Would you like to hear Shanti Solomon speaking to you? I know I would.
In the National Archives of Australian Church Women, there is a transcript of a recording made of Shanti Solomon, founder of the Fellowship of the Least Coin (FLC). This recording took place at the third Asian Church Women’s Conference (ACWC) in 1966 in Tokyo, Japan, where the tenth anniversary of the FLC was also celebrated. Mrs Olga Badger, an Australian member of the ACWC Planning Committee, recorded a message from Shanti to Australia regarding the Fellowship of the Least Coin.
The transcriber of the message has inserted very little punctuation into the transcription and a few words seem to be missing, however, this transcript is still a valuable record for the herstories of the ACWC, the FLC and Australian Church Women. Unfortunately, I have not located the original sound tape in the archives, but it would be good to know what happened to it. Perhaps one of the Units of Australian Church Women knows its whereabouts.
Let me share with you the beginning and ending of this greeting on tape from Shanti to Australia:
'Dear Sisters in Christ, I am thrilled with the opportunity of talking to you on the tape. It is due to Mrs. Badger’s kindness that I have this opportunity, and I must tell you that this East Asia Christian Women’s Conference how thrilled we are to have a delegate from Australia for even one delegate can remind us that we belong to a world wide fellowship in coming to Jesus Christ and accepting him as our Saviour because when delegates from Asian countries get together we are so Asian that we forget that there are sisters and brothers on the other side of the world, and one delegate from Australia and one or two from New Zealand remind us that we have fellowship with the West as well.
'Now this Asian conference was especially emphasising the 10th anniversary of the Least Coin Fellowship. I am sure through your delegates you have heard much about it, but I hope you will not mind if I tell you about it again. Often people say that the idea disturbs them because offering “least” to God is not very high ideal. Well, this project when it was started, was not started to raise a fund, and therefore it doesn’t disturb us when we say LEAST COIN FELLOWSHIP …
'Thank you very much for listening to me so patiently. It has been a pleasure to be with you, who has never been to Australia, but it seems as though I have met you now through this tape.'
Please note that Shanti said the Fellowship of the Least Coin was not started as a fundraiser. As time passes, too many people seem to have forgotten or are not aware that the FLC is firstly a prayer movement, and that the huge annual collection of token coins should indicate a global tide of prayers for peace, justice and reconciliation.
Let us be reminded of the miracle of prayer as demonstrated by the Fellowship of the Least Coin and the blessings we have witnessed, because of the least coin prayers from all around the globe.
