‘If it’s a God idea, just get started …’
BY LAUREN MARTIN
Without provision or manpower, Newcastle Salvos stepped out in faith 18 months ago to serve the local community. They’ve found that God has provided everything they’ve needed, and more than they could have imagined.
Major Leanne Bennett states the obvious when she says, “You can’t influence people for Jesus if you don’t know them.”
The ‘matter-of-fact’ corps officer and her husband, Major Peter Bennett, lead two large corps and mission expressions in the Hunter region – Newcastle and Norwest Lake Macquarie. Moving into the Newcastle appointment at Hamilton in the inner city just after the COVID-19 lockdown years, the couple has worked to open the centre up more and more to collaboration and community connections.
But it hasn’t been easy.
“I think, personally, one of the mistakes that you can make as [Salvation Army] officers or managers is to think, ‘I’m not going to start something because I haven’t got the volunteers or the finances’,” Leanne says. “I think if you’ve got a God idea, you just get rolling with what you’ve got and let it continue to grow.”
That’s exactly what happened 18 months ago, when they started a food ministry from the corps’ back activity room.
Within months, word had spread, the cost-of-living crisis had intensified, and they needed to upscale the operation, moving it into the corps’ worship space. What Leanne found was that with God at work through the community initiative, it was “easy to recruit a whole lot of volunteers when they arrive and see a hive of activity and feel inspired … and as we’ve rolled on over the last year, we have probably tripled the number of volunteers that we’ve got.”
Some volunteers and community members have now started returning to the large auditorium on a Sunday to worship God in the same space where they felt so welcome during the week.
One volunteer, Marilyn, says she gives her time because she wants to give hope: “I like the community, and I like helping people in need, so people don’t feel so destitute. I know a lot of people who are homeless in Newcastle … I know there is a lot of hopeless feeling around here. We just try to support them.”
Another, Sonny, says he loves making hot drinks from the coffee van outside the corps food market to bless people while they wait: “People really appreciate being served a coffee; it makes the whole experience more humane with more connection. It encourages people to sit around and chat with each other and helps build a sense of community and makes people feel like they belong and are appreciated.”
That community spirit is on display in the foyer of the main hall, where dozens of people chat as they wait for their number to be called at the food market.
One woman, Sharon, says she’s been coming for the past 12 months and found out about it through friends: “I see a lot of my friends, in fact I just ran into an old friend today!” she says. “It’s very helpful too because being on the pension you can’t afford a lot.”
Collaboration is key
The Newcastle Salvos building is large and well-equipped. It houses The Salvation Army’s Doorways service, Moneycare Service and call centre, Employment Plus and the corps.
As more people in need accessed the Wednesday food market and the Corps’ Friday lunch, connections with other organisations and service providers began to form organically.
Earlier this year, Street Side Medics, a service delivering healthcare to people experiencing homelessness, chose Newcastle Salvos as the location for a weekly GP and nurse service. Orange Sky Laundry also parks its laundry truck on site two days a week. Recently, homelessness services provider REACH Homelessness decided to partner with Newcastle Salvos.
“They were operating their meals and services out of a van in public spaces,” says Leanne. “They’ve now been able to move in here with us and offer a much nicer space in our old café.”
The Department of Corrective Services uses the building to run groups for offenders, and some volunteers at the Wednesday food market and the Friday community lunch are on Work Development Orders or Community Correction Orders.
Leanne says working together strengthens support for community members in need, as referrals between services and agencies are smoother and easier to follow up on.
The corps community worker, Lyn Gilmour, works to streamline ministry throughout the week, linking community members who access services with corps-based programs such as Walking Group, Bible Study, Home League and Craft Group. Some mission partners, such as Moneycare employees, also volunteer with the corps-based social activities to provide hands-on support.
Moneycare Financial Counsellor and Team Leader for Newcastle, Kahlee Upton, says she and her team regularly volunteer at the Wednesday food market.
“It’s really important for us to be as involved with the community as we can … we can share information about our service, learn about what’s happening in the corps, and then pass that information on to community members,” she says.
“This particular corps has so much happening each day, so the opportunity to be involved in those things is really beneficial, and it’s a really beautiful way to be able to support the corps officers who do such a wonderful job in the community.”
God building his church
Major Peter says he sees God’s fingerprints all over what’s happening at Newcastle Salvos. “We are providing a place for the community to come.
“It’s a glorious ‘hodge-podge’ of community folks and church folks and volunteers, and we come, we gather, we open our doors, everybody floods in. We see God in this entire operation.”
Fellow corps members, Auxiliary-Lieutenants Adam and Melissa Purcell, agree. Adam, the national General Manager for Frontline Support, and Melissa, Youth and Young Adults Secretary, joined the nearby Norwest Lake Macquarie Corps after moving back to the Hunter region from Melbourne following the COVID-19 lockdowns. They were renting office space at the corps, where Leanne and Peter also minister, and naturally began to get involved.
“It keeps me connected with what’s happening on the ground,” says Melissa. “Being in a national role, you can be so far removed from what’s happening or even what the struggles are for corps officers and church leaders.”
She says it’s wonderful to be able to volunteer at Norwest Lake Macquarie and Newcastle Corps, alongside her national role.
“It’s building relationships and being able to have faith conversations with people as you get to know them,” she says. “It’s more than about feeding people because we want to care for the whole of the person, not just the physical side.”
She says seeing the Gospel in action strengthens her faith. “Church is not about Sunday, this is church [every day of the week]. Friday lunch could be church for people, as we open with grace and gradually being able to introduce a Bible verse and discussion time.”
Kingdom expansion is happening every day the doors are open at Newcastle Salvos. Major Peter says it’s the ‘gospel in action’.
“This is ministry unto the Lord. Some folks cringe and go, ‘Oh, you’re inviting those people from ‘the world’ into our church!’ But that’s how it should be! That’s exactly what the Gospel is – the church coming to the world.”
The entrance to the Newcastle Salvos main worship centre.
