Salvationist introduces the 2025 Self-Denial Appeal, which focuses on the Army’s work in Indonesia.
When you tell someone you’re part of The Salvation Army, how do you describe it? Is it the church down the road from your home that helps people in the neighbourhood? Is it a national Movement that works across the UK and Ireland? Is it a worldwide Army that’s helping to transform lives in 134 countries?
All the above are true, and that’s because The Salvation Army is rooted in community. Wherever it is planted around the planet, it’s grounded in authentic relationships with God and with others. As a global Movement, we are called to bring other people into fullness of life with Jesus, to help them flourish – physically, professionally, socially, spiritually.
That loving, compassionate mission binds us together in a way that goes beyond geographical boundaries. It means that we are not just connected with Salvationists in our hometown, but with our fellow Salvationists in places as far from us as Indonesia. The Army’s work began there in 1894. Today there are more than 300 corps with roughly 70,000 soldiers and adherents, and the Army runs 103 schools, 6 hospitals and multiple social service centres.
This year’s Self-Denial Appeal is focused on the Army’s work across the country. The appeal itself dates back to 1886, when William Booth was trying to raise funds for The Salvation Army’s international work. An officer pledged to go without pudding for a whole year and give the money to the fund, and the idea of the Self-Denial Appeal was born.
Today, this annual appeal invites Salvationists across the globe to participate in sacrificial giving to support the Army’s work. By funding training, resources and infrastructure – from administration to IT – these offerings help to equip fellow Salvationists to do God’s work, so that the Army’s worldwide mission not only continues, but flourishes.
Psalm 92:13 says: ‘Planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God.’ When we are rooted in God’s love, we know that we will flourish – and we want to invite other people into that fertile soil and see them flourish too.
Dedi is a lecturer at the Salvation Army Theological College in Palu, a busy city in Sulawesi. He is also a youth leader at Towua Corps on the same site, where he runs a youth group on Sundays.
The group sees 800 young people worshipping together and is growing quickly, because Dedi is intentional in offering a hand of friendship to all corners of his community. Where some may see ‘drug addicts’ or ‘sex workers’, Dedi sees ‘young people’.
‘Our principle is that we are never better than the people we serve,’ he says.
Dita came from her small town of Palolo to Palu to train at the Army’s nursing school. Today, she is a nurse, flourishing in her faith and her service.
James has been a teacher for 10 years at one of the Army’s schools in Indonesia.
‘The children’s enthusiasm for learning is extraordinary,’ he says.
He passionately believes in the importance of education to transform lives.
Each year, around 50 cadets enrol at the Salvation Army Officer Training Centre in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. Before becoming a cadet, Flora used to make handicraft products.
‘My hope is that in the future I can be a blessing to others,’ she says.
The Self-Denial Appeal begins on Sunday 2 February and ends with an altar service held on Sunday 2 March. Throughout the appeal, weekly videos will share their stories in more detail.
The videos can be watched on your own or together in meetings. They could be shared with corps members through social media. Each film will be accompanied by related prayer points. The videos and prayer points will be available online and will be published and available to read in Salvationist.
Giving is a biblical discipline that sits alongside disciplines such as prayer and studying the Bible. It enables people to ‘do good and to share with others’ (Hebrews 13:16). The Self-Denial Appeal is a unique opportunity to give in a way that is rooted in our global community with God and each other, ‘not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality’ (2 Corinthians 8:13).
In 1 Corinthians 12:26, Paul reminds us that we are part of the body of Christ, that ‘if one part suffers, every part suffers with it’. By giving sacrificially, according to what we have, we can help to share resources so that each part of this global body can flourish together. Your giving this Self-Denial can ensure Salvationists in Indonesia have the skills and tools they need to help transform other people’s lives so they can flourish within God’s community too. Isn’t that something exciting to be part of?
Discover more
Benjamin Gilbert explains the differences and links between the Army’s two major international appeals.
