The Church Army Website presents Church Army work as vital for communities - nothing more important. In fact, all the evidence I have is that the Church Army contribution isn't in the least important but negligible, harmful, in fact - but it's successful in keeping up the flow of donations. On this page, I concentrate attention on the deficiencies of just one Church Army project, the Darnall and Attercliffe Centre of Mission. I've very good reason for thinking that there are many more of these Church Army projects, with very wide-ranging deficiencies.
Amongst the deficiencies of the Darnall and Attercliffe Centre of Mission are these: the methods of evangelism used include ones which, according to the evidence I have available, are in contravention of the law. If the Church Army believe otherwise, they are welcome to contact me, preferably supplying the evidence they have available. I give information about another, very serious issue, that of safeguarding, in the column to the right.
To prevent abuses, to investigate abuses, to take corrective action in the case of abuses, it's essential that there should be the free flow of information. Nothing at all should be done to block the free flow of legitimate, lawful information. The Church Army has failed to ensure this.
The extract from the article quoted below includes this:
' ... at special seasons, we put up angels/butterflies in the local wood and park – asking questions – with a QR code that linked to the Easter/Christmas story.
There's a large photograph of a large angel fixed to a tree.
The people at the Centre of Mission are obviously unaware that they are not able to put up cardboard pictures and texts written on cardboard wherever they want to. The land where they have done just that isn't land that belongs to the Church Army.
The page
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/open-access-land-management-rights-and-responsibilities
is about 'Open Access Land. Different legislation applies to parks, of course.
The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 (CROW Act) normally gives a public right of access to land mapped as ‘open country’ (mountain, moor, heath and down) or registered common land. These areas are known as ‘open access land.'
People can normally access your open access land on foot. They can:
The CROW Act has a list of general restrictions that limit what people using their open access rights may do, unless you give them permission to do something on the list, or the right to do something already exists. [I quote only two of the forbidden activities from the long list provided.]
They cannot:
post any notices
Quite quickly, the cardboard butterflies and angels, with accompanying text will become litter. They will be exposed to rain, become soggy, become an eyesore. The fixings will probably remain, and may well constitute a hazard.
The land where the butterflies and angels may or may not have been 'Open Access Land' but whatever the legal status of the land, Open Access, Parkland or other, there are legal restrictions on posting and causing litter, contravened by the Mission activities of this Church Army / Diocesan group.
Below, there's information about another practice used by the Centre of
Mission, also involving angels, but in this case, fluffy toy-like angels.
These too will have caused a litter problem in the area where they were
placed, but in all likelihood, much more quickly. I've no information as to
whether these angels are still being placed in woodland and whether the toy
angels are still being placed in streets.
The article is 'by Gina Kalsi' but also 'Written by Ben Elliott.'
I can't include the images here, including the large image of the angel. The first image shows a group of people - evangelists and supporters of evangelism, presumably - relaxing in a large garden in fine weather. On the evidence of this one picture, evangelism doesn't seem to be a very strenuous or demanding activity. The impression is confirmed by the rest of the content. What these people do is far more to do with little things and with prayer - addressing the real problems of Darnall and Attercliffe, very important centres of industry in the past and still important centres of industry now, doesn't come into it. Addressing social tensions, deep-seated social problems doesn't come into it. But words, and to a far lesser extent, actions to maintain and increase the reputation of the Church Army are central.
Extracts from this very revealing document:
In March 2020, Kinder and Gina Kalsi moved into Attercliffe to set up a Centre of Mission, for Church Army and Sheffield Diocese, in partnership with other church denominations. This is their story so far.
We couldn’t meet people, so we started letting people know we were here – we used the railings at church to offer little gifts and blessings; we put similar gifts and messages around the community – from angels at Christmas, to palm crosses at Easter. We offered some spaces for prayer and exploring faith online.
As things opened up further, we found ways to meet with people – in the woods at a wood walk, and in the garden of the church, around a fire. And at special seasons, we put up angels/butterflies in the local wood and park – asking questions – with a QR code that linked to the Easter/Christmas story.
Arise prayer-walking and the Easter Egg give away gave us the opportunity to prayer-walk roads we hadn’t previously prayed along, and on Easter Sunday, we took Easter bags – including the eggs into local parks and gave them to families that we know.
We moved into Attercliffe to work in the area to develop a new Christian community – seeking to reach people who would not be reached by traditional church. Our first 2 weeks, at the beginning of March 2020, were full of meetings and trying to connect with as many community groups as possible, at the same time as moving house.
This was busy and stressful, but as we see throughout our story, God’s wisdom and timing was perfect – as in these 2 weeks, we managed to make connections which enabled us to develop links and get to know people during the lockdown that ensued.
As we probably all can testify, this last year has not been easy. We have not been able to do some of the things that we would naturally do to develop community – like eat together – but we have also learnt to be creative and try new ways. We have continually sought to bless and serve the community – with litter-picking, delivering for food bank and supporting community organisations.
Here are some of the things we have recognised from our experience:
God’s wisdom may not make sense to us! We moved into the area to develop community just weeks before the first lockdown. We wondered why we were delayed, or hadn’t managed to move earlier. But in hindsight, God brought us here at a time when we could really get to know the area with prayer-walking, we could see and hear about the needs that were highlighted during the pandemic and we were forced to work at a slower pace than we normally would.
We have got to know lots of the community agencies and people within the area, in a way we might not, if we had been able to start with lots of activity. God had brought us to Attercliffe and Darnall for “such a time as this”!
Reflecting on the past 18 months, we have really felt God saying:
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now
it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I
am making a way in the wilderness
and
streams in the wasteland.
We also realised that the things that we had started to try and make happen didn’t work anywhere near as well as the things God put in our path. As Psalm 127 says, unless God builds the house, the builders labour in vain! A classic example of this is the bread and cake. We were offered free bread and cake from a bakery once a week – we then delivered it to local people.
During lockdown, it meant we could chat on doorsteps with people who would otherwise not see anyone, and to connect with families and offer support where we could. Now, the deliveries take longer – as we meet with people, chat, have tea, pray. We knew food would be important in developing community – we didn’t realise it would be bread and cake on the doorstep!
Next, there's a picture of a cardboard angel fixed to a tree, with the 'message,' 'Angels bring good News. Who has been good news for you?'
We have the support of the local churches, and churches further afield have helped us in both practical and prayerful ways. The unity of prayer-walking through last Lent and Easter with Arise, and seeing other people prayer walking the area, was such an encouragement and blessing. And we have been sustained by the support of other people across the country, through networks of pioneers.
It’s all about rhythm! From day one, we established a rhythm of prayer, which has developed but is set into our week. This has meant that prayer has been the foundation of all that we do. It has kept us focussed on our calling, helped us to reflect honestly on what we are doing, and given us the courage to say yes to the opportunities we have.
As we look ahead, we are seeking to develop a Creative Space – a place where people can come and explore creativity and art. Pray that we discern the best way forward, and that God draws the people and resources together. We are also looking at starting a toddler group and after-school club: please pray for wisdom for us as we seek to develop these.
And above all, pray that God will use us, to bless the community and find more ways to draw people together to explore God’s love.
For more information follow us on @attercliffecofm and
email gina.kalsi@churcharmy.org if you would like a copy of our newsletters.
In the Middle Ages, there were the people who did the work, the backbreaking work in the fields, in all weathers, the backbreaking work of building, in all weathers, and there were the people who prayed, the monks and the clergy - whose prestige and power were far greater than the prestige and power of those ordinary / extraordinary people - who very often engaged in barbaric acts of slaughter.
'Gina and Kinder' set out some priorities.
Pray for plans to develop a regular after school club.
Pray for people to join us in the monastic rhythm of rest, prayer, play, hospitality and worship.
Pray for more people to discover the love of Jesus for themselves and for Him to make a difference in their lives.
Pray for a deepening sense of a community in Attercliffe and Darnall.
Pray for local churches to be empowered and encouraged to share the love of Jesus locally.
But Attercliffe and Darnall aren't in the least the kind of area which would take to 'the monastic rhythm.' To suppose otherwise is naive, superficial, deluded thinking, or rather non-thinking.
This is an extract from a piece I wrote at about the time when I sent the email above. Some omissions mentioned in the extract were corrected, not quickly but eventually. For example, the Centre of Mission now has a Safeguarding Policy and a Safeguarding Officer.
Kinder Kalsi, Centre of Mission
Amongst the issues discussed in this section: The Centre of Mission's failure to publish a Safeguarding Policy or to appoint a Safeguarding Officer, risks and practical difficulties associated with some of their 'Mission Methods,' the Mission's prayer and prayer-walking, the Rock Centre's failure to publish a Safeguarding Policy or to appoint a Safeguarding Officer, the Rock Centre and 'the power of prayer,' Tricia Watts and holidays in the sun, Tricia Watts and hellfire for unbelievers, Kinder Kalsi and Tricia Watts present an award for 'the best pub.'
'... a series of prayer videos published by the Centre. [not available now.] Most have recorded 0 views. Two of them, including this one, are much more popular - no less than 3 views each! During most of the prayer session, not just the introduction, part of it shown here, but the prayers, Kinder Kalsi is shown with eyes down, obviously looking at the screen of his Smartphone, his fingers shown again and again tapping on the keypad. He may be praying or giving the appearance of praying, but his mind is obviously on other things.
The Attercliffe and Darnall Centre of Mission was established jointly by Diocese of Sheffield and Church Army, with the support of Sheffield Methodist Circuit and the United Reform Church. The Church Army appointed Kinder Kalsi Lead Evangelist and Gina Kalsi Pioneer Evangelist.
The oversight of the Diocese of Sheffield and the Church Army - and the other Churches - has been grossly deficient. Most Sheffield Churches and Church organizations have a safeguarding policy.
The existence of a safeguarding policy is no guarantee that abuse won't occur, of course. Julie Morris, Staff Governor, Religious Education teacher and Safeguarding Lead at St George's Central Church of England School in Wigan was sentenced to imprisonment, along with her partner, for a large number of child abuse offences, including nine counts of rape. They filmed themselves abusing and raping a girl under the age of 13.
Publication of a Safeguarding Policy is a statement that the Church takes safeguarding seriously. To ensure that everything possible is done to prevent abuse in the Church takes far more effort than simple publication of a Safeguarding Policy (or praying, so often a substitute for effective action.) Lack of a Safeguarding Policy amounts to an admission that safeguarding is a low priority for the Church or a Church organization, or isn't in the least important.
The Diocese of Sheffield is a member of the very large group of Churches called 'Arise!' A significant number of these Churches don't have a Safeguarding Officer or publish a Safeguarding Policy. The Attercliffe and Darnall Centre of Mission doesn't seem to have a Safeguarding Officer or Safeguarding Policy. [Since this was published, the Centre of Mission has published a Safeguarding Policy and appointed a Safeguarding Officer.] Putting search terms which include these words into Google gives no results. Why not? Why haven't the Sheffield Diocese and the Church Army, who established the Centre for Mission, made absolutely clear the need for a Safeguarding Policy and the publication of a Safeguarding Policy? Why haven't they madi it absolutel clear that the Centre of Mission has to have a Safeguarding Officer? The Centre for Mission has helpers. Four of them are mentioned by Kinder Kalsi in his early morning attempt to bring the Gospel to a few people in Sheffield. Were the helpers vetted? What safeguarding controls are in place at the Centre for Mission? None at all?
... I sent a short email to Gina Kalsi to inform her about these safeguarding issues and to give her the chance to comment before I published this new material, if she wanted to comment. The email never reached her - it was blocked. I've known for a long time that Tim Ling of the Church Army had blocked all emails from me to all members of the Church Army. I explain the circumstances at the end of this section. Tim Ling's decision was a blunder and does him no credit at all, I'm sure. What I didn't know is that he'd imposed blocking to a much wider range of recipients, including Gina Kalsi. The issue is important, I have no other convenient way of contacting Gina Kalsi - I'm not a member of Twitter or Facebook, so I don't make use of whatever methods of contact Twitter and Facebook make available to members.
This is a very instructive case. There's more striking information and comment on these Church Army 'Key Evangelists,' particularly in Stage 2.
The 3 stages in this Mission - and so many other missions - as I see it.
Stage 1. Excitement, elation, claims that God is not just lending a helping hand in the birth of the mission but actively guiding his disciples. Action - prayer, more prayer and even more prayer, even though these people would recognize that God already knows what they want to achieve for God, his kingdom and the community. Emphasis upon transformation - transforming lives, transforming communities. If challenged - but they are practically never challenged, although they are here - the evangelists/transformers would be very unlikely to give an honest answer to this direct question:
Do you or don't you believe that the people you intend to reach in the community you intend to transform will spend eternity in fellowship with God if they accept your message - if they ever hear about it - and will spend eternity in separation from God - in the place traditionally called 'hell' - if they don't hear about it or do hear about it but don't accept it - perhaps for the reason that their lives involve backbreaking hours at work or work which takes up most of their time and energy or their lives involve other intense - sometimes horrendous - difficulties and they never get round to considering the issues - and if they ever do consider the issues, find intellectual or ethical or practical difficulties in your message.
Kinder Kalsi is of Sikh origin. Does he believe that Sikhs not converted to belief in Christ as Lord and Saviour are destined for hell, or eternal separation from Christ? Attercliffe and Darnall have many, many believers in Islam and many mosques. Do Gina and Kinder Kalsi see any difficulties here for the 'transformation' of Attercliffe and Darnall. Is the mass conversion of Attercliffe and Darnall to belief in Christ in the least likely?
The birth of this Mission wasn't a difficult one. It had a great deal of support, the support of the Church Army, the support of the Diocese, and of other Churches. The Methodist Church is mentioned in the publicity material published by the Diocese but the United Reform Church was also involved.
From the site
https://www.sheffield.anglican.org/news/
evangelists-appointed-to-attercliffe-darnall-sheffield-centre-of-mission
Evangelists appointed to Attercliffe & Darnall (Sheffield) Centre of Mission
2nd December 2019
'Church Army has announced the appointment of two pioneering evangelists for the new centre of mission in Attercliffe & Darnall (Sheffield) to build new Christian communities among groups currently untouched by church. The centre is being established jointly by Diocese of Sheffield and Church Army, with the support of Sheffield Methodist Circuit
'Kinder Kalsi
CA [CA: 'Church Army'] has been appointed
Lead Evangelist and the Reverend Gina Kalsi
has been appointed Pioneer Evangelist. Both
Kinder and Gina are currently engaged in
Christian mission in Sheffield and bring
considerable skills, knowledge and vision
relevant to their new patch. It is expected
that they will take up their posts around
the beginning of March.
'The centre
will work in collaboration with the Church
of Christ/St Albans and other local
churches, and will build on the foundations
of previous mission in the area, seeking to
enable new people to encounter God’s love,
and to transform their community through
faith expressed in word and action.
'Fuller information will be publicised when
the launch of the centre is announced
publicly.'
Stage 2. After the mission has begun, attempts to publicize the issues. The focus is entirely upon the so called 'good news,' not the bad news, the fate which awaits 'the others.' The Trasformation Claims continue. Prayer continues, and often on a massive scale - even though the evangelists believe that God, supposedly omnipotent, already knows what the evangelists want to achieve, is already completely aware of their own needs, the needs of the community - the needs of the community as they see things, from their own perspective - there's absolutely no guarantee that their views is free from distortion, based upon incomplete, very faulty evidence.
The information here comes from these main sources:
The page 'YOU'RE INVITED TO CUPPA WITH A KEY WORKER'
'Cuppa with a key worker is your chance to hear from staff on the frontline of Church Army's work where you are and across the UK and Ireland.'
The page includes this:
April 2021 featuring David Craig and Emma Taylor from Envoy Community as well as Gina and Kinder Kalsi from Church Army's Attercliffe & Darnall's Centre of Mission.
The interview
with Gina and Kinder Kalsi is at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TdtgpRJnc4
[This video is still available.]
Views so far, long after the interview was published: not many. I'll come back to the interview later. Before that, I'll comment on his Lindkedin profile and his Twitter and Facebook pages, where Kinder Kalsi has a lot say about himself, his activities, the pleasures he finds in life, but not so much specific information about his evangelism.
Extracts from his Linkedin profile:
Lead evangelist for attercliffe and Darnal Centre of Mission at Church Army UK & Ireland [Spelling: 'Darnal' here should be 'Darnall.']
About
I have a heart for community
cohesion through Christian Values. I want
people to go through life through the cycle
of Grace....1. know they are loved by God.
2. Their identity 3. what sustains them and
then 4. and then achievement.
[So, he has 'a heart for community cohesion through Christian Values. According to the site
https://www.citypopulation.de/en/uk/
yorkshireandthehumber/wards/
sheffield/E05010864__darnall/
Darnall had in 2020 7,528 Christian people and 8,451 Moslem people. I haven't found figures for Attercliffe but this is another area with many Moslem believers. Kinder Kalsi said, accurately or not, that there are 9 mosques in Attercliffe and Darnall. How can he possibly expect to establish 'community cohesion through Christian Values, unless Christian evangelists like himself and Gina Kalsi convert the Moslems, or most of them, to Christianity? This is never going to happen. He's living in a dream world. How many people in total have he and Gina Kalsi converted to Christianity since the Mission was established, to the best of his knowledge? Thousands, hundreds, a few, next to none or none? I've found plenty of claims about little things, very little things, but nothing about major successes - successes for them, that is.]
Back to his Linkedin page:
I love
networking .....
Community
Evangelist and
Training Enabler
St Bart's and St
Stephen's Church
Aug 2009 - Jul
2013
4 years
Sheffield, United Kingdom
I work where people are ..... in 2 local schools, pubs, local groups and run a youth Club.
I also enable the training of future church army officers.
He gives a comprehensive and detailed Curriculum Vitae, including this information:
Lollypop
man
Ealing
council
Sep
1983 - Jul 1985
1 year 11 months
Store
Manager
B&Q
Jan 1986 - Sep
1999
13 years 9
months
all over west
london from
greenford, hayes,
Chiswick,
staples corner,
Slough
from
Saturday
Checkout
operator (greenford)
to Store Manager
(slough)
Not available any longer, a Facebook video showing Kinder Kalsi in action.
The film shows him in Sheffield City Centre, just before 7 o' clock, as people are arriving for work. He explains that he's not usually up this early - an exception is 'getting on an aeroplane, for holiday.' He explains that he and his helpers have 767 angels 'to deliver.' The angels are fluffy toys which it seems have been knitted. Most of the shops are closed. The angels are placed anywhere where they could be found. He's shown planting one of them on top of a bollard, where it can easily fall off. He hopes that someone will find it and he says that people 'might' find some of the angels 'when they come into work this morning.
There seems to be nothing fixed to the angels to explain why they've been put in the street but according to a report in The Star newspaper, each angel has a message stating 'you are loved by God this Christmas, take this home as a reminder.'
This message, calculated to inspire a sudden rush of warm feeling in the person reading it, comes with the burden of dogma. A reader who knows nothing about the dogma may be impressed, but exploration of the faith reveals a hideous message rather than a message of hope. People who never accept the message or remain indifferent to it are doomed, according to the dogma.
The vast majority of people who notice an angel or find an angel are likely to be mystified, puzzled, but only for a few moments, if that. They'll have other things to think of. If they lead isolated lives and are very lonely, the angel will do nothing to take away the feeling of loneliness at Christmas.
It would be difficult to imagine a more pointless exercise than this distribution of angel dolls, if the objective is to convert people - and that's the real objective. All it will achieve is a contribution to litter in the city centre. The people who knitted these dolls were wasting their time, or could have spent their time on much more important things.
From the Twitter page of the Attercliffe and Darnall Centre of Mission:
Calling all creatives which is all of us really.
From its Facebook page (16 January 2022):
Played games
and chatted life
Thank you God
for a dishwasher
for the bulk of
it.
The Church
Army Prayer
Diary had a
request to pray
for Kinder Kalsi,
Lead Evangelist.
Have the prayers
for Kinder Kalsi
requested in the
Prayer Diary had
any effect? The
Facebook page of
St Arban's
Church Sheffield
;
https://facebook.com/StAlbanssheffield/
includes an image of a poster publicizing an event:
12 Hours of
Prayer for
Attercliffe and
Darnall
Sunday 23
January
St
Albans Church.
Gina Kalsi: 'We did lots and lots of prayer walking.' To attempt to solve problems in a community often needs a great deal of work, sometimes a massive amount of very demanding work. It often requires money, often a great deal of money. It requires stamina, a whole range of personal qualities and often special skills. Success can't be guaranteed. People who spend a great deal of time on insoluble problems, people who use methods which have no prospect at all of achieving the objective are wasting their time.
Attempts to solve problems of crime, vandalism by prayer walking are futile. Attempts to bring peace to the world or greater security to an estate by prayer walking are futile. Attempts to convert non-believers and believers in other religions to Christian belief are futile. Attempts to increase the numbers of people giving up their time to the Centre of Mission by prayer walking are futile. Prayer walking encourages a facile approach.
The evidence provided by Kinder and Gina Kalsi for God's answer to their prayers is minuscule. Gina Kalsi mentions a family who 'were praying to other Christians to move near them and so we've connected in with them as well. So God has really been at work connecting us into them.'
Some of the material above was published on the site but I removed it before long. I'd spoken with Kinder Kalsi by phone and found him an amiable person. I never comply with orders to remove material from the site. I take a great deal of care to ensure that the material is fair-minded but if someone can show that the material is unfair to some extent, or if the person can show that their personal circumstances are very, very difficult, then I'll consider removing material.
I've sometimes decided not to publish material on a person in the first place if I know that the person is facing difficulties or for other reasons. I've sometimes decided not to publish because the person is young. I think young people should be allowed to make their mistakes (which may be far less serious than the mistakes of much older people, of course) without the penalty of adverse comment, but not in every case.
Eventually, I decided to restore the material on Kinder Kalsi, and to extend it. I took into account the fact that he's a Church Army Evangelist, and the actions of the Church Army, in particular the actions of Tim Ling and Lu Skerratt-Love of the Church Army's Research Unit, give me no reason at all to spare the Church Army adverse publicity. Banning, blocking and attempted censorship for no good reason are serious matters.
If I ever find that Kinder (and Gina Kalsi) don't believe any longer in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour then I'll probably remove all the material on them, although it's possible I'd retain it as archived material. The advantages of a continued income from the Church of England may act as an inducement to continue evangelizing, or attempting to evangelize, but I'd hope that if they ever had serious doubts about their faith and lost their faith, they wouldn't let the (loss of) money stand in their way.
As it is, they obviously believe in the power of prayer so they can pray for my conversion if they like, whilst continuing to pray for the transformation of Attercliffe and Darnall. if only they could realize that the mass conversion of Attercliffe and Darnall by their efforts, by prayer walking or other forms of prayer, by God's work on their behalf in response to prayer - is impossible.
Back to The Stages.
Stage 3. A condition I'll call 'Evangelist's Ennui,' a kind of resignation, apathy, disillusionment but not experienced with any intensity, I would think. The heady days when the Mission project began are in the past, prayer is now deluded-mechanical rather than deluded-intense, conviction that the project will achieve very much has largely gone - but the Evangelist is as convinced as ever that God called the Evangelist to the project, the project was blessed by God, that prayer is answered, that the final outcome will (prabably) be glorious. The Evangelist disregards any evidence to the contrary. The Gospel accounts give sources of comfort and consolation to many Christians not known to non-Christians - belief in the work of the devil and demons, who can disrupt the plans, even if the final outcome will (prabably) be glorious.
Poster outside the 'offices and prayer space' of St Alban's Christian Community, including Kinder Kalsi's and Gina Kalsi's Centre of Mission.
All the churches and church organizations mentioned at the bottom of the poster have conservative evangelical views - they adhere to the doctrine that good works - such as helping others out, being good neighbours, looking after us all, helping to prevent Covid and treating people with Covid, all the doctors, nurses, scientists and so many others - these good works are of no use at all in saving people from everlasting torment in hell. According to this doctrine, only faith in Jesus Christ as personal Lord and Saviour can achieve this.
This primitive, hideous, inhuman doctrine is adhered to by the churches and church organizations listed on the poster:
Attercliffe Centre of Mission, St Alban's Church, Church of Jesus Christ Apostolic, Church of Christ in Darnall, Darnall Road Baptist Church, Galeed House, Living Waters Fellowship, Church of Jesus Christ Apostolic.
Global Connections, the UK Network for World Mission, is in charge of one of the organizations mentioned, Galeed House, which runs all kinds of activities, but activities with an ulterior motive: conversion, saving people from hellfire.
https://www.globalconnections.org.uk/about-us/basis-of-the-network
Basis of the network
As a network, we require our network members (and affiliates) to agree to the following basis of faith and cooperation.
1. Basis of Faith (Extract). The Basis of Faith is essentially identical with the one given by Rock Christian Centre. An extract is provided above.
The divine inspiration and infallibility of the Old and New Testaments as originally given and their consequent entire trustworthiness and supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct.
The universal sinfulness and guilt of fallen human beings, making them subject to God's wrath and condemnation.
The substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus Christ the incarnate Son of God as the sole and all-sufficient ground of redemption from the guilt and power of sin and from its eternal consequences.
The justification of the sinner solely by the grace of God through faith in Christ who was crucified and bodily raised from the dead.
The Church Army, supported on a lavish scale by its deluded donors, also has a belief in 'The universal sinfulness and guilt of fallen human beings, making them subject to God's wrath and condemnation' and the other doctrines here, but it prefers to conceal its beliefs. That policy has been found to be best for business - the business of 'saving souls.' Notice here, 'The Wages of Sin is Death.'
Kinder Kalsi is a Church Army Evangelist. Gina Kalsi is listed on the Sheffield Diocese page
https://www.sheffield.anglican.org/team/4306/
She's the 'Bishop's Adviser for Diocesan Ecumenical Mission.' The page provides an email address. I sent her a very short email simply drawing her attention to the material on this page. I wasn't surprised to find that the email never reached her, because it had been blocked. More on blocking and the reasons for the blocking later.
Her profile on the page includes this:
'There are so many exciting ways that churches across the diocese are working with others in their area, to share the love of God with their communities, and I am keen to encourage and support anyone wanting to develop ecumenical opportunities for mission.'
But does she have a 'track record' in the field, a proven record of success? What exciting initiatives has she undertaken and seen to a successful conclusion? I'm writing sceptically, of course, because this is a field I find impossible to take seriously. Does Gina Kalsi take it altogether seriously? Does Kinder Kalsi? In the column to the left, I examine the evidence.
The Church Army and the Diocese of Sheffield have been happy to let them get on with their very relaxed form of evangelism. There seem to have been no demands on them to show that they are earning their funding by actually converting people in their area to a faith in Jesus, but this is absolutely commonplace. Are Kinder Kalsi and Gina Kalsi able to give figures, exact or approximate, on the number of people they've successfully brought to Jesus in the years they've been 'active' in the area? Do they keep records?
They emphasize prayer in various forms, including prayer walking. They even go so far as to describe their way of life as 'monastic.' This has associations of rigour but the way of life of the Kalsis, according to their account, seems very relaxed and free of stress. In effect, they are claiming that they are justifying their way of life, funded by the church and the church army, in part - in large part - by their usefulness in praying?
This is a copy of an email I sent to Gina Kalsi of the Church Army Darnall and Attercliffe Centre of Mission on 30 January, 2022. The title of the email: 'The Centre for Mission: issues, including issues concerning safeguarding.' This was at a time when many churches and church organizations had no safeguarding policies and no safeguarding officers in place. The Church Army Darnall and Attercliffe Centre of Mission was one of these. I viewed this as an omission which was in need of correction - by this time, the frequency and scale of abuse in the churches was well known, but not acknowledged as often as now.
Now, it's unthinkable, or should be unthinkable, for churches and church organizations not to include mention of this issue in their Websites - although putting out a statement is much easier than ensuring that the people chosen to be safeguarding officers have a genuine concern, can be relied upon to do their work effectively. My view is that churches and church organizations fail abysmally, again and again - but unfortunately have a certain skill in presenting token gestures, making routine responses into something which seems like genuine concern. So often, genuine concern, intense concern is reserved for situations where the flow of donations and the prestige of the churches and church organizations seem threatened.
Again and again, churches and church organizations have been indifferent to pleas from within the church or church organization to act on behalf of victims of abuse. I'm writing from outside the church, obviously. I see it as important that nothing should be done to censor, block and ban legitimate concerns, the free flow of information in general.
I emailed Gina Kalsi to bring to her attention some concerns I had, and got nowhere, because Tim Ling of the Church Army had blocked my emails not just to him but to Church Army email addresses in general. This action was ludicrous and ridiculous, completely unnecessary - but also showed contempt for the hard-won freedoms which underlie democratic society, which suppresses basic freedoms only in very restricted circumstances - where allowing free expression would have overwhelming disadvantages. The Church Army Darnall and Attercliffe Centre of Mission, Sheffield now has a safeguarding policy in place, but it could have been in place much earlier.
Dear Gina Kalsi,
My Website www.linkagenet.com has
a page www.linkagenet.com/themes/
Best Wishes,
Paul Hurt
The response, which shows that conveying information to the Church Army about an important issue was unwanted and was censored:
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30 Jan 2022, 09:39
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The response from the remote server was: 550
permanent failure for one or more
recipients (gina.kalsi@churcharmy.org:blo |
