Officers Serving Overseas - Captains Chris and Nichole Maxwell (Canada)
The Australia Territory has more than 30 Aussie officers serving overseas. In an ongoing series, Global Focus is featuring many of these officers – who they are, where they’re serving, the joys and challenges they face and what life looks like for them in their unique corners of The Salvation Army world.
After several years of feeling a strange sense that Canada was the place God wanted them to be, the Maxwells, along with their three young children, began their appointment in Kingston, Ontario, in January 2022. Three years on, here they are, reflecting to Salvos Online journalist KIRRALEE NICOLLE on their lives in Canada, the journey that led to this point, and the work that so often breaks their hearts and spurs them to put their best ministry feet forward.
To start with, can you please tell me a little bit about yourselves? What are your hobbies, your interests and your passions?
Nichole: I like to experience new things. I like a bit of adventure and exploring the outdoors, but I also enjoy sitting quietly in a nice café with a good coffee. My favourite past time though, is having fun with my family.
Chris: I’m the opposite. I’m not an adventurous person. I like to stay indoors and watch movies. I like to broaden my mind with reading and podcasts, and I enjoy music. But just like Nichole, I love being with my family. And the great thing is, because Nichole and I are so different, whether we’re being adventurous in the great outdoors or just relaxing at home, we always have fun as a family.
How did you come to be Salvation Army officers, and how did you end up working in Ontario?
Chris: Like most officers, I started out on a completely different path. I was working as a financial planner, but one day I felt that I needed some extended time of quiet with God, so I got away from my usual routine and spent a few days in prayer. And it was while I was there that God spoke to me about becoming an officer. It was not a direction for ‘now’ but a sense that the plans I had been making for myself were not what God had in store for me. God spoke to me about laying down my own plans and preparing my heart and mind for a different path, and that was officership. My calling to be an officer came with a strong sense that this would one day include international service. I didn’t know when that would be or what that would look like, but I knew that I needed to remain open.
Nichole: I think I was about 13 when I first felt God speak to me about officership, but at the time, I was extremely scared of public speaking, so the idea of preaching was just not on the cards for me. But as I began to pursue Jesus more and more in my early adult years, this call to ministry and to trust him in opportunities to speak grew and grew. Anyway, a few years down the line, Chris and I met and began dating, and 18 months later, we were married. We had spoken before we married about our mutual calling to ministry, but both felt that we needed to wait on God for his timing.
Chris: One Sunday morning, I don’t remember what the sermon was about because, to be honest, I couldn’t concentrate on it. God had been speaking to my heart very clearly about applying for the following year’s session. This was in October, so quite late in the year to be applying. Following the service, Nichole had to stay back because there was a corps council meeting she was involved in, so I let her know I’d be back but that I needed to go home and pray.
Nichole: I had no idea what was going on for him, but I could tell something had been stirring. But it was actually during the corps council meeting that I felt God speak to my heart. My corps officer was actually asking me to take on more responsibility in the following year. Chris and I were already the youth group and worship team leaders, and a friend of mine who was also on the team said, “They’re still in their first year of marriage; we shouldn’t be asking them to take on more responsibility,” and I heard God say to my heart, “You will take on more next year, but it won’t be here.”
Chris: When Nichole and I finally had a chance to connect and talk and pray, it was clear that God was leading us to apply for college. We worked hard to get all the pre-college assignments done in time before the last board met, and we entered college the following January.
Nichole: It was 2013 when we entered college. Chris had shared with me before we even married that he just had this impression that our lives would include overseas service at some point. It certainly wasn’t a calling for me at that point, but I’m up for adventure and new things, so I was on board. But then, in our fourth year of officership, when we had not long entered our second appointment, I felt God put Canada on my heart. I had no idea why. We didn’t really know anyone there, but I said to Chris, “I think we need to begin praying about Canada.” So, we did.
Chris: So, we began praying about Canada and what this might mean. And again, in January of 2021, we felt this sense of urgency from God, like the time to submit our request for international exchange was now. So, we did. We weren’t actually expecting the turnaround to be so quickly. Our Area Officer at the time, Major Mark Brooks, had done a couple of stints on exchange and so we had talked through the process quite extensively with him, which was very helpful. We thought it might take a couple of years, but about six months later, we were notified that Canada had an appointment for us, and in the following December, just before the New Year, our young family (our kids were aged four, three and one) began the long journey to the other side of the world.
What does a typical day at work look like for you?
Nichole: I’m not sure that there is such a thing as a ‘typical’ day at work. It’s so diverse. We are, of course, corps officers, so we engage in the usual work of a church pastor, but we also lead a team of directors and managers who oversee the work of our ministry unit.
Chris: Within the ministry unit there is our Community and Family Services Centre. They currently operate a food pantry that sees around 150 households a week and a warming centre (a temperature-controlled building providing relief from the elements) that includes access to various resources from around the city, such as housing and legal aid. They have both city and rural housing departments working both in homelessness and prevention. They also run supervised access (for families facing separation) in three locations in Kingston and the surrounding townships. So, there is a lot going on there. The ministry unit also has a thriving thrift store. And then we have a newly established mission board who are actively involved in the leadership of the church.
Nichole: All together, the ministry unit employs around 50 staff, and we work very closely with our managers and directors in their leadership over these spaces. Building a strong team culture both in the leadership of our church and in the organisation and leadership of the ministry unit, as well as working alongside our teams to seek God for what he is doing in our city and through our people, is truly one of the aspects of our role here that we love.
Chris: And so, a typical day can include anything from sermon prepping and pastoral visits to meetings with our ministry leaders, and always, far too many emails.
What are some things people may not know about Canada/Ontario specifically? What are the needs there, and what are some cultural features that you have come to be aware of?
Nichole: Homelessness is a huge issue in Kingston, like it is in most cities, but it takes on a whole new level, I think, when, for three-quarters of the year, the temperatures are regularly below freezing. We’re at the end of February now, and as I look out my window, the snow is banked up as high as my car. From about mid-December through to March and sometimes even into April, it’s not just cold; it’s quite literally freezing. Don’t get me wrong, we love the Canadian winters. Our kids’ school is just around the corner from us, and we love pulling them to school on the sled, crossing the road after school to the hill on the other side and having a few runs on the sled down the hill before heading home. We absolutely love our white Christmases here and ice skating in the park on the public rink. We love it! But it’s hard to escape the knowledge that there are those who don’t have the nice warm home to return to.
What is your favourite thing about what you do, and what is something challenging that you are facing currently (that you are happy to share)?
Chris: For both Nichole and I, we are passionate about staying true to the kind of leaders we believe that God has called us to be. Our mantra as leaders, particularly in places that have experienced any measure of brokenness, decline, or have carried any kind of negative narrative about them, as happens in the church world, even the army world, is to ‘see the potential for God to move and work, and draw attention to it’. This is our favourite place to operate. We are both quite strategic thinkers, but myself in a more analytical and processes perspective and Nichole from a people and networks perspective, and so our gifting lies in building teams and structures around the vision God gives a particular place of ministry. The diversity that exists in our current appointment has allowed us to really stretch ourselves in this area. It has been a lot of hard work but incredibly rewarding and satisfying work, too.
Nichole: From a personal perspective, this has been such a rich and rewarding experience for us with our children, too. They have been able to experience and learn so much. But the greatest challenge, of course, is being so far away from our extended family. We thank the Lord for Facetime, which helps a lot, but it’s not quite the same. God is good, though, and has confirmed so many times for us that we are right where we need to be. The distance would be too much to bear without his constant assurance.
How can readers best pray or assist in addressing the needs you see in your work?
Chris: We’d deeply appreciate your prayers for guidance and wisdom as we lead our ministry unit. We love our church and the people we serve here, and there is a real desire to see the lost saved and to live out the realities of the Kingdom of God here in our city of Kingston. Please pray that God continues to direct us as we lead this faithful church community. Help us to impact the people of our city with the love of Christ. We ask that you pray for our team; our staff, managers, and volunteers – that they’re empowered and united in spirit to bring hope and practical help to those in need.
Additionally, please remember our family in prayer. Being far from extended family is challenging at times, and we ask that God would sustain us with his comfort and assurance.
