OK, so it's not exactly Bradford and Leeds (in fact it's over an hour and a half away on the train), but it's in 'the North' (as it is so helpfully signposted on motorways) so I thought I'd take the chance to go and have a look. The Salvation Army in Newark is led by more relatives, Uncle Tim and Auntie Jo (Justice), and they have been there about six years now (I think). In that time they've seen the corps grow, and they have a real focus on the things that are important. Jo herself said that they've tried to ensure that the focus is always on the Word and on God rather than anything periphery, which can often be the case in the Salvation Army, just as in any other church.
Tim showed me around the centre of town first of all, close to where their current hall is located. A rural market town, I was impressed by the town square, surrounded by trendy coffee bars and independent sandwich shops, with the market stalls in action and the spire of the Anglican church towering over. Apparently lots of civil war stuff happened here too, but that was before my time...
Currently, whilst their hall is the base for weekday things, their Sunday meetings happen round the corner in a local school hall. They also have a charity shop in an estate a little way out on an apparently-deserted parade of shops, but it brings in a healthy stream of income so someone must be going there!
I came down because Tim had asked me about what I was doing next year and whether I had any plans. Having spoken to Jo about my ideas and dreams at Christmas time they must have wondered whether I wanted to come to Newark to help put some of those things into practice and to learn about working in a church and its surrounding community. There were so many positive things that they spoke about and the hopes and ambitions they had were really enthusing and inspiring.
They should soon be taking over a community centre (pictured above) in an estate outside the centre. which would provide another base, and could accommodate kids clubs, a luncheon club, youth work and many other activities. This would be particularly useful, not only to expand their influence on the communities in Newark, but also because they have recently sold their hall and are planning on building a new one. Moving out to a new bit of land on the outskirts in a place called Balderton, plans are in place for a brand new steel structure building with meeting hall and plenty of facilities for day-to-day activities.
Finally, I was struck by their outlined plans for the next four years, under the banner of 'Going for Gold' (tying into the 2012 theme). I won't type the whole thing up, but their key aims were to be praying, welcoming, saving, nurturing, participating and Kingdom-focused.
It was great to pray with them when I left. I don't know exactly where I'm going these next few months and years and neither do they. We can make our best plans, we need them and there's nothing wrong with them, but if they are not God's plans then they are worthless and will be fruitless. So it is my prayer that both myself and them will seek God and do his will. God bless them in all the work they are doing for Him.
*****
As you can probably tell, I've taken to putting pictures in my blog posts, which hopefully makes them a bit more exciting. So I thought I'd try and find a picture of the hall, or where the new one would be built, but having spent ages looking all I could come up with is a screenshot of Google Maps. Enjoy...
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