The Newsletter of
SOMA USA

December 2001     Volume 16, Number 4

The Northern Lights            By Mrs. Donna Steckline

Go to the top

Joyful faces of the Inuit display God’s Northern Lights. The SOMA team is in the bottom picture (l to r): Mr. Michael Morrison, and Mr. Mario Sandoval, team leader, All Saints’, Woodbridge, VA; Mrs. Donna Steckline, Christ Church, Gilbertsville, NY; and Mr. Tiko Bellamy, All Saints’, Woodbridge, VA.

What images come to your mind when you think of the Canadian Arctic? As for me, I hoped to view the Northern Lights, as well as observing some of God’s arctic creation! Our SOMA team was able to do all of this, but not in the way you might expect!

The beautiful Inuit village of Povungnituk (POV), where the only access is by boat or plane, welcomed us with open arms. The first service included parishioners from the Anglican, Catholic, United, and Pentecostal churches of this community of 1500. We realized quickly that flexibility was going to be of the utmost importance, and dependence on the Holy Spirit crucial. The pace was hectic. We shared daily teachings with the youth in school, and sometimes even teachings and gatherings in the afternoon, as well as nightly services of 3-4 hours each.

During our time in POV and Akulivik, a smaller village in the parish, a suicide, a death from cancer, and a death by beating occurred. We found the depth of pain in the villages hard to relate to. But when they introduced us as from the Washington, DC, and New York areas, they immediately related that to the September 11th tragedies. This group of searching young adults had prayed daily for our losses in the USA, which surprised and blessed us.

The people of POV came together in an open forum to establish strategies to poke some holes in the cloud of darkness that seemed to hang over the area. God prompted some wonderfully prophetic testimonies and used His people to perform miraculous acts of healing, both physically and in relationships. The team was sought out for prayers, healing and counseling. How humbling that we four strangers were asked to be with the mourning families, to comfort and pray, and to fortify them with the Holy Spirit. We found these wonderfully open and loving people to be reaching out, ministering to us in the midst of their pain!

The transformation, already under way, was astonishing. No, we didn’t see the actual Northern Lights. We saw the spectacular flashes of God’s light in Inuit people! May God’s Northern Lights continue to shine brightly in these villages.

I Am Transformed            By The Rev. Praveen Bunyan

Go to the top

Praveen Bunyan

The Lord Jesus transformed my life in 1982, and I have been growing in His love and knowledge ever since. I have a long ways to go, but never did I think I needed transformation all over again! This mission trip to Yambio in southern Sudan has transformed me in ways I have never experienced before. I look back and see that it was not just poverty that touched me so deeply. I grew up in India all my life and have seen worse poverty than Yambio. What touched me is the faith and strength of the people of Yambio in the midst of war and persecution. Since my life in Jesus began, I have always striven to keep God as the top priority in life. Among the people of Yambio, God is not just the priority, but God is the way of life. Their faith is lived out. They are willing to let God pervade every area of their lives.

The SOMA mission team left two weeks after September 11th. We could share with the people of Yambio Diocese that in a small scale, we too have tasted tragedy and war in our land as they have. I did not come across a single family in Yambio who had not lost an immediate family member to the war with the Northern Sudan Arab Muslims. Over two million people killed.

The theme of the SOMA conference, “Claiming the Kingdom of God In The Midst of Persecution” was well received. The clergy and lay leaders of the diocese were encouraged to look at the loss of dear ones, war, persecution and rebuilding from a “kingdom perspective.” As we studied the book of Nehemiah, it became clearer how faith in the Lord and perseverance in the midst of persecution brings glory to God and His “wall” is completed.

The Holy Spirit descended upon the conference powerfully. Peopled flocked in for emotional and physical healing. They were healed miraculously from hurts, pain and grief. Deliverance ministry was earth shattering. One of the most powerful times was the ‘forgiveness service,’ followed the next day by a worship service that lasted five hours. All 300 people who attended the conference took on the challenge to live out Kingdom values in a deeper way.

The transforming effect of the Holy Spirit through SOMA is a two edged sword. As the Anglican Communion all across the world receives this gift, we in turn receive much more. Team members continue to affect our churches in ways I would not have thought possible. May the ripples of the Holy Spirit continue to transform us more and more!

Team list: The Rev. Praveen Bunyan, team leader, Mr. Ron Fullmer and Mrs. Janet Fullmer, St. Martins-in-the-Field, Aurora, CO; Mr. Dick Steuart and Mrs. Carol Steuart, St. John’s, Melbourne, FL.

God in the Midst of His People        By Mrs. Sandra Steele Matts

Go to the top

A SOMA team of five made a return visit to Northern Argentina in October. The theme of our visit was from Isaiah 12:6 “Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.” Each talk reflected “God in the Midst of: worry, concern, fear, work, family, freedom, and healing.”

A number of clergy, professionals, laborers, housewives, and university students attended the workshops. The teaching was well received and most participants were very open to the presence of the Holy Spirit. Supported by wonderful music teams, they love to sing and praise the Lord. I saw a great spirit of cooperation among the many workers who prepared meals and worked so hard to put on our conference. We encouraged each person to be vulnerable personally and find at least one person to be a personal prayer partner with whom to share deeply.

The people we met were truly an inspiration, each and everyone of them and their families are willing to give all that is necessary to bring God’s word to the people who do not know him. They are each dedicated to helping the helpless when they have little themselves, especially Bishop Axt, a saintly man with a servant heart. One beautiful memory that we brought home is of this gentle man feeding a little boy lunch at our table. As he spoke with us, he simply spooned soup to the child of about four, who did not seem to have a desire or the ability to feed himself. The Bishop continued to visit with us, all the time unaware that each of us was truly seeing the presence of the Lord at our table.

Bishop Axt observed about the mission, “It was a beautiful time of interior healing, ministry and prayer, with a beautiful unction of the Sacred Spirit. We thank God for the privilege, especially of receiving this gift of the Lord. It was like a fresh wind of the Holy Spirit that you brought to our lives in order to strengthen us, exhort us and open new opportunities in the ministry here in the Argentinean North.”

Team List: The Rev. Paul Frey, team leader, and Mrs. Anne Frey, Redeemer, Eagle Pass, TX; the Rev. David Chalk, St. James, Del Rio, TX; Mrs. Sandra Steele Matts, All Saints’, Bakersfield, CA.

Mission to the USA

Go to the top

Mission to the USA draws on the rich spiritual resources of our Anglican partners. We invited the Rt. Rev. James Tengatenga, the Rev. Harry Chisale, and the Rev. Patrick Mapundula of the Diocese of Southern Malawi in central Africa, to minister in Episcopal churches in Austin, TX, Charlottesville, VA, and Albuquerque, NM.

Bishop James wrote to us about the ministry in churches in Austin. “We have been in the presence of the Lord and had such visitation as we have not known before. Awesome is our Lord! The Lord worked wonders and ministered to us and to His people.”

In Charlottesville, Bishop James preached on reconciliation. During the ministry time, a white man came forward to receive prayer from a team of mixed ethnicity. He confessed that he had been a racist all his life, and wanted God to deliver him and heal him from this sin. This is the power of Jesus, through mission, to change one life.

Ministry in Kenya   By Mr. Phil Leber

Go to the top

Ed Speare shares the scriptural basis for healing prayer.

Our SOMA team to Nambale Diocese in November represented an incredibly diverse mix: the Rev. Richard Menees, a seasoned missionary and priest; Ed Speare, a layperson who had never set foot on African soil; and me, Phil Leber, an American missionary serving in Uganda since 1998.

About thirty folks, priests and their wives (and babies!), attended the three day conference on leadership, worship, and healing. A group from a local church led praise and worship each day. I think that everyone came away with a better understanding of their roles as leaders in the diocese. The leaders were elated to discover a Biblical path to new freedom in their worship, and expressed a desire for more teachings. Ed’s talk on healing prayer elicited a barrage of questions and a plea for another SOMA team to come and train prayer teams.

We left the conference with the assurance that God’s purposes had been fulfilled and that the participants went back to their parishes equipped with some new tools of ministry. Bishop Were confirmed that this should be just the beginning of a long relationship with SOMA.

Two evening “Revival Meetings” held at a nearby Archdeaconry were added to our ministry schedule. Although the adult turnout was low, about two hundred very enthusiastic youth from the surrounding area heard the loud praise music and joined the crowd. They all stayed to hear messages by Richard and Ed, and went home happy to have hosted the “mzungus” (whites) in their church. During a time of ministry, the intensity and depth of the prayers of the women convicted us. We have so much to learn about our own spiritual poverty in the face of such fervent intercession. Our eyes were opened wide as we learned about the struggles of the pastors and bishops of the Anglican Church of Kenya. The door is open for SOMA to develop strong relationships and to send future teams to train the leaders. I count it a privilege to have led this SOMA team to Nambale. I would join these men again in a heartbeat.

Team list: Mr. Phil Leber, USA Missionary in Uganda, team leader; the Rev. Richard Menees, St. James, Newport Beach, CA; and Mr. Ed Speare, All Saints’, Woodbridge, VA.

Director's Corner       by Edwina Thomas

Go to the top

Edwina Thomas, Director

   Those of you who have followed SOMA USA over the years will remember that we have ministered in adverse circumstances. We responded to the invitation to Rwanda in 1996 to love and minister to the Church after the genocide. At God’s bidding, we visited southern Sudan, even enduring with fellow Christians the bombing of the Episcopal Cathedral compound in Maridi. These are only two of the places in the world that we have visited where terror reigns.

What have we said to folks where unjust and horrific things happen? In essence, we only have one message, the same truth Jesus spoke in Matthew 6: 14-15: “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

Recently, I overheard a conversation where a friend lamented that he feared many people would be forever “stuck” in the September 11th terrorist tragedy. As I ponder this comment, I realize that since 9/11 we need to continually remind ourselves and one another of the truth that we proclaim. The way of our Savior is our hope, our future, and our destiny.

To move forward, we must, like all victims of injustice, choose the costly way of forgiveness. Forgiveness is not about whether the terrorist organizations “deserve” or ask for forgiveness. It is not about whether we feel like forgiving. Forgiveness does not absolve the perpetrators from the consequences of their actions. Forgiveness is an act of the will that sets us free.

Can we spiritually release those who planned and carried out the despicable attacks in the USA? Can we check our feelings when they spill over from justice to retaliation, or from righteous anger to seething rage?

I believe someone looked with pain and anger upon Saul’s persecution of Stephen and other Christians, and yet prayed him into the best that God could give—transformation. Will you pray with me for transformed terrorists? First enter into the process of forgiving. Then pray for today’s Sauls throughout the world to become tomorrow’s Pauls.