First Salvationist Inducted as Free Churches Moderator

|PIC1|The Salvation Army's Commissioner Elizabeth Matear has become the first ever Salvationist to be inducted as Free Churches Moderator in a ceremony on Wednesday evening.

Commissioner Matear took over from the outgoing Rev David Coffey, President of the Baptist World Alliance, at the ceremony at The Salvation Army's William Booth College in London and will now be the 'public face' of the 21-member denominations of the Free Churches Group for the next four years.

She will also serve as one of the four Presidents of Churches Together in England, alongside the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster and the head of the Armenian Orthodox Church, Bishop Nathan Hovhannisian, who was also in attendance at last night's induction.

Commissioner Matear was inducted by Rev Coffey who shared his own connection with The Salvation Army - its officers were the ones who first brought the Gospel of Jesus Christ to Rev Coffey's family through the conversion of his grandparents.

"Make her dependent in order that You can make her effective," Rev Coffey prayed, before handing Commissioner Matear the Medallion of Office and asking her to sign the Bible.

Commission Matear praised Rev Coffey as he stepped down from four years as Moderator of the Free Churches Group. "He is a man with a prophetic gift," she said. "You've left me with big shoes to fill."

After greetings from other Salvationists and church leaders, including the President of the Methodist Conference the Rev Graham Carter, Commissioner Matear signed the 2002 Windsor Covenant between the Presidents of the Churches Together in England which binds the leaders to unity.

In her first sermon as Moderator of the Free Churches Group, Commissioner Matear called for unity among Christians, saying Christian witness "goes beyond the doctrine we profess".

"Let's go beyond denominational labels and perceptions and receive again the grace and God's word."

She went on to warn that splits in the body of Christ were providing fodder for the secular press. "They salivate at the prospect of watching Christians in dispute."

But she called on Christians to overcome their differences by living out the Gospel: "What a powerful witness it is to an unbelieving world when they see us handling our differences in a different way."

She said that the church was under pressure "to be quiet" but called on Christians to challenge the status quo and "contend for the faith and for the truth".

Commissioner Matear also criticised the recent Blue Peter call-in scandal, saying it demonstrated the extent to which people were being "shortchanged" by consumerism.

"People are being abused because of a lack of truth and we are the people who have to speak the truth because we are the people who have the truth," she said.

"We have to be much more than silent witnesses," she added, appealing to members of the congregation to walk through their neighbourhoods and live out their Christian witness. "Don't be invisible in your witness," she told them.

The induction service included stirring music from The Salvation Army's International Staff Songsters and Cadets' band.