Meet the officer – Auxiliary-Lieutenant Anthony Barford

1. What is your current appointment and what do you find most satisfying about it?

My wife, Sandra Mortimer, and I were appointed to Katherine Corps (NT) as Corps Officers this year after nearly six years as Corps Officers in Cooma (Southern NSW). We are auxiliary-lieutenants in our second tranche appointment.

What do I find most satisfying? So much of what we do here includes sharing the workload with Sandra so we can manage a very busy corps and social support program and preaching and sharing the gospel amongst the broken and vulnerable, including in the local Kriol dialect in song, the Bible and sometimes in my message.

We also have our  ‘Community of Hope’, known as the Katherine Hub, where community members get access to two meals, showers and laundry Monday to Friday, a place to rest out of the sun and rain, and professional case work to help manage homelessness and progression into housing and care.

Our hub also partners with all the local NT NGOs to offer emergency relief five days each week, legal supports (NT Legal Aid), AOD supports and access to medical care as needed.

Our corps has grown to an average of 36-plus people each Sunday night (with many thanks to the work of our predecessors in facilitating this), and we get to work alongside our TSA Rural and Remote (Flying) Chaplains and other Christian faith expressions in our day to day work.

Mostly, I love the trust and relationships we have been blessed with amongst our homeless and at-risk community members. They are beautiful people, those seeking and those faithful we see each day.  I love that we have been able to encourage some volunteers to assist and support the broad work of the Army in this place.

2. Away from the appointment – if that’s possible! – what do you do to relax or unwind?

I’m very keen to ensure I have ‘self’ time each week, even if that is not always a complete day at a time. I usually spend a couple of days each month cutting back the scourge of bamboo plants we have at the quarters (necessary green cover, but they grow so rapidly), which is also quite the workout in 36-plus heat. Other than that, I’m a keen photographer and get out when I can.

I brought my pushbikes up from hilly Cooma to this (mostly) flat country, but finding time away from the corps when it is not so hot I can’t ride is challenging. I’m gradually getting back on the bike, at least indoors when I can. We also have made an effort to see some of the amazing country up here – definitely worth being here if just for that – on our days off.

3. What’s a favourite Christian song, and why do you like it?

Oh, that is a hard one. I grew up with classical music, going back as far as Hildegard (Gregorian chant), through the ancient, classical, baroque and oratorio forms.

I discovered as a teenager modern jazz, rock, folk etc, and love the grand master, Bob Dylan.

That said, I also love modern music and song, despite not being able to play (at all) or sing (not very well). I turn to various worship music from Hillsong, Bethel Music and small online resources such as Sounds like Reign for our intro and worship music.

Recently, I’ve played Bethel’s ‘High King of Heaven’, which is uplifting, full of grace and energy.

Most recently, though, I have discovered the Indigenous music from the Ngukurr Language Centre, which we play in church, including an awesome little chorus: Priesim Im (in English and Kriol):

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, Let all God’s people praise the Lord. Shake off those heavy burdens, Lift up those Holy hands. Let all God’s people praise the Lord

Preisim im, preisim im, Larram mols pipul preisim im. Libum ols trabul langa im En weship langa Jisas neim. Larram ola pipul preisim im.

This simple chorus relates our need to praise God all the time, no matter what, and to leave our troubles with Jesus. It is a simple and beautiful message that engages with our corps community in such meaningful ways.

4. If you could have a good talk with a biblical character apart from Jesus, who would it be, and what would you talk about?

Definitely Job. I love Job’s story – hardship, losing absolutely everything, his willingness to argue with God (keeping it real) about what was happening to him, and through it all, staying true to God as his servant and Lord almighty.

I want to talk about how Job thought and managed to stay so focused on Yahweh, on the lessons and faith of this amazing, humble man.

5. If you were talking to a group of Salvationists and they asked if you recommended officership or not, what would you say?

Officership is an amazing gift – to formally minister or pastor a congregation and community is such an honour. It is also very hard work, from washing floors and dishes to being visible as a servant supporting our broader community, and very rewarding personally and spiritually.

I’d say talk to your mentors and officers about your path (commissioning, the auxiliary stream or ministering as a soldier) and calling, officership must be supported by a calling from God to support our entry into, to guide and sustain us in this role. It is not for the faint-hearted but is for the obedient and faithful. Make sure you stay close in your relationship with God, use the mentoring and professional development available through the Army and let God lead.

Officership can mean moving away from all you might know, and places you may have lived, a sacrifice challenging and amazing at the same time. We can’t do this without the closeness of the Holy Spirit.

I would also talk about the wonderful and challenging people we get to minister with and to. I have loved the people we have ministered to and with; seeing their faith and joy in Christ is awesome; seeing people find faith, planting seeds and watching people grow in Christ and in their own personal capacity makes everything worthwhile.

Standing alongside broken and addicted people in mourning, or in court, or at the shops, being able to pray with people (because sometimes they expect it, and sometimes we hear that quiet word of God to do so) and bringing joy and peace into people’s lives is what serving as an officer is all about in my mind.

It doesn’t matter if you come in as a commissioned officer through college, or as an Auxiliary as we did – being able to stand aside from our past and serve where God calls us is amazing.

*Interview by Lerisse Smith