Surrey, B.C., where she lived from 1970 to 1975.

“It was far away and I only came home once a year in the summer and sometimes during Christmas,” Shanoss says.

“They were inhumane to the First Nations children and families of that era.”

12 • September 2014 • Salvationist

Much like the Indian residential schools, some boarding schools attempted to assimilate First Nations children into Canadian culture by forbidding their native language, religious practices and cultural values. “I lost my language, my culture and who I was. I lost my spirit. I lost my identity,” Shanoss laments.

At these boarding homes, some students faced physical, sexual and emotional abuse at the hands of those in charge.

“It’s really terrible how trauma continued to debilitate me. I Inez Shanoss lost my talking, walking and mobility,” says Shanoss, who still struggles to discuss her boarding school experience.

From Trauma to Turning Point In the wake of the traumatizing events she faced away from home, Shanoss developed post-traumatic stress disorder. Loud sounds triggered terrible memories from her teen years, putting her in a constant state of anxiety. “When people raised their voices or if somebody was angry, it made me anxious and I would literally taste blood in my mouth,” she shares.

“I used to get sick every August for about 35 years, not knowing why I wanted to throw up and get sick all the time,” Shanoss continues. “It was because my body and mind were unknow-

Photo: © iStock.com/artticnew

Taking Her Spirit Back

ingly preparing me for leaving in September. It was a trigger.”

This fear prevented her from going back to school for nearly three decades. But Shanoss eventually completed high school with a smile on her face, and as valedictorian, she spoke on behalf of her graduating class. “It was pretty awesome to have reached that point and bloom into who I could have been and should have been,” she says. “I got my voice back.”

Shanoss went on to attend Northwest Community College where she was chosen as a representative for a Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) meeting in Ottawa. It was there that she first told her story in public. In front of a large audience, Shanoss reached her arm in the air and clasped her hand tight. As she drew her fist toward her heart, she declared, “I take my spirit back that the government took from me.”

That moment was a turning point, after which Shanoss began to reach out to other residential school survivors who did not know how to deal with their pain. “I opened myself up to talk with them and listen to them. I started going to workshops because I wanted to know what I could do and how I could help them,” she says. “It was amazing to know that my story could help others.”

Spiritual Journey In 2007, Shanoss’ journey toward healing took on a spiritual dimension as she started attending Prince Rupert Community Church.

“Counsellors were minimal in Prince Rupert, so I started going to church,” she recalls. “It’s by the grace of God that I have Christian counselling and that’s what has pulled me through to today.”

At the church, Shanoss received encouragement from her corps officers, church family, Aboriginal outreach initiatives, counselling programs and Bible studies. “Praying about it every day with the help of the corps officers made a big difference,” she says.

The Salvation Army was also where her children, Adam, Caitlin and Norman, came to know Christ. “All three of my children went to the Army’s Camp Mountainview in Houston, B.C., and that’s where they gave their hearts to the Lord,” she shares.

A Healing Family Despite the progress she’d made in her own spiritual journey, Shanoss was concerned that her family was still carrying the pain of past events. “It must have been traumatizing for my parents to lose their children,” she says. She wanted to do something to bring peace to her family.

When Prime Minister Stephen Harper officially apologized to the former students of Indian residential schools in 2008, Shanoss was determined to get recognition for boarding school survivors as well through her connections with the CFS. “Before my beloved mom, Flora Haldane, died, the CFS put it in their policy that they would recognize boarding school survivors along with residential school survivors,” she says.

“I felt like I had made history.”

Shanoss, a single mother, was also concerned with how her boarding school experiences affected her children. “The unfortunate part is when I was physically and emotionally sick, they took care of me,” says Shanoss. “I had to go on the healing journey so I could be a good mother for them—to be strong and enable them to be strong.

“That’s why they call it a generational curse,” she continues.

“It didn’t just affect my parents; it affected me and my children because of the kind of parent I was. It has only been in the past few years that I have taken each of my children aside and apologized to them. As a family we have come a long way.”

But on December 29, 2013, Shanoss and her family faced tragedy again when her eldest son, Adam, died suddenly in a car accident. He had been missing for a week when he was found in a river, where he remained strapped in his car’s seatbelt.

“I thank God every waking moment that he was brought home,” she says. “Not the way I wanted, but I thank God that he was taken out of that water and we were able to put him to rest.” It was a devastating loss for the family, one that has challenged Shanoss to rely on God more than ever before.

“God is the rock of my salvation and on earth my children are my rock,” she says.

Leaning on God In the months following Adam’s death, Shanoss never expected a miracle to happen. But this past June, her family took another step toward healing when Shanoss’ sister, Dena, attended Rising Above, a Christian conference for the survivors of the Indian residential schools. The conference was hosted by The Salvation Army, in partnership with the Rising Above Association.

It was there that Dena renewed her faith and recommitted her life to healing in Christ. “I am no longer going to be worrying that she’s left behind because she’s praying to God and gaining so much faith,” beams Shanoss. “Rising Above opened doors of hope.”

Her brother, Maynard, was also involved in the conference as a member of the planning committee. “I thank God for blessing us with a praying mother who taught us to pray about everything,” Shanoss says. “My family is now a praying family and we thank God together.”

Although the sting of her past still lingers, Shanoss walks in faith toward a brighter future of loving her family, ministering to others and fighting for the restoration of the First Nations people.

“I have become a stronger person, which has made me want to help women become survivors,” Shanoss says. “A lot of people have gone home and reunited with their families because of my story. I find that very rewarding.

“It’s a tremendous amount of leaning on God every day,” she concludes, “but I’m awake again.”

The Salvation Army London Village 60th Anniversary Open House Friday, September 12, 2014 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

1340 Dundas St. E., London ON If you have a special connection to this London landmark (former resident, staff or family, etc.), we would love to have you join us and hear your stories.

Web: www.SalvationArmy.ca/ong • Facebook: TSAOntarioGreatLakes • Twitter: @TSALondon Salvationist • September 2014 • 13

Major Jane Kimberley, editor of Salvationist magazine in the United Kingdom Territory with the Republic of Ireland, speaks to the co-ordinator of the Army’s international congress, Lt-Colonel Eddie Hobgood, about what to expect at the event in London, England, next year Lt-Col Eddie Hobgood is the co-ordinator of the Boundless Congress

How’s the planning going for Boundless?

There’s a buzz starting to generate with more activity in the congress mailbox and more traffic on the website. In the past few months, the performance groups have been selected and notified. We are now waiting for their responses.

Every kind of variety that you can think of in The Salvation Army is going to be reflected at the congress. One of the things that General André Cox (The Salvation Army’s world leader) has said to the groups is we don’t want you to come and be a clone of the International Staff Band or International Staff Songsters, as wonderful as they are.

We want you to be true to your culture.

So, whatever the music, whatever the dress—not everyone needs to be in navy blue!—we want to see the colours of your country, a truly international Salvation Army. When we march down The Mall (a main thoroughfare running towards Buckingham Palace), we want the world to see how diverse the Army is.

14 • September 2014 • Salvationist

Tell me more about this march down The Mall.

I know that a lot of people in the United Kingdom will have been at ISB120, the International Staff Band’s 120th anniversary, and the 1990 congress. I’ve seen video footage of both of those and they looked absolutely extraordinary.

Thousands of Salvationists and friends lined The Mall cheering and applauding as they saw and heard the bands. It’s going to be that kind of thing because most of the delegates will be there, with thousands of tourists as well.

What about the history of the Army?

All the programs will have bits and pieces of history, but it’s not going to be an observance only of the past. Our buzz words are “commemorate the past, celebrate what God’s doing today and innovate for tomorrow.” In the exhibition hall, there will be a magnificent historical display, which we’re calling the Boundless Experience. It will be a significant creation as you walk through 150 years of Salvation Army history. We

are in the process of partnering with Getty Images—they’ve uncovered some images we don’t believe anybody has seen in more than a hundred years. They have shown us some amazing photographs that have just knocked our socks off! In the afternoons, we are going to be doing East End and Abney Park tours.

We are going to train some guides for the walkabouts, so history will be a significant part of the five days.

Can you give us a little taste of what we might expect?

Imagine an arena filled with 16,000 people and, at one end, a giant wall of video screens. We want to say we’re in the 21st century and technology has advanced so much since the last congress. The screens will be able to change to reflect what the speaker is saying so you can see and hear what’s happening.

We’re hoping to have quite a few massed groups. Can you picture the arena filled with 500 timbrellists or a youth chorus of 750? With technology we are able to teach people all over the world a song;

The O2 Arena in London, England, will welcome 16,000 Salvationists for international congress events

they would then come together for one rehearsal and sing like they’ve been singing together for a year. Another thought is that for one of our congregational songs, we would pre-record a soundtrack and then you could go to a place on the website and record yourself singing all the verses of that song in your native tongue, so that when we’re singing it in the arena—if you can’t come to the congress—you can still be represented there in hundreds of squares on a screen.

Among those hundreds of squares will be large ones of people we have Skyped in live to sing along as well—and so the whole Army world will be singing together. Through webcasts, two million Salvationists around the world will be able to experience congress as we’re experiencing it.

What do you think William Booth would have made of all this?

I believe William Booth would have embraced technology years before we have. He would have utilized it in every meeting just as he used the technol-

ogy of his day in his car tours (of the United Kingdom)—that was cutting edge. I believe he would be saying to Salvationists, use the technology for the glory of God—reach people. I think he would be dancing a jig at this congress.

What about people who say, “Why do we need a congress?”

I remember the first planning meeting we had with General Linda Bond (Rtd).

She said, “I believe this is something that God wants us to do. As far as The Salvation Army is concerned, this needs to be our alabaster box that we break and give to the Lord to show him our gratitude for what he has done, what he is doing and what he will do with The Salvation Army and the impact it’s made on the world during the past 150 years.”

Congresses on any scale are expensive, but I don’t think you can calculate the benefits. If you come from a small corps you don’t always realize that you are part of something so much bigger. Then you hear how God has moved in people’s lives and how he’s touched them and

transformed them. God spoke to them in that bigger setting like he would not have spoken to them anywhere else. We believe the same is going to happen here and that God is going to reinvigorate the Army and place callings on people’s lives.

I am trusting for amazing outcomes.

Why would you encourage Salvationists to attend Boundless?

There have only ever been seven international congresses in our 150-year history. While there was a congress 14 years ago in Atlanta, Georgia, there is no guarantee there will be another international congress in the foreseeable future. These events are historic and bring the Army together in a way that is unparalleled. There are Salvationists spread right around the world and many of them are serving in small to mediumsize corps and centres. This congress will open all of our eyes to the internationalism of The Salvation Army like never before and help us see that we are part of a family that is almost two million strong.

Salvationist • September 2014 • 15

WORLD WATCH

ICL Meets in Singapore

Global leadership team grapples with urgent issues at international conference

General André Cox and Commissioner Silvia Cox welcome a delegate to the ICL

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he Salvation Army’s global leadership team met in Singapore July 19-26 for the International Conference of Leaders (ICL), under the direction of General André Cox and Commissioner Silvia Cox, World President of Women’s Ministries. The conference was attended by leaders of the Army’s 59 territories, commands and regions from around the world, commissioners serving at International Headquarters (IHQ), the U.S.A. national leaders and six incoming leaders who took up new territorial or command appointments following the ICL. The denominational and societal trends and issues considered by the ICL were adherent membership, leadership development, lifestyle issues, impact measurement and accountability.

On Sunday, July 20, delegates took part in a public welcome meeting at Singapore Central Corps, which was streamed live through IHQ’s website (video available at sar.my/2014icl).

The General and Commissioner Cox were marched into the hall by the 16 • September 2014 • Salvationist

which were recorded for review and follow-up action by the International Management Council.

Members of the International Doctrine Council and International Moral and Social Issues Council joined delegates on Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss lifestyle issues facing the church today. Tuesday’s afternoon session focused on the new One Army teaching resources produced by IHQ to help Salvationists have a better shared understanding of faith in the 21st century (visit sar.my/onearmy for details).

Commissioner Robert Street, who is devising and producing the materials, encouraged delegates to engage with the material and promote its use across the Army world.

The General’s One Army Impact Initiative was the focus for Thursday and Friday. The international leader told delegates that accountability and impact measurement could not be separated and that they align with his vision for the Army in the 21st century. Friday’s breakout groups discussed accountability in three specific areas: people, programs, and money and assets.

In the final plenary session, the General expressed thanks to the leaders and assured them that conversation would continue through forums such as the General’s Consultative Council, Zonal Conferences, International Doctrine Council, and Moral and Social Issues Council.

Gracehaven Percussion Parade, a group of young drummers who set an energetic tone for the gathering. During the meeting, the General fielded questions in an “Ask the General” segment, which was personal, informative and engaging.

The next day, delegates convened as Commissioner Birgitte Brekke-Clifton, international secretary for Europe, spoke about adherent membership, and Commissioner William Cochrane, international secretary to the Chief of the Staff, delivered a paper on leadership development.

Following each presentation, the global leaders broke i nto d i s c u s sion groups and then reconvened to share their outcomes and recommendations, Leaders engage in conversation during their time in Singapore

On the Bright Side The Salvation Army’s Brighter Futures children’s sponsorship program offers hope and transforms lives

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BY MAJOR DONNA BARTHAU

aamid was born blind, to a poor mother in a poor country. With no other source of income, they made their living begging on the streets. When The Salvation Army told Haamid’s mother about a school where he could live and study, she was hesitant but eventually agreed that he could attend. The Integrated Children’s Centre in Savar, Bangladesh, is a primary school for children in the community, as well as a residential program for blind boys and orphaned or vulnerable girls, like Nirani. Nirani’s family couldn’t afford school fees, and she had little hope of ever learning to read or write.

Today, Haamid is nine years old, happy and confident, preparing for a future of independence and dignity.

Nirani just passed the government’s secondary school examinations with an A+. Haamid and Nirani are two of thousands of vulnerable children who have been helped by The Salvation Army’s Brighter Futures program, a community-based approach to children’s sponsorship.

Sponsorship funding provides access to education by assisting with school fees, books, uniforms and other essential equipment. Through daycare, early childhood education and after-school programs, children have a safe environment while their parents are working.

Orphaned, disabled and poor children are given a place to live, learn and grow in children’s homes, with medical treatment and special attention to their social and spiritual care. Sponsorship funding also offers the opportunity for life and skills training by providing materials and equipment.

Long-term Impact Moses, a quiet teen from Kenya, was born with severe clubfoot. Through help from a Salvation Army centre, a visiting surgeon operated on his feet and he learned carpentry. At his graduation

where she received food and clothing, education and health care, encouragement and spiritual support. Along with her officer husband, she now helps other vulnerable children as the director of a children’s home.

In Brazil, parents came to plead with The Salvation Army to provide social protection and educational assistance for their children and teens. What started as a small Sunday school is now an

Children at the Integrated Children’s Centre in Savar, Bangladesh

ceremony, Moses walked up to receive his trade certificate and now has the skills he needs to help his family.

Grace, a Salvation Army officer in Indonesia, grew up in a children’s home

Give children a brighter future.

Become a sponsorship donor. You don’t need to belong to The Salvation Army, you just need a desire to help. You can donate on your own or with your family, church/corps or business. Sponsorship is $300 per year and can be paid annually, semi-annually, quarterly or monthly.

You can send a cheque or arrange automatic withdrawals. Visit www. saworldmissions.ca or call 416422-6224 to join our sponsorship program.

active community program that provides health and educational support, skills training and social protection from drugs, gangs, violence, prostitution and trafficking. Parents meet monthly and teens are finishing high school and finding jobs.

Children assisted by the sponsorship program have become successful teachers, nurses, doctors, trade specialists, lawyers, government officials and even presidents. Through your support, The Salvation Army Brighter Futures children’s sponsorship program is making a difference in the lives of vulnerable children, families and communities around the world.

Major Donna Barthau is the world missions sponsorship co-ordinator. She and her husband, Bill, have served overseas in Kenya, Nigeria, Czech Republic and Indonesia. Major Barthau has worked as a teacher, youth leader, corps officer and chaplain, as well as in agricultural and community-based development.

Salvationist • September 2014 • 17

Photos: Kristin Ostensen

Chloe Elliott is learning to play cornet at the Peterview Corps beginner’s band

A New Song

A beginner’s band brings the next generation to Peterview Corps, N.L.

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s a small town of just 800 people, Peterview, N.L., did not have much in the way of musical programming for children. Until they reached high school, most children would not have any opportunity to learn a brass instrument or play in a band.

Seeing a chance to fill a need and reach out to the community, Captain Duane Colbourne, corps officer, and band member Rodey Burt developed a plan and the Peterview Corps beginner’s band was born.

First Things First The beginner’s band, which launched 18 • September 2014 • Salvationist

BY KRISTIN OSTENSEN, STAFF WRITER in October 2013, meets on Tuesday evenings and brings together about 15 children aged seven to 13. The band includes a mix of cornets, horns, baritones and tubas, as well as percussion, and they hope to add bells this year. The corps received start-up funds from the Territorial Mission Focus Fund, which enabled them to purchase instruments so that every child who wanted to participate in the program would be able to do so.

Captain Colbourne and Burt, who leads the band, hope to expand the band this year, building on previous successes with children in the community. When the corps held a rally day after Captain

Colbourne and his wife, Captain Doreen Colbourne, were appointed to Peterview in 2011, 150 children came.

“We’re still only scratching the surface of what’s out there,” Captain Duane Colbourne says. “We see a lot of children in the community who are unchurched, so there’s a lot of potential.”

The corps also has a successful Pioneers program, which brings around 45 children to the corps on Monday evenings. It was through Pioneers and past experience with the church’s Sunday school that Chloe Elliott joined the band.

“I like music and I really want to learn how to play different instruments,” says nine-year-old Chloe, who plays

cornet in the band. “I’ve learned a lot of different notes that I didn’t know before.”

The band is learning from the Army’s First Things First book, which includes simple songs such as The B.I.B.L.E. and Jesus Loves Me. Burt brings significant experience to the band, having been bandmaster at Peterview Corps for 25 years. Clarence Vineham, the current bandmaster, also assists with the beginner’s band.

“Rodey has the ear for it,” says Bobbi Elliott, Chloe’s mother. “He can tell if someone is struggling and he’ll say, ‘Don’t worry if you’re not getting it. Let’s figure out what the problem is and go from there.’ ” Also helping with the band are a group of five to seven volunteers who are members of the senior band or parents of the beginners. For Bobbi, who volunteered with the program last year, seeing the children improve is very rewarding.

“It’s definitely an experience to see them with their instruments the first few times—not sure how to hold them, what to do with them—but they’ve come a long way,” she smiles.

Family Ties Getting parents involved is one of the program’s goals.

“If a young person is involved in something at the corps, their mom and dad are going to come and see what’s happening,” says Burt.

The Peterview Corps beginner’s band

“By bringing the younger ones in we’re praying that parents will realize where they were at one time,” adds Captain Colbourne. “A lot of them grew up in church—some of them even played in the band—but they don’t come anymore.

“Ultimately, the purpose of the band is to reach out to the community and help them realize that this is more than just a building,” he continues. “It’s a place that they can come and worship and have a relationship with the Lord.”

One way Captain Colbourne and Burt try to encourage the families to attend church is by having the beginner’s band participate in the Sunday service. So far, the band has had one performance.

“Parents were talking about it afterward and they were asking when we were going to do it again,” says Burt.

“It was really cool,” says 10-year-old Kimberley Burt, who attends the corps with her grandfather. “Some of the other kids get to play in the church band all the time, so it made me want to come up on the stage and play, too.”

As part of the beginner’s band, Kimberley plays baritone, but she is also learning to play piano and accordion.

“I like being in the band because it helps me a lot in music,” she says. “I really didn’t understand music in school and it helps me understand notes and stuff.”

As well as being part of the beginner’s band, Kimberley volunteers in the nursery during the Sunday services.

The corps, and the beginner’s band in particular, has been an important community for K imberley, who moved to Peterview from Grand Prairie, Alta., two years ago.

“We’re re ally busy and she’s by herself a lot of time, so she doesn’t get to interact a whole lot with other kids,” explains Cindi Burt, her mother. Since joining the band, Kimberley has made new friends and sometimes practises with other children

New to Peterview, Kimberley Burt and her mother, Cindi, have found a community at the corps

from the band outside of their Tuesday night rehearsals.

“They were really loud, but it was good,” Cindi smiles.

Kimberley has also felt welcomed in practical ways.

“When I came here on the first day of practices, they noticed that it’s hard for me to play because my feet are way up high when I get on the big chairs,” she explains, “and so they asked me if I wanted a smaller chair.”

“Now they have the chair ready for her every time she comes,” Cindi adds.

“It’s the little things that make a difference.”

Keeping the Faith Rodey Burt hopes that the beginner’s band will eventually act as a feeder program to bring more youth into the senior band.

“You’ve got to have something for kids to be involved in, and if your band is going to keep rolling, you’ve got to have the younger ones,” he says. “If we don’t include the youth, they start dwindling very quickly.”

“We know the beginner’s band is having an impact on the children because of the enthusiasm that a lot of them have,” says Captain Colbourne. “They’re doing marvelous with the music and they’re enjoying it.

“They’re learning and having fun in the process,” he concludes, “and we’re pointing them to our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.”

Salvationist • September 2014 • 19

Atmospheric scientist Dr. Katharine Hayhoe explains why climate change is a social justice issue that demands action now INTERVIEW BY KRISTIN OSTENSEN, ASSOCIATE EDITOR

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s an atmospheric scientist, Dr. Katharine Hayhoe has an impressive resumé. She’s the director of the climate science centre at Texas Tech University, a lead author for the U.S. government’s 2014 Third U.S. National Climate Assessment, and she was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most-influential people of 2014. Hayhoe is also an evangelical Christian who is committed to educating others about the urgent need for action in response to climate change. She spoke to Salvationist from her office in Lubbock, Texas.

As an atmospheric scientist, what do you do? What is the focus of your research?

I study what climate change means to us in the places where we live. So often we think of climate change as this distant issue—that it’s about the polar bears or the people in Africa—but I study how climate change affects us if we live in Toronto or Texas, whatever part of the world we live in.

You were born in Toronto but you moved to Colombia when you were nine years old as your parents became missionaries. How did that experience affect you?

That was a life-altering experience in many ways, and one of the biggest ways was seeing how vulnerable we can be 20 • September 2014 • Salvationist

to the natural environment. Climate change is increasing the risk of a lot of the extreme events that we are already experiencing today. It’s making floods more frequent. It’s making coastal storms and hurricanes stronger. So to actually know people and see with my own eyes the destructive power of these events really brought home why this matters.

Often, climate change is seen as a planet issue or a creation care issue, but I really think of it as a people issue because we’re the ones who are suffering the most from it. Not “we,” living our nice, insulated lives as middle-class citizens in North America. It’s many of our brothers and sisters who are not so fortunate, who we, as Christians, are told to care for. They don’t have the resources that we do, and these are the people who are being affected.

Looking around the world, where have we seen and where will we see the greatest impacts of climate change?

The magnitude of the impact depends on three things. It depends on how much change you’re seeing, what kind of change you’re seeing and how vulnerable people are. You could have the same event hit a city in North America, where social services and infrastructure are available, and the impacts would be much smaller than in a place that doesn’t have that. With events like flooding

or sea-level rise, if you have a highly developed population along the coast— especially in Southeast Asia and Latin America, for example—you’re going to see big impacts because you have a combination of lots of people, vulnerable populations and rapid changes (see Figures 1 and 2).

There is a stereotype that Christians aren’t interested in science. What led you into this field?

My father is a science educator. He just retired recently as the science coordinator for the Toronto District School Board, and he’s now a professor training science teachers at Tyndale University College and Seminary. So I grew up with the idea that science is the most fascinating thing you could possibly study in the entire world! I also grew up with the idea that in studying science, we’re studying what God was thinking when he set up the planet. My dad has this tremendous innate sense of wonder and awe at God’s creation and he did a fantastic job of communicating that to me and my sisters. So I was preconditioned to see science as an extension of my faith, as well as just my interest in the world.

You’ve been called a climate change evangelist because you speak about the reality of climate change to Christians, many of whom, in the United States at least, don’t think it’s

Photo: © iStock.com/sharply_done

The Gathering Storm

happening, and may even be hostile to scientists like yourself who say it is. Why have you taken on this role?

First, in the United States—and to a lesser extent in Canada—people in the Christian community have been targeted with false information, and I feel like somebody needs to tell people the truth.

Second, climate change is an issue of justice and of loving people, especially people who are poor, who don’t have the advantages that we do. I believe that loving others as Christ loved us means doing something about climate change today. It is not loving for us to bury our heads in the sand or, even more scary, in a sea of oil.

When it comes to environmental issues, Christians often quote Genesis 1:28, which talks about subduing the earth—actually, a lot of translations say “rule over.” In your view, what does this verse mean?

Well, what characterizes a good ruler? A good ruler is not somebody who abuses their property, uses it all up or turns it into garbage. A good ruler is someone who stewards, who care-takes, who takes responsibility for the welfare of what they’ve been entrusted with.

As Christians, Jesus is God’s gift to us to give us spiritual life, but the earth is God’s gift to us to give us physical life.

We wouldn’t be alive here if it wasn’t for this amazing earth that we have. If we treat it like garbage, what does that say about our perspective of the Creator?

It seems like there’s a real contradiction, if you consider that we’re created in the image of God and should mirror his attitude toward creation.

Exactly. There are so many wonderful verses about how God takes pleasure in creation, and there’s so much guidance on what our perspective should be that I don’t think anybody has a leg to stand on using the Bible to say we shouldn’t care.

What are the main principles that should guide Christians when we’re making decisions about how to respond to climate change?

All of us—not just Christians—we rarely have the luxury of making decisions for only one reason. We are constantly juggling our finances, time and resources, and there are always trade-offs. The first thing to do is not to fall under the trap of green guilt—of feeling like we’re a

“Often, climate change is seen as a planet issue or a creation care issue, but I really think of it as a people issue because we’re the ones who are suffering the most from it,” says Dr. Katharine Hayhoe

People in the Christian community have been targeted with false information, and I feel like somebody needs to tell people the truth terrible person because we’re not doing everything we’d like to do. We have to forgive ourselves. As Christians, we are so fortunate because God has already forgiven us for everything we’ve done, but we’re often so hard on ourselves because we know all of the things we should be doing and we feel like we’re not doing them.

With this issue of climate change, it should be love that’s motivating us, not guilt. So how does that love express itself? It might be buying LED light bulbs the next time you go to the store. It might be giving money to an organization that works with people who are being impacted by climate change. It might be hooking up with an organization like the Citizens’ Climate Lobby, which is a true grassroots organization of ordinary people who get together and help each other figure out how to write letters to the government, how to set up meetings with our elected officials, to say, “I care

about climate change because ___ and I’d really like you to care, too.”

Could the church play a role as well?

The church has an enormous ability to inspire change in the community. I recently sat down with the pastoral staff at a church I used to attend in Urbana, Illinois, and talked about how the church could model the type of lifestyle choices that we want people in our congregation to consider doing. We talked about doing an energy assessment of the whole church—figuring out how much you spend every year and what you could do to reduce that money to steward people’s finances better. And we talked about actions they could take to bring in people from the community and say, “Here’s a resource we recommend for doing an energy audit at your house. Here are the light bulbs we use in the church.”

I think the bottom line is that there’s no one thing and there’s no one way that Christ expresses his love through us. We can come up with individual choices and community choices and global choices.

There’s no limit on what we can do.

Recently, when asked how Canada would respond to climate change, Prime Minister Stephen Harper told reporters, “No country is going to take actions that are going to deliberately destroy jobs and growth in their country.” What do you think about this statement? Is it possible to take action without causing harm to the economy?

Salvationist • September 2014 • 21

That statement sets up an implicit straw man that doing something about climate change and renewable energy costs jobs. The reality is that the renewable energy sector is already providing way more jobs for the economy than the fossil fuel sector. Even the new pipelines—they’re going to produce a fraction of the jobs that the wind energy industry does.

The other thing that the prime minister completely ignored in that statement is that climate change costs jobs and incurs an enormous amount of damage.

In the United States, since the 1980s, there have typically been one or two climate- and weather-related events each year with damages over a billion dollars.

But in the last few years, we have had more than 10 such events each year and some of them, such as hurricane Katrina or superstorm Sandy, have cost more than $50 billion. This money comes out of taxpayers’ pockets. And it’s not just in the United States and Canada—it’s happening around the world.

And that’s just dollars—we’re not even talking human life here. I don’t think you can even quantify the impact on human life. Two-thirds of the world’s biggest cities are within a metre or two of sea level, and many of those cities are filled with people who have nowhere else to go and no other resources to turn to. So I’m all for saving jobs, I’m all for helping the economy, but I believe that in order to actually create new jobs and have a healthy economy, you have to consider the big picture.

When you hear about what is going to happen because of climate change, sometimes it feels like things are hopeless—like, what can we really do just by changing our light bulbs?

Are things hopeless or can we have a real impact?

That’s such an important question, because if things are hopeless, then why not just give up? Why put on a Band-Aid if we’re all going to die? The reality is the choices that we’re making today really do matter. When I work with organizations and governments, such as the City of Chicago, we look into the future and say, “Here’s what the future is going to look like under two very different scenarios—if we continue to depend on fossil fuels as our primary source of energy, or if we transition in a sensible, sustainable way to sources of energy that don’t produce so much 22 • September 2014 • Salvationist

carbon and are more efficient.” In the majority of cases, if we can transition off of fossil fuels, then we will be able to successfully adapt to climate change because the impacts are going to be smaller, and they are going to happen more gradually. The more time we have, the better off we’re going to be.

But with scenarios where we continue to depend on fossil fuels, the impacts of climate change will be extremely difficult to adapt to and will incur significant financial, as well as societal, costs.

The farther down that pathway we go, by not reducing our carbon emissions, we’re essentially choosing a much more costly future. We do have a chance to

do something now, but that window is closing every year that goes by.

I really have hope and faith in our Christian community, that because we have the love of God inside our hearts and we have all the values we need to talk about this issue, rather than dragging our feet, we will be at the forefront of this issue. We need to do this because this is what God wants us to do.

The Salvation Army believes that good earth-keeping is essential to the Christian faith. Visit wegogreen.ca to read our position statements and find resources to help you take practical steps to conserve and regenerate creation.

Figure 1: Cumulative carbon dioxide emissions from 1900 to 2005

Cumulative carbon emissions: 1900-2005

low

high

Figure 2: Climate vulnerability index page 1 of 1

Climate Vulnerability

low

high

As these two maps indicate, nations who have contributed the least to the build-up of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are likely to suffer the greatest impact page 1 of 1

Sources: World Resources Institute’s EarthTrends (http://earthtrends.wri.org/); J. Samson, D. Berteau, B. McGill and M. Humphries (2011). Geographic disparities and moral hazards in the predicted impacts of climate change on human populations.

Global Ecology and Biogeography.

Passing the Baton

Salvationist music teachers strike a chord with students

Photo: Phylicia Rawlins

BY STEVE PAVEY

From left, Steve Pavey, married couple Elizabeth and Greg Colley, brothers Cameron and Brendan Rawlins

I

n Markham, Ont., a group of teachers has become a unique musical ensemble. Five Salvationists teach in the York Region District School Board, at both the elementary and high-school levels. Elizabeth Colley and I teach at public schools that feed into Pierre Elliot Trudeau High School (PET), where Greg Colley and Cameron Rawlins teach. Cameron’s brother, Brendan Rawlins, also teaches music nearby, at Summitview Public School.

For some students, this means having a Salvationist music teacher from a young age until the end of high school—a rare opportunity for us to share our passion for music and our faith.

I give careful thought to helping students choose an instrument in Grade 6.

It’s amazing to hear from Cameron or Greg that the student has developed a love for that instrument and become the principal player in their section, or wants to continue with music in university.

Elizabeth, who teaches at Castlemore Public School, prepares her students for the high standards of PET through performance. “I try to instill a sense of accomplishment in everything they do,” she says. “It’s exciting when they begin to see themselves as musicians.”

Cameron and I sit next to each other in the Canadian Staff Band and often discuss our mutual students. “I like getting ‘scouting reports’ before new students arrive,” Cameron says. “It helps to know where they’re coming from, and influences how I handle certain situations.”

But for each of us Salvationists, teaching music is the background accompaniment to living out our faith. “I treat every day as a ministry opportunity,” says Brendan. “God has blessed me with musical talents, and I hope the passion and love that I have for Jesus Christ will show in my passion for music.”

It’s about caring for and displaying Christian character to my students.

They know I attend The Salvation Army church and play in an Army band. That comes with a responsibility to be the most encouraging follower of Christ I can be.

Greg agrees. “I see my role as a Christian teacher to care for each student I teach, regardless of their faith,” he says. “I try to be authentic, to share my life with my students. I don’t hide my challenges. They hear about my wife, my family, my children, my parents and my ‘other’ band.”

Greg is the bandmaster at Yorkminster Citadel in Toronto. Recently, it held an event where several high-school bands, including Greg’s, performed alongside the corps band. Playing Army music, such as Kevin Larsson’s They Shall Come From the East and Paul Lovatt-Cooper’s Fire in the Blood, they heard the message of Christ’s love.

Last Christmas, I organized a concert in Richmond Hill, Ont., inviting a number of my present and former students to play with my corps youth band, alongside the Canadian Staff Band. It was fantastic to have our Army and school worlds intersect. Our students were able to listen to and play with the staff band and, along with their families, hear the message of Christmas through Scripture and drama.

And for Christian students, we teachers are able to encourage them on their journey of faith. “I challenge them to rely on God, especially as I see them wearing their FROG (Fully Rely on God) bracelets,” Greg says. He has recently included two former students, now studying music at the University of Toronto, in his band and corps fellowship where they are beginning to take soldiership classes.

Jacqueline Johnson has had three children go through Franklin Street Public School, where I teach, and PET’s music program. “We expected a public school to be a spiritual wasteland, but through the music programs and the teachers, it is a place where our children can express their faith and grow in every way,” she says. “I am thankful for all that God has done through Mr. Pavey, Mr. Rawlins and Mr. Colley.”

In the Christian life, we may never know what part we have played in reaching someone. Some provide the beat, some the melody and some the harmony.

As Salvationist teachers, we have the rare gift of instilling music and faith in our students, and watching them flourish.

Salvationist • September 2014 • 23

Photo: © CBS Television Studios

CROSS CULTURE

Big Bang Bust

How does TV’s most popular comedy explore the science-vs.-religion debate?

BY KRISTIN OSTENSEN, STAFF WRITER

Y

ou’d think a show about four geeky scientists wouldn’t exactly be compelling TV. A typical episode of The Big Bang Theory could feature a discussion of string theory, a trip to the comic book store or a video game marathon.

And yet Big Bang is the most popular show in Canada, drawing in 3.5 to 4 million viewers each week (and another 20 million in the United States). As it heads into its eighth season, which premieres September 22, the show is more popular than ever. So what’s its secret?

First, for a group of three physicists and an engineer, Leonard ( Johnny Galecki), Sheldon (Jim Parsons), Howard (Simon Helberg) and Raj (Kunal Nayyar) are surprisingly relatable. Scientists or not, we’ve all had times when we’ve felt like we don’t fit in. And while the show plays their socially awkward behaviour for laughs, it does so with an underlying compassion for them as “real” people who can grow and change.

(Even Sheldon, the show’s egotistical misanthrope, has his moments.) The cast also includes non-scientist Penny (Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting), next-door neighbour to Leonard and Sheldon, who acts as an audience surrogate—the “every person” 24 • September 2014 • Salvationist

who is introduced to geek culture by her new friends.

That’s the other key to Big Bang’s popularity: the mainstreaming of geek culture. Fantasy heroes are front-andcentre during summer blockbuster season with film franchises such as The Avengers and X-Men. Traditionally “geeky” interests such as card games, collectibles and comic conventions are no longer seen as abnormal. And interest in science continues to grow as we become more dependent on technology and people turn from religion to science as a way to explain the mysteries of the universe.

The apparent tension between science and religion is a theme that is explored throughout The Big Bang Theory. The show is not overtly hostile toward religion, with Raj being nominally Hindu and Howard Jewish. However, Sheldon, who grew up in a conservative Christian home in Texas, frequently expresses his reservations. After discovering that his World of Warcraft (an internet-based video game) account has been compromised, he exclaims, “Why hast thou forsaken me, O deity whose existence I doubt?” Amy (Mayim Bialik), Sheldon’s girlfriend, expresses a similar agnosti-

cism when she says, “I don’t object to the concept of a deity, but I’m baffled by the notion of one that takes attendance.”

Sheldon’s main foil in this respect is his mother, Mary (Laurie Metcalf), whose Christian beliefs he once refers to as “pre-Enlightenment mythology.” For the most part, Mary is a caricature of a fundamentalist Christian. She shows up throughout the series, but gets a special focus in a season 5 episode called “The Rhinitis Revelation” when she comes to visit Sheldon in Pasadena, California.

While there, she plans to attend a cruise called the Born Again Boat Ride, which features activities such as Jonah and the Whale Watching, all-you-can-eat Last Supper Buffet and, her personal favourite, Gunning with God. Along with being somewhat judgmental and occasionally racist, Mary is a creationist who is not interested in science. When Sheldon offers to take her to a scientific lecture while she’s visiting, he warns her, “He will be stating that the universe is older than 6,000 years, but I thought you could stick your fingers in your ears and hum Amazing Grace during those parts.”

Is this an accurate portrayal? Are Christians anti-science? The church doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to science, often regarding advances with suspicion. Young-earth creationism is a thorny issue for many people. According to a recent poll, 14 percent of Canadians think that God created humans in their present form within the last 10,000 years, and that number jumps to 38 percent among people who attend religious services.

In other words, a large percentage of religious people choose to ignore empirical evidence in favour of a literal interpretation of a book that is not a science textbook and was never intended to be treated as one.

There are people who use science to argue that faith is irrational, like believing in the Tooth Fairy. But if we ignore science because we think it will challenge our faith, what does that say about our faith? What are we afraid of?

Science and faith are not incompatible. Just ask atmospheric scientist Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, who is interviewed in this issue of Salvationist (see page 20).

If we believe that Jesus is the truth (see John 14:6), then all truth—including scientific discoveries—is God’s truth, a revelation of his goodness and his love for all of creation.

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ENROLMENTS AND RECOGNITION

HAMILTON, BERMUDA—During a visit of Comrs Brian and Rosalie Peddle, then territorial leaders, to North Street Citadel, Cal Ming receives a certificate of recognition as he retires from the position of bandmaster.

Ming was commissioned to this leadership role in 1978 and has impacted many lives with the transformative message of the gospel. From left, Mjr Bruce Jennings, CO; Comr Brian Peddle; Cal Ming; Comr Rosalie Peddle; and Mjr Shawn Critch, then DC, Bermuda Div. BARRIE, ONT.—Mjr Fred Ash holds the certificate acknowledging his commissioning as corps sergeant-major at Barrie Corps. Standing with him are, from left, Sheila Palmer, former CSM; Lennard Johnston, director for business administration, holding the flag; and Mjrs Maureen and Colin Bain, COs.

BARRIE, ONT.—A cornet is dedicated in memory of Mjr Mark Cummings, who was promoted to glory while serving with his wife, Mjr Lynn Cummings, as corps officers in Barrie. From left, Mjr Lynn Cummings, AC, Ont. CE Div; Emily Holden, who will play the instrument; and Arthur Welsh, former bandmaster.

OSHAWA, ONT.—Mjr Robert Reid, then CO, publicly welcomes six people to the corps fellowship at Oshawa Temple. They are, from left, Eric Nippard, Betty Kendall, Steven Moenster, Linda Leigh, Steve Leigh and Ron Murray.

HORWOOD, N.L.—The young people who make up the worship team at Horwood Corps stand proudly with new drums and a five-string bass guitar that were recently acquired for their music ministry. From left, Mjr Lorne Hiscock, CO; Wendy Hart; Nikita Nippard; Joshua Hart; Danté Hiscock; Tyler Hart; and Mjr Ella Hiscock.

HORWOOD, N.L.—Three young people take a stand for Christ as they are enrolled as senior soldiers at Horwood Corps. From left, Mjr Ella Hiscock, Tyler Hart, Edwin Penny, Danté Hiscock and Mjr Lorne Hiscock, CO.

FORTUNE, N.L.—Mjrs Lloyd and Marlene George, guests for the 125th anniversary celebrations at Fortune Corps, share in cutting the cake.

From left, CSM Sarah Hiscock; Mjrs George; Murdock Hiscock, longest-serving soldier at the corps; and Cpt Charlene Hillier, CO. BOWMANVILLE, O N T. — B r i a n n a Colliss is the newest senior soldier at Bowmanville CC. Celebrating with her are Mjrs Donette and Ken Percy, community ministries officer and CO, and Tom Colliss, holding the flag.

Salvationist • September 2014 • 25

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LONDON, ONT.—London Citadel celebrates nine new junior soldiers. From left, Mjr Wil BrownRatcliffe, then CO; Owen Mitchell; Mackenzie Franche; JSS Joyce Hawkins; Cameron McLeod-Voakes; Harrison Franche; Lauren Brooks; Ivy Moyles; Matthew Foote; Bernie Doars, colour sergeant; Brooke Bourne; Maya Clarke; and Mjr Catherine Brown-Ratcliffe, then CO.

MONTREAL—Montreal Citadel enrols seven senior soldiers and one adherent. From left, Lt Vilma Ramos, associate CO, Spanish ministries; Andrea Melissa Fernandez Fajardo; Sergio Acevedo Rodriguez; Andrea Aceros Gutierrez; Telma Edith Fajardo Brahona; Col Eleanor Shepherd, CO; Garry Garland, holding the flag; John Fredy Morgho Moreno; Liliana Andrea Silva Benavidez; Alejandrina Yamilet Corea Rivera; Luis Fernando Gamero Escoto; and Mjrs Brian and Anne Venables, DC and DDWM, Quebec Div.

TORONTO—Lisa Brown and Taline Polimeneas confirm their calling to serve others as they receive community care ministries training certificates at Scarborough Citadel. From left, Mjr Denis Skipper, then CO; Lisa Brown; Taline Polimeneas; CSM James Dolan, holding the flag; and Alison Moore, assistant ministry director.

ARNOLD’S COVE, N.L.—Front, from left, Lt Kim Chan, CO, enrols Rosalind Doon and Effie Wareham as senior soldiers at Arnold’s Cove Corps. Sam Guy is holding the flag.

WORDS OF LIFE SEPTEMBER-DECEMBER ISSUE NOW AVAILABLE! Take time with the Father daily as you meditate upon his Word.

Ask Jesus to interpret his Word and speak to your heart.

Open yourself to the Spirit as he brings inspiration.

SALMON ARM, B.C.—Four people receive certificates at New Hope CC for completing “Meet and Greet” emergency disaster services training. From left, Louis Boda; Brian Antler; Cpt Sheldon Feener, CO; and Norma Schaffer.

Montreal Citadel for the World Come Back to Our Future Be part of the opening and dedication of the new Montreal Citadel October 11-12, 2014 With Colonels Mark and Sharon Tillsley Chief Secretary and Territorial Secretary for Women’s Ministries 6620 Monk Boulevard, Montreal For more information: www.MontrealCitadel.com eleanor_shepherd@can.salvationarmy.org 26 • September 2014 • Salvationist

Concluding the 2014 “Love” series for Words of Life, this edition’s theme is “Amazing Love.”

What love we see in the Old Testament—shining through Ezekiel’s visions; also as God works in the lives of four minor prophets, Joel, Jonah, Habakkuk and Malachi. In the New Testament we witness God’s love in Paul’s letters to the Philippians and to Timothy, as well as the letters from Peter and John to God’s people. Guest writer Major Kapela Ntoya takes us on a “holiday journey.” We close with Jesus’ magnificent Revelation, then a glimpse into the Christmas story.

During this time together in God’s Word, may we all experience his amazing love in a new and profound way. $6.99 plus shipping and handling The Salvation Army Supplies and Purchasing • 416-422-6100 orderdesk@can.salvationarmy.org • SalvationArmy.ca/Store

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Accepted for Training

Messengers of Light Session (2014-16) College for Officer Training, Winnipeg Dwayne Goulding Gambo, Newfoundland and Labrador Division As a university student I first felt the Holy Spirit calling me to officership. Initially, I dismissed the idea as absurd because I was a private man and cringed at the thought of public ministry. After graduation, I married Susan and together we were drawn to various ministries. Seven years ago, I surrendered my life to God’s call and while preparing for CFOT, we served as the ministry unit leaders of Buchans Corps, N.L. This opportunity has confirmed God’s call on our family.

Susan Goulding Gambo, Newfoundland and Labrador Division I grew up attending Toronto’s Cedarbrae Community Church where I took part in all the youth programs they had to offer and made my first commitment to Christ at the age of seven. As a teen, I felt God’s call on my life but it wasn’t until after I married Dwayne that we talked about entering full-time ministry together. While we served as the ministry unit leaders at Buchans Corps for two years, God confirmed our calling to be Salvation Army officers.

Alex MacDonald Whitehorse, Alberta and Northern Territories Division I felt called to the ministry from the age of five.

Throughout the years, God has reaffirmed this calling but each time when I surrendered myself, he said to me, “Good, but not yet.” I always wondered why God would do this and why my partner felt no similar calling. In recent years, I thought perhaps that God had forgotten about his call or that I had missed some earlier opportunity. I settled into a contented life in the beautiful Yukon, happily building my family, my church and my career. In February 2013, however, God impressed his call upon me again with great authority. I now understand that he started early with me and reminded me often of his call to prepare me to say yes without doubt or fear when the time finally came. Officership is a fulfilment of God’s calling on my life to be a servant to others, to care for his sheep.

Rhonda MacDonald Whitehorse, Alberta and Northern Territories Division For many years my husband was called to be an officer, but I was not. When I told my husband that I would support him as a single spouse officer and was willing to fully submit my life, I felt God’s call to full-time officership. I had many questions and spent much time in prayer. Within days those concerns no longer seemed so big. I look forward to continuing to help people physically and mentally, as I do as a social worker, but also being able to help people spiritually.

CFOT is part of that journey and I am looking forward to the practical learning I will receive to help me fulfill my calling.

Whitney Reid Bishop’s Falls, Newfoundland and Labrador Division The call upon my life began shortly after I accepted Christ, but it was strengthened for me when I attended a Territorial Youth Institute at Jackson’s Point Conference Centre in 2011. We paid a visit to The Gateway in downtown Toronto, and it was in that shelter that I witnessed first-hand the impact of sin on our world. Then and there I knew God was calling me to be his servant by becoming a Salvation Army officer and entering into a sacred covenant with him.

Stefan Reid Fort McMurray, Alberta and Northern Territories Division From my days as a child growing up in my corps in Trinity Bay South, N.L., to my days now in Fort McMurray, God has always called me to be an officer. While serving as a camp counsellor, I felt God knocking at my heart telling me that leading and helping others to understand how much God loves them, no matter at what age, was something that I was called and needed to do. It’s now time for my family and me to embrace this new challenge in life, and I know that with God directing our paths, he will never lead us astray.

Tinisha Reid Fort McMurray, Alberta and Northern Territories Division Growing up in The Salvation Army and being very active in my home corps in LaScie, N.L., and now in Fort McMurray, I have always felt the call of God on my life. Although I had struggled with that call since I was a teenager, after meeting my husband and starting a family we realized that we had a calling upon us and we could no longer ignore it. God has placed a deep desire in me to give my life and family to him and serve him through officership. I look forward to CFOT and the ministry God has called me to. In the words of Catherine Booth, “I know not what he is about to do with me, but I have given myself entirely into his hands.”

Kathy Walker Heritage Park Temple, Winnipeg, Prairie Division I came to Christ when I was 20. A few weeks after my conversion, I felt God calling me to be an officer.

I began preparing to answer his call, moved from Australia, attended the War College in Vancouver and became involved in different ministries. While many of these experiences pushed me out of my comfort zone, they also confirmed the call that God had placed on my life. I am looking forward to my training at CFOT as a time of greater equipping and exploration of what it means to live a life obedient to Christ.

130th Anniversary November 1 & 2, 2014

Matthew Reid Bishop’s Falls, Newfoundland and Labrador Division As a young child I felt God calling me to ministry, and while attending a congress event as a teenager, he confirmed that call to become an officer.

I believe CFOT will help me grow spiritually into a closer communion with God, give me the skills and strengths I need for ministry and provide opportunities to spread the gospel and show God’s love.

Salvationist • September 2014 • 27

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TRIBUTES OSHAWA, ONT.—Eva Lakin was born in Oshawa in 1920 to Francis Bracey as one of eight children. Eva married Theodore Lakin in the parsonage at Simcoe Street United Church in Oshawa in 1941. Theodore and Eva had three daughters during “The War Years,” from 1942-1949. Although married in the United Church, Eva chose The Salvation Army as her church at an early age and was a devoted Army soldier her entire life. She was very active in the Army, attending the fellowship group and the home league. For many years, Eva helped with interviews for Christmas hampers and the Christmas kettles. In her spare time, Eva helped attain the Rights for Equal Opportunity Classes in the school system in Oshawa. A terrific seamstress, Eva made many clothes for her daughters and grandchildren. Eva will be sadly missed by her daughters Sandra (Bob) Harris, Janet Lakin, Linda Lakin; many grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.

OSHAWA, ONT.—Born in Toronto in 1921, Margaret Doris Wells (nee Prince) was promoted to glory in her 93rd year. She was the beloved wife of the late Charles B. Wells with whom she shared 46 years of married life.

A lifelong lover of Jesus, Margaret attended various churches growing up. She recounted many stories and held fond memories of friends and fellowship at Rhodes Avenue Corps in Toronto where she was active in Girl Guides and became an adherent, prior to moving to Oshawa in the late 1960s.

Margaret became a senior soldier of Oshawa Temple in 1975. Margaret loved taking an active role in corps life, where she was a member of the ladies’ group and home league. She attended various programs and camps at Roblin Lake. Margaret always had a smile and a hug, and loved to talk and pray with everyone. She is remembered by her daughters Joan Jennings, Christine (Jamie) Carr; grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

COQUITLAM, B.C.—Major Wesley John Wiseman was born in Kamsack, Sask., in 1938, the eldest of four sons of Salvation Army officer parents, John and Lilly Wiseman.

A gifted artist, Wesley graduated from commercial art school before being commissioned in the Pioneers Session at the age of 21. Wesley’s first appointment to a remote community in northern British Columbia was followed by several appointments in Saskatchewan. In 1962, he met Lieutenant Ruth Norrie and they were married in Kitchener, Ont., in 1963. For more than 30 years, they served together in ministry across Canada. Wesley was a preacher, pastor, counsellor and director of family services during his active officership. In retirement, Wesley opened the Wiseman Academy of Art in 2000. Over the next 14 years, hundreds of people developed their artistic gifts under his patient tutelage.

Wesley’s sense of humour, tender heart and love for Jesus left people he encountered feeling better about themselves. An adoring husband, father and grandfather, Wesley is missed by his wife of 50 years, Ruth; children Dr. Kevin (Karen), David (Manjula), Gregory, Lee-Anne (Armand); grandchildren Matthew, Michael, Sarah, Isabel, George, Max; brother, Donald; extended family and friends.

GRAND FALLS-WINDSOR, N.L.—Roland Downton was born in Grand Falls in 1923 and promoted to glory at the age of 91. He spent most of his working years as an employee of the Abitibi Price Pulp and Paper Mill. Roland joined The Salvation Army and accepted the Lord when he was 20, and was a faithful soldier for 71 years at Park Street Citadel (formerly Windsor Citadel). He served in local officer positions for 41 years—recruiting sergeant (four years), corps treasurer (10 years), corps sergeant-major (27 years)—to which he was truly committed. Roland will be remembered as a quiet, gentle man of Christlike character who had a heart of giving. He was a loving husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather. Roland will always live in the heart of his wife of 64 years, Frances; daughter, Verna (Junior) Hynes; sons Bruce (Irene), Clyde (Edith); grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

28 • September 2014 • Salvationist

GAZETTE TERRITORIAL Appointments Mjr Tonilea Cartmell, divisional secretary for spiritual life development, Alta. & N.T. Div (additional responsibility); Mjr Brenda Critch, divisional secretary for spiritual life development, Prairie Div (additional responsibility); Mjr Brian Slous, executive director, Victoria ARC/ Matson Sequoia Residence, B.C. Div; Mjrs Mark/Isobel Wagner, AC (Lower Mainland)/AC (Kootenays), B.C. Div (additional responsibilities) Promoted to captain Lts Claude Dagenais/Anne-Marie Racicot, Lts Michael/Melissa Mailman, Lts Peter/Amanda Robinson, Lts Jon/Tracy Savage, Lts Matthew/Rachel Sheils, Lt Danette Woods Promoted to major Cpts Paul/Michelle Blake, Cpt Darlene Burt, Cpts Steven/Corinne Cameron, Cpt Teresa Decker, Cpts Stephen/Tina Manuel, Cpts Les/ Tiffany Marshall, Cpts Cecil/Tina Mitchell, Cpts Gerald/Laurie Reilly, Cpt Christopher/Tina Rideout, Cpts Robert/Shari Russell, Cpts Angel Sandoval-Silva/Marlene Sandoval Long service—25 years Mjr James Anderson, Mjr Joy Angel, Mjr Rex Colbourne, Mjrs Brian/ Deborah Coles, Mjr Coleen Cyr, Mjr Roy Dueck, Mjr Donald Feltham, Mjrs David/Lynn Grice, Mjrs Russell/Judith Holland, Mjr Marie Hollett, Mjr Bruce Jennings, Mjr Michael LeBlanc, Mjr Dale Lewis, Mjr Gregory McInnes, Mjrs Bruce/Marilyn Shirran, Mjr Darryl Simms, Mjr Brian Slous, Mjr Sandra Stokes, Mjrs Mark/Isobel Wagner, Mjrs Garry/ Sandra Ward, Mjr Brian Wheeler Long service—30 years Mjrs Wayne/Deborah Bungay, Mjr Eileen Butler-Caughie, Mjr Glenys Butt, Mjr Carolyn Doonan, Mjrs Larry/Lynda Farley, Mjrs Larry/Judy Goudie, Mjrs Donald/Elizabeth Grad, Lt-Col Deborah Graves, Mjr Michael Hennessy, Mjr Deborah Hilliard, Mjrs Darrell/Lise Jackson, Mjr Martin Ketteringham, Mjrs Rene/Wanda Loveless, Mjrs Frank/ Rita Pittman, Mjrs Kenneth/Catherine Ritson, Mjrs Paul/Gloria Wood Long service—35 years Mjr Luanne Barrow, Mjrs Ross/Brenda Bungay, Mjr Malba Holliday, Mjrs David/Beverly Ivany, Comr Susan McMillan, Mjr Henri Regamey, Mjr Audrey Rowsell Long service—40 years Mjrs Wilson/Winifred Perrin, Mjr Patricia Tuppenney Retirements Mjrs Wilbert/Bertha Abbott, Mjrs Henry/Beatrice Bingle, Mjrs Calvin/ Beryl Collins, Mjrs Larry/Lynda Farley, Mjrs Stanley/Judith Folkins, Mjrs Gordon/Doris Jarvis, Mjr Robert MacDonald, Mjrs Ronald/Linda Mailman, Mjrs David/Rosa Moulton, Mjr Karen Oldford, Mjr Winifred Perrin, Mjr Louise Perry, Mjrs Roderick/Jane Sheasby, Mjr Audrey Tilley, Cpts Felipe/Phyllis Vega, Lt-Col Neil Watt, Mjr Sharon Wilson Promoted to glory Mjr Anita (Peggy) Hendrickson, from Toronto, Jun 30; Mjr Joseph Peterson, from Windsor, Ont., Jul 6

CALENDAR Commissioner Susan McMillan Sep 12-14 cadets’ welcome weekend, CFOT, and installation as territorial leader by the Chief of the Staff, Winnipeg; Sep 15-17 Leaders’ Summit, Winnipeg; Sep 25-26 National Advisory Board, St. John’s, N.L.; Sep 28 welcome as territorial leader, St. John’s, N.L. Colonels Mark and Sharon Tillsley Sep 12-14 cadets’ welcome weekend, CFOT, and installation of territorial leader by the Chief of the Staff, Winnipeg; Sep 15-17 Leaders’ Summit, Winnipeg; Sep 25-26 National Advisory Board, St. John’s, N.L.; Sep 28 Conception Bay South, N.L., and welcome of territorial leader, St. John’s, N.L. Canadian Staff Band Sep 26-28 band retreat, Twin Ponds Camp, Gander, N.L. (ensemble only)

CONVICTIONS MATTER The Trinity symbolically represented as the three mysterious visitors to Abraham and Sarah, in a 15th-century icon by Andrei Rublev

Photo: © Depositphotos.com/igorgolovniov

to the Apostle Paul’s imprisonment in Rome, the conviction developed that the Spirit’s work was also the active presence of God. Without loosening its grip on the oneness of God, the church began to understand God as Trinity. Even before the creation of the universe, there existed a dance of love between Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This triune love was expressed in our world, especially at Bethlehem, Galilee and Calvary. Then it motivated the church in its mission to that world.

It’s important, however, to pay attention to the critics of this core conviction. Christians are not asked to park our minds outside when we enter the arena of faith. A helpful analogy to understand this doctrine is the notion of polyphonic music— poly meaning many and phonic meaning sound. In this form of music, different melodies are sung or played simultaneously.

The differences are very real and distinguishable, yet they weave together to create a unified sound. God’s unity embraces diversity. But this is not a puzzle to be solved; it’s a mystery that leads to worship.

Far from being an abstract doctrine, this view of God has important practical implications for Christian living. It means, for instance, that The Salvation Army’s unity will also embrace wide diversities. Unity does not mean uniformity. As noted last month in our study of our second doctrine, the Army’s unity will be expressed in its character of integrity. But its oneness will embrace cultural diversity. This dimension of diversity was demonstrated in the recent territorial congress in Toronto when First Nations representatives welcomed General André Cox with thoughtful gifts, when Bermudian Patreese Simmons danced with grace and when Commissioner Silvia Cox addressed the crowd in French. Salvationists already understand diversity.

But in our times, the need for diversity is even greater. This is particularly important in Canada where people from all parts of the world have come to live. A trinitarian understanding of God can help this nation be respectful of diversity.

In practice, a trinitarian view of God will also shape our sense of mission. David Bosch argues: “To participate in mission is to participate in the movement of God’s love toward people, since God is a fountain of sending love.” God’s eternal love between Father, Son and Holy Spirit spilled over into the world’s history. He took the risk of entering into the suffering of humanity. It is this understanding of God that leads the Army into its mission of engaging the suffering of our world, whether it’s our response to 9/11, caring for those with dementia or responding at Lac-Mégantic’s rail disaster in Quebec. God’s triune love prompts our mission of love.

“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you” (2 Corinthians 13:13 NRSV).

Triune God

How our third doctrine shapes our worship and mission

BY MAJOR RAY HARRIS

C

The Salvation Army has been shaped by its core convictions,

called doctrines. But what difference do they make to the life of

Salvationists in the 21st century? This book explores the relevance and contribution of these historic doctrines for the present age. It argues that each doctrine has something vital to contribute to the Army’s

understanding and practice of holiness. These convictions matter!

“In articulating and reflecting on the core convictions that guide the work of The Salvation Army and hold its communal life together,

Ray Harris has achieved that elusive but essential balance between accessibility and depth. He has put the doctrines of the Army in

conversation with the Salvationist understanding of holiness for the purpose of engaging the future.”

—The Rev. Dr. Karen Hamilton, General Secretary, The Canadian Council of Churches

“Doctrines are not monuments to the past, but living testimonies to

Major Ray Harris is a retired Salvation Army officer of the Canada and Bermuda Territory. He lives in Winnipeg where he more often than not loses Scrabble games to his wife, Cathie.

CONVICTIONS MATTER

ritics call it sheer insanity. Others say it is a practical doctrine. They are referring to Christianity’s core conviction that God is best understood as Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Salvation Army affirms: We believe there are three persons in the Godhead—the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, undivided in essence and co-equal in power and glory. Let’s attend to this doctrine’s formation and its significance for our times.

The word Trinity is not in the Bible, but that doesn’t make it unbiblical. The word was coined by the North African theologian, Tertullian, in the fourth century. And it came about through good reflection on the biblical texts.

This doctrine upholds the fundamental oneness of God. The conviction that “the Lord is one” is reaffirmed by Jesus when questioned by his critics (see Mark 12:28-29). The Army’s second doctrine is not contradicted by its third doctrine. A trinitarian understanding of God continues to affirm God’s oneness. The Lord is one.

The nature of God’s oneness required further thought as the early church reflected on the person of Jesus of Nazareth.

Questions about his identity arose even during his lifetime: “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

(Mark 4:41 NRSV). John’s Gospel comes to its climax with the confession of Thomas: “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28).

Similarly, as the Book of Acts portrays the Holy Spirit animating the early church in its mission from the Day of Pentecost

the present and hopeful signs of the future. Ray Harris adeptly looks at the formation of our doctrines [and] speaks about those doctrines with clarity and purpose [using] a wide range of sources, which

will enrich the doctrinal conversation of the Army with the broader theological world.”

—Dr. Roger J. Green, Professor and Chair of Biblical Studies and Christian Ministries, Terrelle B. Crum Chair of Humanities, Gordon College, Wenham, Massachusetts

Canada and Bermuda Territory

9 780888 575081

RELIGION / The Salvation Army / Church & Doctrine

cover_final_newblue.indd 1

The Function of Salvation Army Doctrines RAY HARRIS

ISBN: 978-0-88857-508-1

Ray Harris is a Salvation Army officer in the Canada and Bermuda Territory. He and his wife, Cathie, have served across Canada in various congregational, college and administrative appointments. In the course of his officership, Ray received the Doctor of Ministry degree from Regis College, Toronto School of Theology, with an emphasis on curriculum design in theological education. He lives in Winnipeg where he enjoys family, baking muffins, singing Charles Wesley hymns and running in a prairie winter.

RAY HARRIS FOREWORD JOHN LARSSON

2014-04-08 8:54 AM

Convictions Matter, Major Ray Harris’ new book, is available at store.salvationarmy.ca, 416-422-6100, orderdesk@can.salvationarmy.org. For the e-book, visit amazon.ca Salvationist • September 2014 • 29

TIES THAT BIND

Turn Over a New Leaf

At the beginning of a new school year, let’s bring hope for children living in poverty

BY MAJOR KATHIE CHIU

30 • September 2014 • Salvationist

Photo: © iStock.com/bowdenimages

T

he days are growing shorter as the angle of the sun shifts. The lush green of summer is giving way to the vibrant colours of fall. The air is crisp and clear, scented with falling leaves. Cooler temperatures—in some places more rain, like here on the wet coast—signal it’s time to get out the warmer clothes (and umbrellas).

I love the fall; it’s my favourite season.

In the past, fall meant the year was nearing its end as people hunkered down for winter after the harvest. But in our postagricultural, post-industrial age with more than a century of public education, fall means the end of summer days and the beginning of a new school year. In my line of work, it means the beginning of a new church year. Program leaders, boards and planning committees meet to plan the “year”—the next 10 months of busyness before we break again for the summer.

Maybe that’s why I like the fall.

It’s all about starting new things. For many children, the days leading up to September will include trips to the store to buy school supplies, new clothes and bigger shoes. For parents, it’s back to packing lunches, getting the kids to school and spending more money.

But for some children and their parents, fall doesn’t bring the excitement of a new start. It brings the embarrassment of trying to hide not having the “right” school supplies or enough to eat at lunch because their family shops in second-hand stores and food banks. It brings frustration over not being able to concentrate because they’re hungry. It brings the dread of teasing and shunning.

Perhaps one reason for the popularity of the Harry Potter series was its realistic portrayal of school life, and how cruel children can be. Children from struggling families could identify with the Weasleys, who wore hand-me-down robes and were often the target of sneering comments from the rich Malfoys.

We take so much for granted in life.

For those of us who have jobs that can provide well for our families, the busy-

The busyness of the new school and church year can blind us to the needs of others ness of the new school and church year can blind us to the needs of others. My work over the years has shown me how much my family has compared to others, and we do our best to help in small ways, from supporting lunch programs to providing back-to-school supplies.

This fall, when we’re signing our children up for sports teams, dance lessons and other out-of-school activities that cost money, let’s remember that 15 percent of children in Canada live in poverty—children who will never dance on the stage or skate on the ice, stick in

hand. Is there something we can do? Is there a way to help change the life of a child? Here are some ideas: •• Have a family meeting and choose a program you want to support.

•• Decide together how much you can give. Perhaps your children will be willing to make a sacrifice to help others.

•• When you are shopping for school supplies, buy two of everything. Let your children put the extra in their cart to be donated to The Salvation Army’s annual back-to-school backpack program.

We can’t solve the problem of poverty by ourselves, but we can help make a difference in the life of one child. This year, let the sense of excitement that autumn brings be a new beginning for a child in need.

Major Kathie Chiu grew up in The Salvation Army and has been an officer for 22 years. She has five children, including two teenaged boys still living at home, and eight grandchildren.

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The future isn’t always this clear Meeting basic needs through The Salvation Army Children’s Sponsorship is essential to development, and provides children with the means to achieve greatness.

Visit saworldmissions.ca or call 416-422-6224 to find out how you can provide basic needs to the most vulnerable children of our world.

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