What is The Salvation Army? The Salvation Army is a Christian church and registered charity seeking to share the good news of Jesus and nurture committed followers of him. We also serve people without discrimination, care for creation and seek justice and reconciliation. We offer practical support and services in more than 700 centres throughout the UK. Go to salvationarmy.org.uk/find-a-church to find your nearest centre.
What is the War Cry? The Salvation Army first published a newspaper called the War Cry in London in December 1879, and we have continued to appear every week since then. Our name refers to our battle for people’s hearts and souls as we promote the positive impact of the Christian faith and The Salvation Army’s fight for greater social justice.
WAR CRY Issue No 7632
Editor: Andrew Stone, Major Deputy Editor: Philip Halcrow Production Editor: Ivan Radford Assistant Editor: Sarah Olowofoyeku Staff Writer: Emily Bright Staff Writer: Claire Brine Editorial Assistant: Linda McTurk Graphic Designer: Rodney Kingston Graphic Designer: Mark Knight
From the editor’s desk WHEN viewers settled down on their sofas last week to watch The British Soap Awards, they discovered that BBC1’s EastEnders was clearly the people’s favourite, as it cleaned up by winning three of the four categories voted for by the public. Not only did it win best soap, but Danielle Harold picked up the best leading performer award for her portrayal of Lola Pearce-Brown, while Aaron Thiara’s character of Ravi Gulati won villain of the year. It’s unlikely that any villains will be celebrated next week at another broadcasting awards ceremony. On Wednesday (21 June) the Sandford St Martin Trust presents its annual awards which promote religious broadcasting. In this week’s War Cry, we speak with Radio Times editor Tom Loxley, who is one of the trustees of the charity. He explains why he thinks programmes on radio and television should help people understand faith. ‘It’s easy to lose sight of the importance of having some understanding of religion in a world as busy and as frantic as broadcasting,’ he says. ‘Faith can just slip into the “God slot”, as it has been called. ‘But you have to think of it as something that is woven into the lives of a significant proportion of the population.’ Faith is certainly woven into the life of Elliott Rae. As we discover this week, Elliott faced mental health challenges after the traumatic birth of his daughter. ‘I became anxious, quite emotional, having out-of-body experiences at work, just crying a lot and not being able to sleep,’ he tells us. ‘I was eventually diagnosed with PTSD.’ Like many other Christians who have faced difficult times, throughout his experiences, Elliott found that his Christian faith helped him to deal with the pressures he was under. ‘It gets to the point in life where you just don’t have anything left of yourself, when you can’t humanly deal with things,’ he says, before adding: ‘Having a faith, you lean on God to take it on for you.’
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Email: warcry@salvationarmy.org.uk The Salvation Army United Kingdom and Ireland Territory 101 Newington Causeway London SE1 6BN
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CONTENTS
Tel: 0845 634 0101
Subscriptions: 01933 445445 (option 1, option 1) or email: subscriptions@satcol.org Founder: William Booth General: Brian Peddle Territorial Commander: Commissioner Anthony Cotterill Editor-in-Chief: Major Julian Watchorn
Published weekly by The Salvation Army © The Salvation Army United Kingdom and Ireland Territory ISSN 0043-0226 The Salvation Army Trust is a registered charity. The charity number in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is 214779, in Scotland SC009359 and in the Republic of Ireland CHY6399. Printed by CKN Print, Northampton, on sustainably sourced paper
FEATURES
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Make Music Day brings people together 6
Tuning into faith Annual awards promote religious broadcasting
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‘When my daughter was born, she wasn’t crying’ How a father coped with a traumatic birth experience
13 One I made earlier
Your local Salvation Army centre
2 • WAR CRY • 17 June 2023
A note-worthy time
Sixty years since the first Blue Peter badge REGULARS
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Team Talk and War Cry World
12 How to… 14 Puzzles 15 War Cry Kitchen Front-page picture: ALAMY AND © SANDFORD ST MARTIN TRUST