SA couple to lead Salvation Army
A SOUTH AFRICAN couple will head up The Salvation Army in southern Africa.
Keith and Yvonne Conrad, originally from Cape Town, were inducted as Salvation Army colonels (high-ranked clergy) in Johannesburg at the weekend.
Keith was born in Bishop Lavis and worked at the Cape Times in the early 1970s, while Yvonne is from Ravensmead.
Their induction, by Salvation Army international leaders General André Cox and his wife, Commissioner Silvia, mandates them to lead the church’s southern Africa territory of South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Namibia and St Helena Island.
Yvonne said her vision for The Salvation Army is to see women dealing with specific needs in their communities, since women are not scared to go out and do the work.
“The Salvation Army must not only be open on a Sunday; it must be a hive of activity throughout the week. We need communities to work alongside us and not just wait for the Army to do everything.
“We need to talk with community leaders about how we can make a difference in their communities by working with communities,” she said.
Conrad said The Salvation Army is an evangelical church with a strong social conscience. With his main priority being to bring transformation in people’s spiritual relationship with God, he said his vision was in line with his church’s strategic plan of enabling community growth and transformation.
“We do this through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and uplifting communities through our programmes to see that poverty is eradicated and communities change and transform.
“Our second priority arises from our strong social conscience and involves trans- forming communities from the impact of poverty, gangsterism, drug abuse and human trafficking, among others.”
Concerned especially about child abuse, he said their church would continue giving input on the abuse of women and children, and human trafficking.
“The message that abuse of women and children is contrary to God’s will needs to get through to our society.”