BY ANTHONY CASTLE Auxiliary-Lieutenant Steve Freind is a mission leader at Ellenbrook Salvos and a Youth and Young Adults Secretary in Western Australia. The invitation to support hundreds of young people in prayer started a year-long journey that has made all the difference to his spiritual life. “This prayer event came on the radar about 12 months ago for me, with some conversations with key leaders in Western Australia,” Steve explains. “Perth had got picked for the World Prayer Assembly, and I was asked to engage the youth and young adults at the event. There was a team of us that came together and journeyed together for nine months, praying into the space, asking how we engage young people in all this?” The World Prayer Assembly recently convened at the Perth Convention Centre from 3-6 October. The assembly drew a diverse crowd of over 5000 participants worldwide for prayer sessions, workshops and guest speakers. Steve has been a youth worker for 18 years, engaging young people and leaders at camps and through programs and conferences across Australia. “We wanted to hear the voices of young people,” Steve says. “We didn’t know how many were coming to the event, but across the week, we engaged with 500 young people. We always asked young people to lead, to speak, to set the agenda, to ask ‘what’s next?’ There can be such a spiritual passion in young people, who are way more engaged than people often think.” A spiritually hungry generation Research shows that a greater proportion of younger people attend religious services more frequently than older age groups. Data also reveals that while most Gen Z teens have little to do with church in their personal lives, a significant proportion are interested in different ways of being spiritual. “I think young people will lead the Church into new things,” says Steve. “They’re a hungry generation with strong faith, so how do we raise up young people in prayer? We asked young people, ‘What does it mean for you to pray? To pray for other young people? To be in mission spaces? What’s on your heart?’” Young adults may no longer have social or cultural ties to particular church denominations. They still rate the highest in terms of attending religious services and can be a spiritually-minded generation. Salvos Year of Prayer The Salvation Army is currently launching 12 months of prayer, uniting the states across four seasons (spring, summer, autumn, and winter), with invitations for all people of all ages to help build a rhythm of prayer. “Prayer makes all the difference,” Steve explains. “I’ve learnt that this can be done in many places, whether it’s quiet time while alone, driving in car, riding my bike, or even while running an activity in a school. I no longer run a program, assist with Doorways, or hang out with young people, hoping God will do something. I am now expectant that in all areas of ministry, God is at work. The Salvos are launching their year of prayer, and the experience of the last 12 months has led into it for me.” The Salvos Year of Prayer will focus on a different Scripture each week, and every Sunday afternoon there is an invitation to pray, either in person or online. Each week also features invitations for people to be creative and join community. “I have a whole new understanding of prayer in the last 12 months,” Steve says. “What I learned was that when you come along people through humility and unity, it’s not about your voices or theirs, it’s about what God’s doing. It’s surreal. We’re so used to working as a team, in structures, with obligations. If we can create prayer spaces, God will do something incredible.” More information about involvement with the Salvos Year of Prayer, which starts on 29 October, can be found here

BY COMMISSIONER MIRIAM GLUYAS To all who call The Salvation Army their home! Friends, I am calling all of us to prayer. To really pray. To spend time, to listen, to discern, to hear, to speak, and to speak out what God is saying to us. These are urgent and exciting days. Imagine if all of us were first on our knees and then rising up, having heard from the Lord, and going forward into a world that desperately needs Jesus. This week, we launched our Year of Prayer campaign. I have loved seeing what has been on Facebook and what corps and individuals are planning already. Aux-Lieutenant Rosy Keane, our Secretary for Spiritual Life Development, has provided us with prayer cards to use each week and a wonderful resource site. Sundays, there is the opportunity to join together and pray. Even if everyone gets a set of cards and participates in their corps experience, that would be wonderful ... and there is so much more to be involved in. To find out all you need to know about our Year of Prayer, just click on the following links or copy and paste into your browser: My Salvos - https://my.salvos.org.au/a-year-of-prayer/ Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/tsayearofprayer?mibextid=LQQJ4d Or contact Aux-Lieutenant Rosy Keane at rosy.keane@salvationarmy.org.au “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14 NIV) Bless you, friends. Let God speak, and may we respond. Believing big. Commissioner Miriam Gluyas Territorial Commander

BY LAUREN MARTIN Dozens of Australian Defence Force cadets recently reported for duty at Salvos Stores in Canberra and nearby Queanbeyan as part of the ‘Weary Dunlop’ initiative to serve local communities. The yearly event is named after Weary Dunlop, a doctor who served in the Medical Corps during World War Two and ministered to hundreds of prisoners in a Japanese Prisoner of War camp. After the war, philanthropy played a big part in his life, and as a result, first-year ADFA cadets hold a volunteer day once a year in recognition of him. This year, The Salvation Army was chosen as a beneficiary of the scheme, and 60 cadets from Charlie Company got to work sorting, tagging, serving and cleaning at Salvos Stores across the region. Salvos Stores Area Manager Bronwyn Vinen said it was great to see the ADF cadets get involved with Australia’s largest charity retailer of pre-loved goods: “Great conversations were had on the day, as they helped us to raise funds that assist Salvation Army programs that transform lives.” Major Joanne Delamore, The Salvation Army’s Senior Representative for Red Shield Defence Services, said there was a real buzz around the stores on the day, with so many Defence Force personnel on site. “They generated a lot of interest!” “It gave them great opportunities to interact with the community and to learn from Salvos Stores staff and volunteers about our mission.”

This video highlights the amazing work being done by The Salvation Army's Flagstaff accommodation service in Melbourne. Providing support to men experiencing homelessness over the age of 18, Amanda Stokes (Residential Services Manager) says that everyone is welcomed with “unconditional positive regard ... whatever their support needs”. It is the staff’s hope that with ongoing support, each person will be able to overcome life’s barriers to live independently.

In the past decade, Koorong Christian stores have closed in some areas. However, I’m very fortunate to have one in the same street as our corps, so it’s easy to wander down and pick up resources we might need. On purchasing some items there last week, the retail assistant – who was very pleasant – asked the question you often hear in stores these days: “Did you get everything you need today?” I thought, “Well, not really. I need world peace and an end to poverty, and homes for the homeless and for Christ to come again, and I didn’t get those today.” I also need people to be kinder to each other, and politicians to talk less and listen more, and employers to care more for their staff, and drug traffickers to be caught and imprisoned. While we’re talking about my needs, I could also do with some T-shirts that won’t lose shape after a few washings, and I need the price of petrol to come down and I need Wagon Wheels to go back to their original size (maybe wagons have got smaller over the years). While I’m not sure if it’s a need – maybe more a desire – I’d also like another premiership for my footy team, I’d like to hear more Cold Chisel on the car radio, I’d like McDonald’s soft-serve cones to go back to being 30 cents, and I’d like Humphrey to come back on TV. I also need teenagers to be more polite on public transport, and sporting associations to stop promoting sports betting, and singers to stop using autotune technology, and fish and chips to be cheaper. More seriously, I need people to know Christ, I need Christians to act like Christians are supposed to, I need churches to mobilise in their communities, I need the Bible to be read more broadly, and I need a Salvation Army that isn’t hesitant to talk about salvation. So that’s what I thought. Then I said, “Yes, thanks”, paid for my items and walked out. It’s an interesting question, “Did you get everything you need today?”. Maybe we should ask it of people as they’re walking out of church each Sunday after the meeting. – Major Mal Davies and his wife Major Tracey are the Corps Officers at Adelaide City Salvos

BY LAUREN MARTIN Salvation Army history books are overflowing with tales of hardship and heroic acts by its officers. A century ago, being a Salvation Army officer was often ‘hard yakka’, and despite today’s officers facing different challenges, their missional heart has stood the test of time. An excerpt from an 1893 War Cry report by two young Salvation Army officers – Captain E. A. Sincock and Lieutenant George Haycraft – seems to read right out of an old-fashioned adventure book. This duo were the hallowed ‘Salvation Riders’, their commission to go forth on horseback and carry salvation to the back-block settlers and farmers throughout Queensland: We passed through Landsborough on Thursday evening and camped about three miles out of town until the moon rose and then, saddling up again, pushed towards Caboolture, travelling from 10 o’clock on Thursday night until seven on Friday morning and having to wade through water in several places. I can assure you it was pretty cold. We passed close by Crooked Neck mountain and the Glasshouse. Crooked Neck looked as though it would come over top of us and grind us to powder, but it didn’t ... We had to walk up some of the ridges; it was like creeping up the steeple of a church ... Not all officers forged new territory, however. There were those who didn’t travel further than their own district, such as the officers of Taree, on the mid-north NSW coast, who filed this report to War Cry in 1891: ... despite the rain and the mud we are still marching on, and have had some good meetings, both at Taree and the outposts. We have also had some lively experiences while out on visits, bareback riding especially gave us cause to remember it, and on another occasion while we were crossing a creek on a log, the captain had the misfortune to make a slip and fall in, and then had to do the meeting at night in his wet clothes! Then there was The Salvation Army officer, possibly Captain David Southwell, in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, who inspired the naming of the arduous ‘Golden Staircase’ (which climbs steeply up from the valley floor). It is said that the stairway got its name by way of the officer who would walk down the stairway to hold services for the shale miners in the Jamieson Valley in the 1890s. On the way back, the officer would sing the song, written by Emma Booth, O’ I’m Climbing up the Golden Stairs to Glory. Such was the mettle of those early Salvationists! (See Garth Hentzschel’s story on the Golden Stairs here). So, what of today’s Salvation Army officers? Surely life is easier nowadays with modern transport and the 21st-century comforts. “Yes, life is easier with 21st comforts, etc,” says Secretary for Personnel, Lieut-Colonel Chris Reid. “But today there are different expectations making officership just as hard. Everybody seems to want everything instantly and many of our officers are telling us that the email and administration responsibilities are drowning them, leaving little time for mission.” Chris says that part of the Australia Territory’s structure is to free up officers from the burdens of administration, property management and red tape so that mission is where energies are focused. Officers today are dealing with many complex people issues, which require high levels of training and skills. “The big difference is that Australia is no longer classed as a Christian country and we are now seeing third and fourth generations of the unchurched,” she says, referring to the challenges officers face in determining what “church” actually looks like in their unique appointments. “Back in the early days, nearly everyone went to church. Now, the ‘cookie-cutter’ approach to church no longer works, especially in our ever-changing multicultural society.”

Registrations are now open for The Salvation Army’s second annual National Creative Arts Camp. The 2024 event is being held from 14-20 January and is open to Salvos aged 15 (Year 9) to 30 who have a passion for living our mission through the creative arts. The venue is Rutherford Park Country Retreat at Blampied, north of Ballarat in Victoria’s Central Highlands. The camp focuses on cultivating their skills to share the love of Jesus with their local communities. For more information and to register, go to the Facebook site here.

World Teachers Day is celebrated in Australia on the last Friday of October each year. It is a day when we commemorate those long-suffering teachers who did their best to give us an education. So, let’s take a trip down memory lane! See if you can answer these questions: • Who was your favourite teacher at primary school? Do you remember their name? • Who was your favourite teacher in high school? What subject did they teach? • What was your favourite subject at school? • Which subject did you do best in? • Who were your best friends at school? • How did you spend your recess and lunch times? • What sports did you learn to play at school? • What is your happiest memory from school? For some of us, school was sometimes a miserable place, and the best part of the day was going home! For others, school was where we got to have fun with our friends. And some of us loved school and enjoyed doing schoolwork. However you feel about your time at school, we can be grateful for our teachers. Some did well, and some not so well. Some loved us, and some didn’t seem to like us much at all. But because of them, we can read, write, count and understand many things about the world. Now that we are adults, we have other teachers – wise people who help us learn about life and ourselves just by spending time with us. And we have the greatest teacher of all – our God, who made us, loves us and wants to teach us how to have a wonderful life with him. We can pray with the writer of Psalm 25, verse 5: “Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Saviour, and my hope is in you all day long.” For more information on World Teachers Day, click here

BY CAPTAIN PAUL FARTHING In 2015, the UK’s Independent newspaper broke the news that the name Gary would soon be extinct. Gary was popular for a while there. But you don’t hear of many Garys anymore. Gary is apparently on the way out. In the 1950s baby boom, English-speaking parents frequently called their sons Gary (the Italian version of Gary is Gherado with a rolled R, which is much more glamorous). In the 1980s, both the Queensland and NSW State of Origin rugby league fullbacks were named Gary. Even some girls were named Gary. For a time, you could find Gary on those nameplates they sell out the front of newsagents and gift shops. But at some point, naming your baby Gary became ridiculous. That’s the thing about names, they come and go. This coming and going of names causes a real problem for authors trying to write believable fiction. To write a convincing story, you must use the names used in the time and place in which your story is set. If you, for instance, filled your story with Garys at a time when nobody was called Gary, your story would be unbelievable. This isn’t hard to do if the author is writing about a time and place in which they have actually lived, but if the setting is in a distant place many years ago, it is fiendishly difficult. If I had to write a story set in Italy in, say, 1942, everyone would be called Mussolini or Gherado (with a rolled R), and I only know of Gherado with a rolled R because I looked it up for this article. Take it as gospel Some doubting souls have suggested that the Gospels are a work of historical fiction. That they were made up many years later by people who were not there. If this were true, the names would be an absolute mess. Especially when one considers that this is the ancient world, and the authors had no internet access or record books to do some research. And the Gospel writers didn’t make it easy on themselves. If they were trying to convince people their fake story was real, they would keep names to a minimum, the more names you use, the greater your chance of error. But the Gospel writers name just about everyone. When Jesus gets too tired to carry his cross, a man from the crowd is made to help. Three of the Gospel writers tell us his name was Simon and he was from Cyrene, and then they tell us he had two sons named Rufus and Alexander. There was no need to name Rufus and Alexander as neither were there. There wasn’t even a need to name Simon or tell us where he was from. But they named them anyway. The Gospel writers named everyone. In 2006, Cambridge scholar Richard Bauckham compiled a list of names used in first-century Palestine. He used every source possible – historical records, the Dead Sea Scrolls, even grave markings. He then ranked the popular names and compared his list to the Gospels. The correlation was exquisite. Even more impressive were the disambiguations. When a name is popular, adding something to the name is helpful to specify who you are talking about. Simon was the most popular name in first-century Palestine. That is why we are told that the cross-carrying Simon was from Cyrene. Disambiguations don’t emerge unless they are needed. Bauckham’s list showed they would have been needed for first-century Palestinian Simons, and the Gospels use a heap of them (Simon Peter, Simon the Zealot, Simon the Leper, etc.) This makes the argument that the Gospels were invented many years later by people who were not there implausible. People who were not there could never be so precise. It is much more reasonable to believe that the Gospels are based on eyewitness testimony. The authors knew people’s actual names. They knew there were plenty of Simons and Marys and Josephs, and they knew there were absolutely no Garys.

‘By your side’ was the theme of The Salvation Army’s 30th anniversary celebrations in the Republic of Georgia, a division of the Eastern Europe Territory (EET), on 14-15 October. “It was a full and incredibly blessed weekend,” said territorial leaders of the EET – Australian officers Colonels Cheralynne and Kelvin Pethybridge. “So many incredibly inspiring stories of transformation and hope as well as sung worship and drama presentations. “It was such a privilege to enrol 16 junior soldiers and three senior soldiers and to witness the enthusiasm of the people. God is doing amazing things in this beautiful country, and we are truly grateful to share in this journey.” Additional events included a charity dinner and an advisory board lunch. To view the testimonies of Captain Rezo Bakhtadze, Georgia Divisional Commander, and Major Tengizi Tungia, Rustavi Corps Officer, click on the links below. English subtitles are provided.

The Eastern Europe Territory, led by Australian officers Colonels Cheralynne and Kelvin Pethybridge, joined with international leaders, territorial personnel, Bulgaria regional leaders Captains Captains Eduard and Inna Lebedev, youth and the local Salvos community to celebrate the official launch of The Salvation Army’s Bulgaria Region on Saturday 21 October. “It certainly was a day to remember,” said Colonel Cheralynne. The culmination of a great weekend for The Salvation Army in Bulgaria / Армията на Спасението – the enrolment of five senior soldiers, three junior soldiers and two adherents in Bulgaria – an incredible and exciting privilege to be part of this chapter in The Salvation Army Eastern Europe Territory. It was a long-awaited day. In St Petersburg, Russia (then part of the Eastern Europe Territory), in 2006, celebrations took place that recognised the 15th anniversary of Army ministry recommencing in Eastern Europe and then growing behind the former Iron Curtain. At that congress, a Bulgarian flag was presented to recognise a country in which it was believed the Army would eventually ‘open fire’. General Brian Peddle (Ret.) announced on 9 March 2021 that Bulgaria had become the 132nd country in which The Salvation Army is officially at work. In May 2019, registration was granted for the Army to begin work in Bulgaria almost 15 years after the St Petersburg celebrations. Despite lockdown and other restrictions enforced due to COVID-19 having made life far from easy in the country, the Army ministry quickly made its presence felt. Partnerships were formed to help distribute clothes and food for children and needy families. Youth work, scouts, children's ministry and worship groups quickly formed. These continue today, as does a growing spiritual ministry, family outreach, and an extensive support work for Ukrainian refugees.

In this series, Colonel Kelvin Merrett reflects on how hearing God’s voice can be different for each one of us. It is important to have confidence in your relationship with God and to understand that he speaks to us as individuals taking into account our circumstances and personalities.