Life as a rural chaplain

Caring community brought Russell Healey to The Salvation Army and is what he tries to give back as a rural chaplain.

I was a typical Kiwi boy: fishing, hunting, rugby and cricket. I got to the stage I didn’t like the way I was living. It was mainly the drink. I was going out with a Salvation Army girl at the time, now my wife. One night I didn’t tell anyone, but I jumped in the car and went to The Salvation Army night church, and I kept going and after going three nights in a row a family invited me to their place for supper. It was the genuineness and the friendliness of the people, that they took the time to invite me to supper and the old guy at the door shook my hand. I thought, ‘It can’t be all bad if this guy’s shaking my hand.’

I joined the youth group and stayed. Later, we spent 13 years in Wellington before moving back to Invercargill and re-joining the corps there. I’ve been involved in various roles at the corps. I’m the Corps Sergeant Major and the Mission Coordinator. Through that role I began to visit businesses, going in saying, ‘Hi, I’m from The Salvation Army, what can we do for you?’

I started working with firms that supply farmers. Then the dairy industry took a tumble. The price of milk solids dropped from $8 a kilogram to $4 a kilogram and lower and the panic set in. I’ve been a sheep and beef farmer, so I understand how it works. I just started driving up cocky’s driveways and the rural chaplaincy has gone from there. It’s hard to see. I know some dairy farmers who are losing $3000 a day.

You don’t go in there saying, ‘We’re going to solve your problems’, but you say, ‘We’re here to help.’ From a chaplaincy point of view, we’re about getting people talking. Farming is a lonely life, you can be on your own for days on end, so the first thing you do is try and check everything’s okay at home and how their health is. Some will admit their health is being affected or things aren’t great at home, so you suggest they go and see their doctor.

I work with the Southland Rural Trust and we have access to financial advisors, farm management experts, councillors, support groups, whatever people need—so I link people in there as well.

The ultimate goal is to take Christ into the community. Once we know Christ as our saviour, I think it’s our job to take what we have out into the community, but you don’t go in there and bang a Bible down on the table. It starts with rapport and a relationship.

What I find is after you’ve been talking with people a while and listening to them they will say, ‘Tell me about your life.’ I will share my testimony and I say to them, ‘That relationship I have with Christ, you can have that same relationship, but you have to come to those terms yourself—and we can talk about that if you want.’

Sometimes you will never know if you made a difference, but sometimes you see people come to church or get involved in other ways.

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by Russell Healey (c) 'War Cry' magazine,5 March 2016, pp 9.
You can read 'War Cry' at your nearest Salvation Army church or centre, or subscribe through Salvationist Resources.