Over the next few weeks, Salvation Army churches around New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga turn their attention to raising funds for overseas mission. The annual Salvation Army Self Denial Appeal is an internal fundraising campaign, vital for the Army’s ongoing work around the world.
The Salvation Army is 150 years old this year, an achievement celebrated by 15,000 Salvationists in our birthplace of London just one week ago. We now serve in 126 countries, with one of the most recent additions being the autonomous Danish territory of Greenland.
There’s an old saying, ‘When you’ve seen the world, there’s always Greenland.’ Major Levi Giversen (editor-in-chief for The Salvation Army in Denmark) has provided our readers with an excellent account of the Army’s fledgling ministry in Greenland.
The late Rich Mullins is still one of my favourite songwriters. One of his songs captures the spirit of fellowship that binds all Christians, no matter where in the world we live: Well, the other side of the world / Is not so far away as I thought that it was / As I thought that it was so far away / But the other side of the world is not so far away / And the distance just dissolves into the love.
Every year, we watch the Self Denial videos that show the impact of our work in people’s lives. This year, we’ll be watching clips from Rwanda, Cambodia, Pakistan and Papua New Guinea (you can watch these at www.salvationarmy.org.nz/selfdenial).
Salvation Army founder William Booth wrote in 1894 urging Salvationists to get behind this appeal by denying themselves ‘of some pleasant or necessary things’ to ‘devote the money saved to the extension of the kingdom of God and the benefit of the suffering’. Booth signs off with the phrase: ‘Relying upon your sympathy’—a reminder that our best motivation for giving is the sympathetic consideration of the difficulties of others.
Christina Tyson
Editor
Romans 15:13 New Living Translation
‘I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.’
Rōma 15:13
‘Nā, mā te Atua, nāna nei te tūmanako, e whakakī koutou ki te hari katoa, ki te rangimārie, i runga i te whakapono, kia hua ai tō koutou tūmanako, i runga i te kaha o te Wairua Tapu.’