Shaping the future

A photo posted on Facebook caught my eye this week. It was posted by Peter, an Australian Salvation Army officer, and showed him with his parents and his children.  Three generations of family together. (I am not going to embarrass him by reproducing the photo here!). I have never met Peter, but it grabbed my attention because the 'grandfather' in the picture grew up in my home corps and was the YP bandleader when I was a teenager. Some years after that he and his wife emigrated to Australia and the family grew up there.
The text accompanying the photo really made me think. The officer posting the pic referred to his English roots but mentioned that he knew little about his UK family or their English history.

I dropped Peter a line and shared that his grandmother was one of those 'aunties' that many young people have when growing up in the 'Army'. A friend of my grandma, she didn't wear SA uniform, but she always encouraged me and showed an interest in me. I can picture her now sitting each Sunday on the 2nd row from the back of the hall. When I became the bandmaster at the rather young age of 21 she would regularly compliment the band. Small comments but positive signs to nurture me in my development and help me on my way.

As a teenager I traveled to London every Saturday for music studies at the London College of Music. I was a really keen brass player and had plans to become a military bandsman when I left school.
At the time I didn't really know Peter's dad, he wasn't around at the corps as he was away serving in the Navy. When he returned to the corps I found myself chatting with him in the band room one Sunday. He asked what my career plans were. When I told him of my hopes for a military career he shared candidly about the challenges that military life would present to a young Salvationist and Christian. He testified to the difficulties he had experienced in maintaining his Christian and Salvationist principles. He urged me to think carefully.

His advice had a profound impact on me and I had a complete rethink. I never joined up but followed a different path. I had no idea what route life would take but for almost 30 years I have been privileged to serve as a Salvation Army officer. On the many occasions when I have been invited to share my life story (testimony) I recall that band room conversation - it was a pivotal moment in my life. But whilst it was so impactful for me, I doubt Peter's dad has any memory of it.  It was just a throwaway chat with a young lad - but it shaped my future.

Our territory has launched its 125th anniversary theme - 'We create future now'. Like most territories I guess this will involve planning big events and special campaigns. Materials will be produced and many hours will be invested by planning groups to look at strategy and goals. We look forward with anticipation to sharing in some exciting events. But a Facebook photo from the other side of the world reminded me this week that we also create future in the everyday conversations, those brief moments we grab to show an interest in someone, to encourage them and thank them or share something of life's experience. Conversely, I also know of many of my generation who no longer serve in our ranks because of a thoughtless comment, an unwise criticism, a harsh reaction to a perceived mistake.
How true it is that 'We create future now'. I thank God for those who shaped (and continue to shape) my future in a positive way. My hope and prayer is that God might grant us each the wisdom and sensitivity to say the right things at the right time - the word in season as scripture refers to it - and make the right decisions so that future is created and shaped for the better.

Light in the darkness

Having lived for most of my life in a country where 2 cm of snow brings the whole nation to a standstill, I found it puzzling that Estonians spent Christmas and New Year mourning the fact that no snow had fallen.  About 10 days ago the snow arrived – not loads by Estonian standards – but enough to make it feel as if winter had properly come. The daytime temperatures of -15 degrees contributed to the wintery feel! Last week I had to drive to our camp at Loksa.  It’s about 70kms east of the city and in a lovely woodland area close to the coast. The snow transformed the journey – it was so bright! The normally dark and overcast winter seemed magically transformed. The snow-covered pine trees looked like something from a postcard picture and the white, un-trodden snow just seemed to glow. I realised what we had been missing and why Estonians love the snow so much.

The new session (spot the joker in the pack!)

Last weekend new light came to The Salvation Army – to be a little more accurate – the Messengers of Light arrived! It was a historic occasion as Colonel Kleman (Territorial Commander) officially welcomed the 6 new cadets, the very first session ever to train for Salvation Army officership in Estonia. We have had other individuals train here – but this is the first time the training college has organised an official session here. The sessional welcome was a really joyful celebration - a scene experienced around the Salvation Army world - but one we had never experienced before in Estonia.



Tallinn Methodist church

This historic event has come about largely because 4 of the 6 cadets are Russian language speaking, something that the Territory’s training college in Finland is not equipped for.  So, after much discussion and exploration, we have partnered with the Methodist seminary in Tallinn and relocated our academic courses to Estonia. The modern seminary (the only one in Estonia that offers theological training in Russian) has classrooms with built in translation booths and professional translators; the library has theological study materials available in Russian and the accommodation is suitable and really reasonably priced.  Cadets will spend 3 days each month at the seminary participating in lectures organised by our own Training college staff. Later in the year our students might join with the seminary’s students for specific classes. One interesting spin-off is that the Methodists have asked if The Salvation Army in Estonia might provide practical placements for their trainee ministers so that they might experience social work and community service ministry. A great opportunity for partnership in ministry!


The new session (with CS Lieut Col Kornilow and Natalia Pentinnen)

 

Spiritually, Estonia might be considered a very dark place, with a very tiny percentage of the population attending church.  As our new session begins their training we thank God for the sign of new life for The Salvation Army in the Finland & Estonia territory – but we also pray our cadets will be true to their sessional name,  radiating the light of God in their own lives and brightening our country with the light and love of Jesus. God bless the Messengers of Light!

Musings on green socks

It was Sunday morning. As usual, I woke quite early. Lyn had not slept well so when it was time to put on my uniform I dressed in the semi darkness – rather than put the bedroom light on and disturb her.  Sometime later Lyn was also up and ready and we headed to Kopli corps for the morning meeting. Just as the meeting was about to start I looked down to my shoes and discovered to my horror that I was wearing green socks! I was so embarrassed - the Regional Commander in ‘non-regulation’ colour socks, disgraceful. I was trying to hide my feet under my chair s the meeting started. The first song and prayer seemed to pass quickly and the leader moved immediately into a testimony time. After inviting the congregation to stand up and share their experiences a lady rose to her feet and stepped to the front of the hall.  She explained how her life had been destroyed by a drug habit. As her life spiralled out of control her family had left her. She was heading for destruction when she met Jesus.  She accepted Jesus into her life and was saved – spiritually and physically. With His help she stopped using and got clean – and here she stood before us – a bright, intelligent, positive example of the power of God to save and transform. 

She sat down and immediately one of the residents of our rehab centre raised his hand and asked if he could testify. Nervously approaching the front he gave thanks to God for bringing him to The Salvation Army. Since coming to Hope House he had learned about the love and power of God. He had opened his life to Jesus and his life had changed. The meeting leader invited a number of us to step forward and surround him in prayer. We placed hands on him as she prayed that God  would hold him and help  him on his faltering walk of faith.

As he sat down another young rehab resident spoke up. ‘My life has changed dramatically since I came to the centre = outwardly I am so different now – but I don’t feel my life has changed inside yet. Why hasn’t Jesus come to me yet? What can I do to receive Him?’  A discussion started as the meeting leader and others explained the way to salvation before praying for him.

Did I feel stupid for worrying about green socks! Here we were, a small congregation in northern Tallinn, and real spiritual battle was being lived out in dramatic fashion. Victories were being celebrated, new converts were testify to the transforming power of God, pilgrims – some very new to the faith – were encouraging sincere seekers on their spiritual journey of discovery.  This was the real thing – this was what The Salvation Army was raised up by God to be – a salvation army!

This week  the Region’s officers and leaders gathered in Tallinn for our 2^nd ‘Ready for mission’ day.  It was great to share fellowship together and catch up on Christmas news. We spent the first part of the day looking at the report of the Spiritual Life commission and the ‘Call to war’. I shared with them that over 50 years ago General Albert Osborn wrote his autobiography ‘The House of my pilgrimage’. He recalled his  leadership of The Salvation Army; his time as the General. In writing about his life he admitted that he may have made some mistakes. But, there was one thing that he was confident about. He said, ‘I always tried to keep the Army true to the Army. His focus was always that the Army should be what God intended us to be – a permanent mission to the unconverted. He went on to say - Our officers must keep us to this purpose. Our training colleges must train and send out officers with this goal: nothing less will do.

How often in my officership have I had a ‘green sock moment’ – distracted from the main purpose of my calling by something that really didn’t matter at all? I thank God for that Sunday morning meeting in Kopli corps, Tallinn when He reminded me again of His love, grace and transforming power.  

Christmas in Estonia (part 1)

Tallinn Christmas Market - just beautiful!

So, it’s our first Christmas in Estonia and life is certainly different! Living in Tallinn is a wonderful experience. The Old Town looks like a fairy tale. The atmosphere in the Christmas market is just wonderful. There’s even real live reindeer; and I sometimes have to pinch myself as I hurry through the town en route to meetings to remind myself I’m not dreaming - we really do live and work here. 

 

 

Around the Region corps officers and teams are really busy and the regular food parcel distributions take on an even more urgent feel. Families appreciate the special ‘goodies’ that are added to the parcels and which turn these regular donations into something a little special.

 As a brass player I have remained an active band member throughout my officership. December (or even November, in Portsmouth!) has always been marked out as the carolling season. With just a handful of brass players in Tallinn, our carolling programme bears very little relation to what we were used to in the UK.  With the help of a couple of friends who played Sousaphone and Saxophone, we managed to get a small group together to do our first carolling session this week.  Before we went ‘public’ we had a band practice and it was quite funny seeing people learn carols that SA brass players at home know from memory. But when we took to the shopping centre, people stopped to listen and the carols seemed to be well received even though there were more than a few dodgy notes.







 

Christmas collecting is tough work here. I don’t for one moment use that phrase to denote

The band in Solaris Centre, Tallinn

the physical struggle that colleague Salvationists experience in the USA or UK throughout December.  In Tallinn we have just 2 kettle stands – the Solaris shopping centre and the Stockmanns department store. Both of these are very smart, very high end retail areas.  The stores are as nice as you would find anywhere in the world – with all the international brand names. So the environment is really pleasant and the kettle stands are warm and comfortable. The kettles are staffed from 12 noon to 8pm and volunteers take 1 or 2 hour slots. Other than the ache in my poor bad back (consequences of a silly slip up with my motorbike 10 years ago!) I really can’t complain. But, I confess I have found my slots on ‘kettles’ quite challenging.



Very interesting backdrop for today's kettle stand!!

 There are three problems: the first is that I miss the Christmas banter with passers-by. Now, I know that’s largely my own fault. My 5 months of Estonian lessons have not yet given me the confidence (or vocabulary) to say much. So conversations have been - ‘hello’, ‘thank you’ and ‘Happy Christmas’. And even that has been difficult as a large portion of the community speak Russian! The second problem is that these conversations have happened so rarely. In the UK the Salvation Army is well known. We have some very generous supporters who give large donations – but we also have many people who generally think we are OK types of people and who are happy to drop a ‘quid’ in the bucket as they pass by.  The flow of people is often quite brisk and the chats, if only superficial, come thick and fast. Not so here. My experience of this week is that during the course of an hour I might get anything between 2 and 10 donations. By the way, 10 was an exceptionally good slot, today’s 1-hour slot saw only 2 ‘customers’. So it’s really boring standing as crowds walk by oblivious to your presence.  Which highlights the 3rd problem; no one really knows who we are here in Estonia. The uniform is not recognised, the Red Shield and the iconic kettle mean nothing and there is very little awareness of our work – all of which make it very hard to generate public support.

 There is one strange phenomenon, though. Some people drop a few cents in the kettle – but others

My very first Estonian Christmas dinner

 put in a note – and a 10 or 20 Euro note at that! I’d be interested to know the reason behind their generosity. Do they know us from overseas or have they some idea of what we do in Estonia? I’d love to ask them –but I can’t speak enough of the language!!!! So frustrating.

 OK – that’s my moan over.  Alongside the kettle programme it has been great to participate in some of the Christmas parties. There’s never a shortage of food, the hall is always laid out beautifully and people seem to have a great time. On Thursday we tasted our first Estonian Christmas dinner. It’s rather different to what we are used to. Turkey is replaced by blood sausage (black pudding we would call it back home), and Brussel sprouts are replaced by beetroot and sauerkraut. It’s an acquired taste (!) but we enjoyed it. This Sunday is the last Sunday in Advent and we are really looking forward to experiencing worship over the Christmas festival. The hard work and motivation of the corps leaders has been so encouraging. It’s been great to see corps volunteers hard at work and to get to know people a little better.



Kopli corps Christmas party

 If I’m honest – I’ve realised how much we take for granted the ‘brand awareness’ that we have in the UK, along with the blessings of a good corps band and songster brigade and the ministry opportunities that are opened up at Christmas when you have quality musical sections.  So, if you have groups like that in your corps and are feeling a little weary after your 100^th rendition of ‘Silent Night’, be thankful for the blessings!

 Time to wrap up this week’s ‘rambling’ and head down to the corps to help get the hall ready for worship tomorrow. I’ll give you an update on our experiences of Christmas week next time.

Johvi vorps takes to the airwaves

Another great story from the east of our Region this week. The term 'open air' took on a new meaning as an exciting new project launched this week in Estonia. The Salvation Army and Family Radio have partnered to open a new broadcasting studio in the Johvi corps.

Arina and Paavo ready at their mics

Candidates Evgenhy and Arina Danilov took up their appointments in the summer. Their congregation was very small - actually, on their first Sunday no one turned up at all! So they took stock of what they had available, looked at their office and decided it could be much more effectively used as a radio studio. Before stopping work to look after their lovely new son, Arina worked with Family Radio at their Narva studio. Discussions took place with radio station director Paavo Pihlak and the plans for establishing a new studio in Johvi began to take shape. Paavo sourced the necessary technical equipment and the room was soundproofed and carpeted to provide the right environment for recording.

On Friday I travelled with Regional Assistant Evelin eastwards to Johvi for the opening ceremony. Arina and Evgenhy had organised it and I wasn't quite sure what to expect. How thrilled we were to find a small group of enthusiastic supporters gathered for this historic event.  A church friend, Sergei, joined Arina to lead us in a time of worship. It was my privilege to formally welcome our visitors and then Arina explained how God had given her the vision to use her experience in Christian media and launch this new project. She was delighted by the enthusiastic reception to her ideas and grateful or this new opportunity.

A number of leaders of Local churches had come along and one by one they took to the mic to lend

Johvi church leaders unite to launch the new project

their support, praying that this new project would demonstrate unity amongst Christians in the city and form a powerful voice of witness and evangelism within the area. Volunteer broadcasters from Family Radio's Narva studio shared testimonies received from listeners who had contacted the station to express thanks for the spiritual encouragement they had received from listening to the programmes.After praying and asking for God's blessing on the new ministry, I invited Methodist Pastor Arthur Pold and radio director Paavo Pihlak to join me in cutting the ribbon and declaring the new studio open and 'ready for mission'. 

Paavo begins the ribbon cutting!

To symbolise the working partnership Paavo and I each cut the ribbon one third of the way through before Arthur gave the final snip and we declared the studio 'ready for mission'! This new project is a powerful reminder of the wonderful opportunities that media and social networking open up. The Johvi corps is small numerically - but it's influence could be totally unrelated to its size. Arina and Evgenhy will become cadets in January when the new training session begins but it is great to see their vision becoming reality.  Whilst Family Radio's airwaves broadcast covers parts of Eastern Europe, the programme can be listened to anywhere in the world via the internet. So If you want more information bout Family Radio's programme schedules, check out their website: http://www.pereraadio.ee

Wise women from the East

Cndidate Arina and the Johvi 'women in prayer'

A few kilometres have been covered this week as Lyn and I journeyed as far east as it's possible to go within Estonia on a 2-day visit to Johvi and Narva.  With all our corps 2.5 hours or more from Regional Headquarters, visits can sometimes be a little bit 'hit and run'. But with special invitations from the women leaders, Candidate Arina Danilova and Captain Ludmila Baglai, for Lyn to visit their respective Ladies meetings we scheduled a longer trip. And I am so glad we did! We enjoyed special fellowship with our corps leaders and opportunity to meet new church members and volunteers.

At Johvi corps, Arina has started a new Thursday activity - 'Women in prayer'. It was lovely to meet with 4 ladies who have recently started attending the corps. Interestingly, the women don't live in Johvi but travel 10kms from the area of Kohtla-Jarva. As the group sat together around the table Arina led them in a short Bible study and then a lovely time of prayer. The women clearly enjoy coming and feel the costly bus journey is worth while. A small  but very significant foundation has been planted and we pray that others might join in coming weeks.

From Johvi we headed further east to Narva - right on the border with Russia. The town has a very different

Ludmila translates as Lyn shares at Narva

feel about it to Tallinn, where we live. The language is almost exclusively Russian and the design of the buildings very Soviet in style. Having moved into a new corps building  earlier this year, the corps programme is really developing and expanding. The Friday Ladies fellowship meeting revolves around food -as does much of the corps programme here in Estonia. After enjoying sandwiches and drinks in the downstairs dining room the group of around 40 ladies moved upstairs to the worship hall. Lyn had prepared a short presentation of introduction but before she took part Captain Ludmila invited the ladies to share any personal thoughts. One by one they stood to  share readings or testimonies that they had prepared in advance and brought to share. From start to finish it really was a time of rich 'fellowship'.

Lyn even learned how to make a 'snowflake' Christmas decoration from one of the youngsters who had come along with her grandma.

This weekend, as I write this blog, news from home includes reports that the first female Anglican Bishop (in the UK and Ireland) is being installed in Ireland. We pray God's blessing on the Rev Pat Storey as she makes history. How thankful we are that our Salvation Army Founders recognised the significant place of women leaders in our church. This week we have seen first hand evidence of the wise leadership and fruitful ministry of our women leaders in the 'east'. We give thanks to God for them.

Next Friday I will be returning to Johvi again to participate in a special ceremony for a new and exciting partnership activity. I'll report it in next week's blog.

Estonia - Ready for Mission

The SA team gather - not sure who the guy in the white shirt is!

 The Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit is always an exciting event. Lyn and I have been privileged to attend a number of these in the UK. This year was our first experience of GLS Estonia and we were certainly not disappointed. Along with around a dozen of our colleague SA leaders we made our way to the Tallinn Technical college recently. The event was organised with the same high standard of professionalism as we had experienced from Willow Creek before. Bill Hybel’s opening session set the scene for a powerful conference and really challenged me. His theme was ‘Courage in leadership’ – and he shared movingly his personal testimony of the moments God has used words originally spoken to Joshua as challenge and encouragement: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.’” Joshua 1:9  I recognised those times in my life when I should have shown more of that godly courage and prayed that God might equip me for the leadership tasks ahead.

Opportunity for fellowship and discussion

The assembly hall of the Technical College was full – and it was particularly inspiring to look around and see so many young leaders present (or is this just a sign I am getting old!). I couldn’t help reflecting that here we were in Estonia – a country that only 20 years before had been annexed under Soviet rule – with so many young, enthusiastic leaders determined to share the Gospel and grow the church. I gave thanks to God for those older Christians and leaders who had kept the flame of faith alight when times must have been very dark and challenging. I looked around at our small SA group and gave thanks to God for the movement of the Spirit within the Army. I gave thanks for new officers and emerging leaders and prayed we might be true to our calling as a ‘salvation’ Army.

During the last few weeks I have been touched by the generosity of many friends and corps in the UK who have responded to our ‘Ready for Mission’ appeal. We asked for help to fund officers’ meeting and training days. You have responded so generously and warmly and we would like you to accept our sincere thanks. Because of your kindness and support we can not only look forward with confidence to those Ready for Mission days planned for 2014 but we have also committed to take 12 leaders to participate in the Baltic Church Conference in February 2014. The theme will be ‘Building Life – Changing Churches’. It sounds really exciting and we hope God will use it to inspire us to build His church in Estonia.

These are exciting and challenging days and we pray we might be responsive to His leading and ‘Ready for Mission’.