The Salvation Army Chatham

As we move into the final third of the year we are still wondering when summer will begin. However, the forecasters have told us we will have a good September and October, so here’s hoping

A sunny fellowship day back in July!

Majors Drew and Beverley were once again responsible for our meetings yesterday and we seem to be near the end of the holiday period. A number of those who have been away have returned and the hall began to feel like its normal self again. With many of the schools going back this week we should be back to normal very soon.

Majors Drew & Beverley McCombe

Drew led the morning meeting and included songs 10, 324, 512 and 679 from the Salvation Army Song Book together with 1205 and 1067 from Songs of Fellowship. He included an invitation to attend the Alpha course which will begin on 10 September and will be led by himself with Rod Tranah, and Paul and Ruth Woodhouse. Any local readers are welcome to contact us to register for the course and will be made very welcome.

L to R: Rod, Ruth & Paul

Musical ministry was provided by the Singing Company and Songsters who brought ‘Praise His Holy Name’ and ‘One Life to Live’ respectively. Drew chose scripture from John 6:1-15 to support his message which was on the theme of ‘Belief in Action – its what you do that counts’ (the theme for this year’s Annual Appeal due to start in two weeks time). He said alongside the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection this story is the only one told in all four gospels. This miracle was bigger than life and so many people were involved. It seemed too big to be possible. We often feel that things around us are too big for us to make a difference. What impresses me about God is how much He does with so little. After all He created the universe out of nothing. We may feel inadequate but God can and does use us. He works mighty miracles through our inadequacies. If you surrender your life to God he can do this with you. The question to all of us is ‘have you surrendered your all to God’. God blessed the food in the story and handed it out to the people. There was more than enough with plenty left over. We don’t know how but God can multiply our lives by his miracles in the same way. Let Him do it. Believe that He can and He will. Let your life be His ‘broken bread’.

It is always good to see new people in our meetings but when that new person is only three weeks old it is a very lovely occasion. Kira came for the very first time yesterday brought her mum and dad, Graham and Leanne, as you can see.

Kira with mum & dad

In the evening Beverley took as her subject ‘Unexpected people – unexpected places’ and used Psalm 150 and Acts 8:26-42 for her bible message. She used songs 283, 435 and 640 from the Salvation Army Song Book and 145 and 1015 from Songs of Fellowship. The Band played ‘Fall Afresh’ and the Songsters sang ‘When we cannot see our way’.

A number of people testified as to why they praise God.

In her message Beverley said expectations are very powerful. and our actions are determined by the expectations of other people. God, however, is not defined by our expectations. The story of the eunuch described in our reading is unexpected as it is about an individual, not a group of people. The man himself was already converted to Judaism but there is a new covenant after Jesus came. Those who were previously excluded were now included. Barriers were taken down and the disciples were set to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. In fact, the converted man took the gospel to Africa, a crucial work in spreading the good news. Wherever the disiples went they preached about Jesus and new converts find this easy. This is the Christian’s mandate.

Evangelism is teaching about Jesus and encouraging a suitable response., which often means asking for sins to be forgiven. God still speaks to individuals and we need to train ourselves to do this, putting ourselves in a position to hear God.  What are our expectations? Do we expect God to use us? Do we expect people to be interested in Jesus? God uses unexpected people in unexpected ways and we need to be open and available for God to work.

As we get back into the swing of things following the holiday period we will endeavour to keep readers informed of what goes on and portray the heartbeat of the corps. We hope you find it both interesting and stimulating. We do!