After reading my title, you may be thinking: “I never knew that there was any intellectual appeal to The Salvation Army. We have always been a people of service to the poor, and even our worship style historically and presently really reflects more of a Pentecostal type of worship.”

But there are facts from Salvation Army history that we should keep in mind. First, the rather odd manifestations during worship at the outset of The Christian Mission were no different from those demonstrated at the beginning of the Wesleyan revival a hundred years earlier—things like levitation in the services and the rollicking singing of songs to such tunes as Champagne Charlie. But these manifestations did not last long. William Booth, although sometimes pictured as dancing on the streets with a tambourine in hand to attract sinners, abhorred what he called “comicality”, and knew intuitively that if he did not deepen the experience of his converts in serious worship, great preaching, and class meetings that the Army would indeed be a rope of sand.

And if William abhorred “comicality,” Catherine did more. There was no nonsense in her meetings. There was a prayer, an opening hymn, and then the sermon, followed by a call to the mercy seat. The most unschooled Salvationists came away from those meetings with a message and a theology that was able to sustain them throughout the week, and with an appreciation that the worship service was not dumbed down to make them feel good, but challenged their minds as well as their hearts.

The leaders of the Army in those early days usually did not come from Whitechapel Road. The Army made its appeal to the likes of George Scott Railton who, until joining The Christian Mission, was on his way to a ministry among the Wesleyans; or Samuel Logan Brengle who was academically trained in both college and seminary before joining the Army; or Frank Smith, later to become a Member of Parliament; or the Swift sisters, both Vassar graduates. Susie Swift notes: “To those who do not see how an educated person can work with the Salvationists, I simply say that they do not know the Army's leaders, or the freedom of thought and mental activity permitted to those officers who show that they can make a wise use of liberty. Into the London headquarters, to which my sister and I were attached, are drawn the most intelligent organizers whom the 'General' can select from all lands. I used to say at first that education must destroy originality, so marvelous were the intellects around me and so manifestly untrained in pedagogic ways. Many highly educated men and women surround the leaders—men and women for the most part like my old self—all untaught in history and metaphysics, but clever linguists, fair scientists, brilliant popular writers, arguing backward from the rapid results of Salvationism to causes that are far enough afield, wonderfully skilled in 'pulling the cords of Adam' to advantage.”

In our world, relevance is the great virtue, resting on nothing but the fear of not being seen as politically correct

Should any of us have been born in the 19th century we, too, might have been attracted to the Army by its intellectual appeal. These people were creative and imaginative in their preaching and literature. The story goes that after hearing Catherine Booth preach the father of Randall Davidson, who became the Archbishop of Canterbury, exclaimed to his son: “If I am every in trouble with the law, don't get me a lawyer; get that women.” The Booths and others knew the power of the sermon to persuade and the power of the written word. We all know the literature they produced—East London Evangelist, The Salvationist, The War Cry, The Young Soldier, The Field Officer, The Deliverer, All The World, as well as countless books, letters to the leaders of England and articles in journals such as The Contemporary Review.

These were not vagabonds unable intellectually to chart the direction of this ship. These were people of strong character, able gifts and creative vision. In that way they were indeed like the early disciples of Jesus, whom we often unjustly picture as a poor lot of folks who had nothing better to do and so they decided to follow Jesus. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Gospels and the history of the Church confirm that these were people of wealth and power within the community, as well as people of great intellect and talent, and so the Gospels were written Jesus' disciples and followers.

In the Army, there were two sources of intellectual appeal. First, contrary to some misguided readings of our own history, those early Salvationists were not called to some kind of spiritualized religiosity, but to obedience to the commandments: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: love your neighbor as yourself.” That is the true mark of the Christian. Such obedience in not a legal obedience, doing what I hate to do because I fear God; rather it is an Evangelical obedience, gladly following the commands of my Saviour because I am in a covenant of love that compels me to obey.

Unfortunately, early Salvationists comprehended the breadth of the commandment better than we do. We quickly embrace the commandment to love our neighbour, often the poorest neighbour. This is worthy. But such love is meaningless unless rooted in the first commandment, which includes loving God with our minds. Unless Salvationists do so to the limits of their potential their love of neighbour will be groundless.

The Greek word for mind (dianoia) has many dimensions, including “the act or faculty of thinking or reflection” and having a “clear disposition, intention, purpose or design.” And so this commandment of our Lord calls us to enlightened and steady thinking that readily informs an intentional way of living and loving, If our love for our neighbour is not grounded in that kind of thinking we deny the commandment. This has nothing to do with the level of one's education. It has to do strictly with the consecration and commitment of believers to love God as much as possible with the capacity that we have.

Secondly the early Salvationists were grounded in a Wesleyan theology that embraced the life of the mind as well as the heart. The secret of the great Wesleyan revival was its intellectual appeal. This was a revival of the literacy of the Bible, the doctrinal centre of preaching, and the nurturing of believers through the class meetings. It was a revival that was sustained with the great theological hymns of Charles Wesley.

This leads to the state of things today in the broader Evangelical world. Evangelicalism is under attack, not from without but from within. This is a time to ask the question whether or not there is an intellectual appeal of Evangelicalism today and—more to the point—a sustaining intellectual appeal to the Army today without which we neither obey the commandment of our Lord and Saviour nor look to the future with any sense of confidence.

David Wells in his book No Place for Truth; or Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology, notes that Evangelicals today are “driven to seek meaning only in self-fulfillment. The fuel for this new practical virtue comes not from the Bible but from the popularized nostrums of psychology, not from the older practices of self-examination and the pursuit of holiness but from the newer concerns for psychological wholeness and happiness in an age of affluence. It should not be hard to see that this new program has nothing in common with the old, and that this drastically reduced theological vision has nothing to do with the task that has engaged the Church for most of its life.”

In the world of the Wesleys and the Booths, truthfulness was the great Christian virtue, resting on the hard news and the Good News of the Bible. In our world, relevance is the great virtue, resting on nothing but the desire to please those around us, the fear of not being seen as politically correct, and the excuse for not having a biblical vision to which we are willing to commit our lives.

Do Salvationists deserve such criticism? The answer is yes. I think of the retired officer who lamented that going to the corps for Sunday morning worship service has become like going to Sunday School. The preaching is not biblically based; the singing is theologically groundless; the order or worship leads nowhere.

But all is not lost. Scripture gives us comfort: “Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. We have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways; we refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to every person's conscience in the sight of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4).

Some suggestions follow:

1) We must regain our own identity only when we recognize and reestablish that intellectual appeal of the Army at every level. This is the challenge to you as the intellectual leaders as you commit yourselves afresh to communicate in compelling ways that are historically oriented in our Wesleyan theological heritage, denominationally accurate, and, above all, biblically sound. The only way to that biblical soundness is to once again affirm in our writing, speaking and preaching the central message of Jesus—the Kingdom of God is at hand. The commandment to love God and neighbour is rooted in that Kingdom message. In every way possible we need to awaken our people out of their biblical illiteracy. Otherwise we deprive them of the food and water needed for their spiritual survival. By engaging the minds of our people you ensure the continuation of this Movement.

Much of our worship is insipid, uninstructive and theologically bankrupt

2) We need to reevaluate our vision for worship in the Army. Our appeal merely to the emotions of our people will have no lasting effect outside of the hour of worship. Church history has demonstrated countless times that a cognitive approach to worship must be joined to worship from the heart. We do well with the worship of the heart and experiential worship, but do not appeal to the whole person, and therefore have ceased to challenge our people to love God with the minds. Much of our worship is insipid, uninstructive and theologically bankrupt. You can help in your positions of leadership by insuring that our worship is such that once again it is biblically sound, that preaching is central, and that the music is theologically grounded.

3) We need a reappraisal of our entire educational system. We need material for our people at every level—dare I say corps cadets, weekly Bible studies, corps libraries and study groups as well as in the difficult task of research and writing in areas of biblical, theological, historical, and studies? William Booth's great vision of a University of Humanity included not only the usual biblical and social studies that you would expect from Booth, but graduate schools in such things as architecture, engineering and medicine. Without this university system as part of the Army educational system, Booth believed we would never make it in the complex modern world.

4) We must commit ourselves afresh to discipline on the one hand and to throwing off once and for all our feeling of victimization on the other hand. Think of the finest Salvation Army band that you know. Reflect for a moment on the discipline that is needed to accomplish that level of musical ability. Think of the times given to rehearsals, and to private practice. Now think of what that would mean if we had applied the same level of discipline to our preaching, Bible studies, class meetings and writing. Through your writing, preaching and teaching you call our people to live out in obedience the discipline of the Kingdom of God.

None of this will be accomplished, however, if we are paralyzed by a feeling of victimization. Salvationists who think of themselves as second class citizens to other Christians or to the culture in which they live, will never accomplish anything for the sake of the Kingdom of God. Our people need to be challenged to a rightful pride in who they are for the sake of the Kingdom. That includes a pride in their particular identity is as Salvationists. In some Salvationist thinking there is the desire to melt into the Evangelical world. This will only ensure our demise.

Simply put, a clear identity of history, theology, purpose and mission strengthens a denomination and ensures strength and growth. As such identity becomes weaker, more generic and less rooted in the history and tradition of the movement, death is inevitable.
So I plead with you to move into the future first by looking at the past. Embrace not only the intellectual appeal of the Church, but also the intellectual appeal of the Army to which you have committed your lives. Let us once again take the commandment of our Lord seriously and obey. Call upon our people to love God with our minds. Reject any claims that the life of the mind hinders the mission of the Army, or must be ignored in favour of emotion and experience.

Write, speak and worship in such a way that intellectual appeal will once again be ours in the Arm. We will carry this appeal only by being faithful to the Scriptures, the history of the Church, our Wesleyan heritage, our history and our calling as Salvationists in this Army of God.