The Salvation Army Chatham

Steve and Mel Scoulding have been accepted for training as Salvation Army Officers. Here is their testimony.

Steve & Mel

I still can’t get over the fact (writes Steve) that we are part of The Salvation Army! We both first met God as teenagers through a youth club at our local Anglican Church and were both baptised and confirmed by the Bishop of London on the same day in Gypsy Hill, South London. We’ve done almost everything together ever since!

We came to Chatham Corps in February of 2002 to do the Alpha Course that was being led by Murray and Verna.  I have to be honest, having suffered a mental breakdown just over 24hrs beforehand, to walk into the YP Hall with all its murals was a bit surreal, even for me!

part of the ‘murals’

But the welcome we received was incredible.  At the time all the focus was on me: but the decisions and difficulties faced by Mel in having to deal with a 42 year old in that state cannot be underestimated.  As with most things in life nothing really prepares you for what you have to face until you’re in the middle of it.  I thank God for Mel every time I look at her ~ just as my friend John Mills said ‘The Lord sent me an angel when he sent me Mel’.

I had nagged Mel for ages about ‘doing’ an Alpha Course and I am pretty sure she agreed just to keep me quiet. We’d left the Church more than 20 years before and over and above everything else that we were going through, our relationship with each other was the worse for wear. God ministered to us through the people he stood before us:  Major Malcolm Westwood, Jean Jones, Verna and Murray, Steve and Tracy; the list is truly endless.  I remember being told by Malcolm that one day we would give thanks to God for the suffering, and we do!

We began to realise what had gone so wrong and re-committed ourselves to Jesus.

Steve & Mel on the day they became Salvation Army Soldiers

We asked the Holy Spirit to fill us to overflowing and our lives began to change.  For five years we stayed inside the Alpha Course: leading a couple of courses then taking over from Murray and Verna when they stepped down as Alpha Administrators.  We also became leaders of the Mission and Evangelism Purpose Group and began to take on things way outside our comfort zone. There have been times when it has been hard to keep the direction, drive and enthusiasm and if we are honest, sometimes we have felt like chucking it in. But God has shown us over and over again that He keeps His promises and never lets us down. He has shown us such miracles, the like of which we could not have imagined.  He has allowed us the privilege of being present when so many people have been at the foot of the cross giving their lives to Jesus and we still can’t fathom that out!  All we know is that we have signed a covenant with God, as Soldiers in The Salvation Army to fight with all our hearts to give to others that which was given so freely to us ~ SALVATION through Jesus Christ.

We are now entering another chapter of our journey with the Lord.  We have been accepted as candidates for officer training in the 2009 session at William Booth College. Every session is given a name and ours will be ‘Ambassadors of Holiness’.  We are truly not worrying about the future because, in the words of the song:

I’m in his hands, I’m in his Hands;

Whate’re the future holds

I’m in his hands,

The days I cannot see

Have all been planned for me;

His way is best, you see;

I’m in his hands.

For the words of the whole song click here.