The Chief of the Staff, Commissioner Lyndon Buckingham, and World Secretary for Spiritual Life Development Commissioner Bronwyn Buckingham visited The Netherlands in January for the welcome and installation of the new territorial commander of The Netherlands, Czech Republic and Slovakia Territory, Commissioner Bente Gundersen.
The visit began on Saturday morning at the corps (church) in Almere with a meeting for active and retired officers. Reflecting on her role in spiritual life development, Commissioner Buckingham stressed the importance of prayer, urging, ‘We need a constant growth of our “prayer muscle”. We have to keep on developing that.’
In his message, the Chief of the Staff reflected on the many images of Jesus we see in the Bible and how these images are a revelation of God's love and presence with us.
A new territorial commander
Commissioner Bente Gundersen was installed as the new territorial commander for the territory at a service in the afternoon.
In her sermon she used the words of Jesus in John 1:38, ‘What are you looking for’ (International Standard Version), speaking of how Jesus invites us to come and see and come to stay with him.
Give everything to God
On Sunday morning, the Chief, Commissioner Bronwyn Buckingham, Commissioner Gundersen and Colonels Donna and Stuart Evans visited the corps in Harderwijk.
After the installation of two new auxiliary-captains, the Chief spoke of God’s greatness, saying, ‘God is omniscient, almighty, pure, honest and loving. He shows you his grace and strength.’ Basing his message on the book of Romans, he ended with the words: ‘In your daily life, give everything to God. Do everything out of honour and gratitude to God. Let your everyday life be the worship that God deserves.’
Majoor Bosshardthuis
After the service in Harderwijk, the commissioners visited several Salvation Army locations in Amsterdam, including the ‘Majoor Bosshardthuis’. The Chief expressed his admiration for the work of Lieut-Colonel Alida Bosshardt (in The Netherlands known as ‘the Major’) and her life of service to God in The Salvation Army.
The trip continued with a visit to the Meeting Point, a walk-in support centre for sex workers in the red-light district, followed by a boat trip through the canals of Amsterdam.
On the final day of their visit the Chief and Commissioner Buckingham visited the territorial headquarters in Almere, meeting staff, external board members and the territorial council.
The territory was spiritually encouraged and inspired by the visit.
Photos from the visit are available to download from the IHQ Flickr stream.
