Intercultural Mission Conference 2022: 'Walls came down'

More than 100 Salvationists from across the territory gathered in Northampton for the annual Intercultural Mission Conference, reports Intercultural Mission Enabler Major Jonny Smith.

Leading the sung worship for the weekend were Majors Emma and Matt Spencer (New Addington). Their children beautifully provided the main sessions with a fantastic repertoire of songs. Hosting the main events were Captains Lizette and Paul Williams (Felixstowe), who began by saying their own marriage was an intercultural experience, with Lizette from Angola and Paul from Scotland.

Speakers included Bishop Mike Royal, the general secretary of Churches Together in England, who shared his experiences of seeing Kingdom growth in communities where churches come together in unity.

The main session on Sunday saw Lieutenant Nazia Yousaf (Stockport Heaton Norris) speak powerfully about her experiences of life in this territory. One of the areas of rich diversity that Nazia has experienced is food. With this in mind she powerfully stated: ‘I have a vision for the day the UKI Salvation Army reflects the young British person who has tasted and can enjoy all different flavours and cuisines. Just as they own the diversity, all these different flavours of worship will be accepted and celebrated in the British Church one day. One body in Christ, different parts, one body in Christ with different flavours, all equally important.’

One of the beautiful experiences over the weekend was seeing this richly diverse body gather together for a deep worship experience, in every sense of the word. Indeed, Marie Holmokova (Gravesend) said: ‘Being a part of the intercultural conference was a huge privilege. One thing I’ve taken from it is something that another delegate declared: “I grew up to know The Salvation Army as red, yellow and blue, but from this weekend I realised it’s actually many more colours.”’

Outside the main sessions, learning experiences including Bible study discussions, a panel question time and a range of seminars. These included: bereavement in a cross-cultural setting, led by the Rev Cassius Francis; mission in a central European context, led by Captains Miroslava Janouskova and Petr Janousek (William Booth College); children and youth discipleship, led by Austen Hardwick and Jo Taylor (Youth and Children’s Ministries Unit); and refugee response, led by Refugee Response Manager Ben Still and Territorial Co-ordinator for Justice and Reconciliation Major Nick Coke. A listening space was led by Assistant CSM Jasper Meda (Croydon Citadel), Captain Lizette and Recruitment Manager Sarah Ladipo.

There was an incredible sense of unity across the weekend, with people meeting others from all different backgrounds and cultural groups. As delegates ate, chatted, sang and journeyed together, they started to see something of the Kingdom of God here on Earth. The hope is that this experience travels back to where they each live and they all continue to play their part in building God’s Kingdom.

This seems to be happening already. Lieutenant Tony Kakande (Gateshead) brought a number of people from his corps, including several from the Roma community. He said: ‘Barriers were removed and walls came down. This will feed into local mission and ministry. They were able to network with other Roma fellowships and with the wider Salvation Army.’