The Salvation Army Chatham

The week-end began for some of us with a visit to a local church to listen to a concert given by the London Community Gospel Choir.

What enthusiasm! A really good evening of very infectious entertainment and a strong gospel message. An impressive attitude from the choir who had spent the day working with two local schools bringing ‘gospel’ music, and in many cases the gospel itself, to the children for the very first time. The children learned three songs from ’scratch’ during the day and were able to perform them with some distinction during the concert. Unfortunately no photographs were permitted during the performance.

Our Sunday meetings this week saw the beginning of a new series of subjects in the morning under the general heading of ‘Popular Alternatives to the Gospel’. Major Beverley was our leader and this week the particular topic was ‘Christianity without the Cross’.

Major Beverley

Mark 8: 31-38 was the scripture used which speaks about Jesus predicting his death on the cross. Major Beverley included songs 7, 532 and 283 from The Salvation Army Song Book together with 197 and 865 from Songs of Fellowship. In her message she said ‘you can’t have chocolate cake without chocolate or a diamond ring wthout diamonds. Being a Christian is often confused with just being good. Jesus himself knew that the cross was essential to the salvation of mankind. We seem to want to develop our own salvation in modern society because we reward work and effort. But this is irrelevant; we only receive salvation through the cross. We also have to take up the cross and ‘die’ to self’.

The Songsters contributed ‘Written in Red’ and the Singing Company ‘Power and Love’. Also during the meeting we were again delighted to witness the enrolment of yet another new Soldier. Rachel, wife of John, whose testimony appears in our Audio Features pages, spoke in her own testimony of the motor cycle accident she suffered which has led to her being severely disabled. She managed to get to the platform for the ceremony and stood, supported by John, to receive her covenant. We are grateful to God for the work He is doing in our Corps.

The Enrolment

Recruiting Sergeant Rosemary Steadman-Allen who has been responsible for preparing Rachel for Soldiership.

Major Drew

In the evening Major Drew brought to an end our series on ‘New Year Resolutions for the Church’ with the exhortation to ‘Overcome Evil with Good’. This meeting was based on Romans 12:17-21 but also included a reading from Romans 8:35-39. Songs included were 809, 152, 705 and 156 from The Salvation Army Song Book together with 8 and 475 from Songs of Fellowship. The music included ‘If you would be strong’ from the Songsters and ‘Serenity’ from the Band.

A ten-minute DVD about the life and achievements of William Wilberforce was shown reminding us of the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade in Britain and also to reinforce the message of ‘overcoming evil with good’.

Major Drew reminded us that ‘goodness is one of the fruits of the spirit. Jesus said that eventually a tree will be known by its fruit. Integrity is authentic goodness or wholeness. How we think controls the outcome of our lives. We must think things that are right, lovely and true and have the courage to translate our thoughts into actions. We must chose to act to counter the culture of our day. Love your enemies, do good to those that hate you and give without expecting a return’.

Goodness………Gracious……….ME. and YOU?