New captains aim to ‘transform lives’

When Karl and Christine Foreman were called to Nelson to become the new captains of the local Salvation Army, they knew it was “meant to be”.

After living in Taranaki for six years, the couple took up their position in February.

“Nelson’s an incredible place and we feel blessed to be here,” says Christine, whose own parents were Salvation Army officers.

Karl says his goal is to “transform lives” after finding his calling and transforming his own life after being “caught up in the world of drugs and alcohol”.

“It affected our marriage and family, so we’ve been through some pretty tough times, but finding that healing, faith, and restoration has been a real part of that journey. That’s why we do what we do today.

“That’s been my story, coming from that lifestyle of hopelessness and despair to now having hope and offering hope to others.”

The couple has five biological children and two foster children aged between 28 and 12 and they say they are enjoying meeting the community and establishing relationships with people.

“We’ve been well received, we’ve got an amazing team here,” says Karl.

Christine says they will continue the “incredible” work with housing first and transitional housing.

“There is still such a need. For me, it’s also about helping people find somewhere that they belong and not feel judged in any way.”

Karl says they have a range of services for the community throughout the region.

“We have a drop-in centre where people can just come in and feel part of a family. We’ve started a men’s support group and a 12-step recovery programme and it’s just amazing seeing people respond to that. It’s about creating places for the community, but also places for healing and transformation, too.”

As well as services in Nelson, they have a community ministry and foodbank in Motueka. There, they also run a range of programmes, including a positive lifestyle programme and a women’s life group.

“There are some great community groups here which we have been blown away by,” Christine says.

“It feels like this is where we are meant to be.”

Sign up to our newsletter to get the week's top stories from Nelson/Tasman delivered to your inbox each Friday morning