Monday Spot (15 January 2007)
‘LET THE RIVER FLOW’
We are getting back to normal now with all activities resuming their programme post-christmas. On Sunday we spent considerable time looking at the ‘vision’ for the corps in the year ahead. Following the discussions of the leadership team our meetings included an introduction of the direction to be set in the comimg months.
The river shown in the picture above is the Medway, flowing through the Medway Towns of which Chatham is a part. Our morning meeting, led by Major Drew opened with the reading from Ezekiel which inspired our vision back in the summer of 2005 (Ezekiel 47:1-12) and this was coupled with song 471 from the Salvation Army Song Book which begins ‘Yes, there flows a wondrous river’. Other songs included were 493 from the SA Song Book and 865 and 362 from Songs of Fellowship.
Major Drew
In his sermon Major Drew spoke about ‘vision’ being the art of seeing the invisible and that the destination of the river is to bring life to dead places. He said that this had been a year of progress but there were sometimes disturbing reminders of the need for right relationships. A significant part of the meeting was the ‘commisioning’ of a number of new local officers; Tim Scott as Corps Sergeant Major, Tim and Rosemary Steadman-Allen acting as a Music Sections Sergeant team covering both Band and Songsters, Majors Alma and Jim Brown as Adherents Secretaries and Gwyneth Williams as Assistant Songster Sergeant.
Clockwise: Tim, Rosemary, Alma, the group, Gwyneth, Jim
We shall be introducing Tim in more detail later in the week. Speaking as a representative of all the new appointments he assured us that he would be putting his hand into God’s hand quoting from Minnie Louise Harkin’s poem used by King George VI at the outset of World War 2 ‘……so I went forth and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night, and He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day…..’
Our second meeting took a very different form than the usual, Major Drew first outlining the ‘vision’ originally launched in the July 2005 and asking all to ‘belong, believe and behave’. He reminded us that we have enrolled 19 new soldiers in that time for which we give thanks to God.
Seven key aims for 2007 were outlined as follows:
1 To become more significant to our community
2 Continue to address the links between the stages (Leadership Team as a whole)
3 Extending/adapting Alpha
4 Evangelism Training (Contagious Christianity)
5 Enhance befrienders scheme (Patoral Care Council)
6 Increase communication and ownership (Leadership Team and everyone)
7 Establish Spiritual Gift Course to help people identify their area of ministry (Service Group)
Musical contributions from Band (Be Thou my Vision) and Songsters (Under His Wings and Church on Fire) enhanced the message which was based on Psalms 46:1-11 and 36:5-9. Songs used included 298, 22 and 482 from the Salvation Army Song Book together with 40 in Songs of Fellowship. The singing of the Founder’s Song (O Boundless Salvation) was moving to say the least.
However, an almost missed line came from our Singing Company in their contribution to the morning meeting. The first line of their song said ‘There’s a way to climb a mountain’. There always is, isn’t there, if you find the hand of God.