Salvationists_helping_homeless_manDuring the collapse of the East Coast fishery, a reporter interviewed an old Newfoundland fisherman and asked him what he thought about the future of the fishery. With the wisdom of Solomon and the wit of Stephen Leacock, the old fisherman replied, “The future of the fishery is a thing of the past.”

There are some who would say the same of The Salvation Army. And it is hard not to disagree. In a little more than a decade, all the great Salvation Army hospitals in this country were handed over to government. Two historic training colleges closed and the properties were sold. Hallowed campgrounds were disposed of. Many corps closed, with their properties converted (or backslidden) to garages and warehouses. And there are fewer cadets than ever in training.

Yes, it is easy to say that our future is a thing of the past. But our past also has much to teach us.

When William Booth started The Salvation Army it was a Christian mission. In fact, that is what he called it—The Christian Mission. It was the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association of its day. The aim of the mission was to “go for souls and go for the worst.” The missioners saw nothing greater than saving souls.

Then the mission morphed into an army. “Salvation was their motto. Salvation was their song. And 'round the wide, wide world they sent the cry along.” The Salvation Army saved the drunkards from their drink, the criminals from the prisons and girls from the streets by preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, complete with repentance and holiness. And for their soul-saving, evangelistic work they were often ridiculed and persecuted.

But along with the spiritual work, the Army applied the social gospel. The Army was the World Vision of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. And the more the Army got involved in social work, the more it was praised. We gained quite a reputation for ourselves as a humanitarian organization.

And it was at this point, so very subtly as to be unnoticed, that the Army began to change yet again. We became a quasi Red Cross. In fact, we adopted similar vocabulary and invented the Red Shield. Doing good deeds gained us favour with the people. No one would argue against an organization that did so much good. Governments gave us grants. People poured money into our coffers. Donors stuffed envelopes with cheques and mailed them to us. Humanitarian work was profitable. Much more profitable than spiritual work.

Not many would give us money to preach against sin or support us to proclaim that Jesus saves—and Jesus alone. Only a faithful few would stuff a church offering envelope and put it in the collection plate every Sunday. Certainly not governments or big corporate donors.

Our social programs grew at the expense of our spiritual ones. And so we find ourselves today on the brink of morphing into another YMCA, which began in 1844 as another Christian mission to the young men of London, England, “to substitute Bible study and prayer for life on the streets,” but is now a world-class humanitarian organization with little or no Christian message.

Humanitarian work is good but that is not our calling as The Salvation Army. Our work is first and foremost spiritual. In the Early Church when some widows needed food, they approached the Apostles for help. Peter's reply was, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the Word of God in order to wait on tables” (Acts 6:2). If we cannot take the message of Christ with us when we serve tables and distribute food, provide shelter and give away furniture, then we have left our first love.

The Ss on Salvation Army uniforms used to mean “Saved to Save.” It was a statement of early Salvationists' faith that they were saved so that they could lead others to salvation. They testified of the saving grace of God that came to them when the blood of Christ was applied to their hearts and their sins were washed away. “Saved to Save” is an evangelistic testimony from the heart of a Christian believer. Now we often refer to the slogan as “Saved to Serve.”

If my mission is simply humanitarian, then it makes no difference whether or not I am instrumental in saving anyone's soul. I can give a man a good, used coat, a hot bowl of soup and a warm bed for a few weeks, then send him on his way. I have fulfilled my mission. I have served. The man may be back again next year and I will have the privilege of serving him again and again and again.

If my mission is to save, then I will not be satisfied until I have put a new man in that old coat, until his heart is as warm with the Spirit as his belly is with the soup, until he eventually falls asleep in Jesus.

Our future is not a thing of the past, but the key to our future success lies there. You'll find it at Mile End Waste, London, England, 1865.

fred_ashMajor Fred Ash is the corps officer at Burlington Community Church, Ont.

Comment

On Sunday, January 24, 2010, D Jefcoat said:

I have taken a great interest in learning about the history of the church and love hearing, studying and learning the history of the Salvation army. It appears that at times we in the Army have become the lukewarm that we are warned about in the Bible. We don't want to say anything about our faith. We don't want to people to know the gospel.

We do our programs in a fashion that pleases the community we serve. We used to have Hospitals in these hospitals we had many opportunities to share the gospel we have since traded that for chaplains that are an all religion based chaplain. We have disaster response systems and are instructed to avoid talking about our faith. We give out food to people we provide lodging to those in need, but are encouraged to not share our faith.

I have seen a drastic change in the army over the years and even in our corps we have shyed away from solid biblical teaching. I have sat through many sermons talking about doing good works or do what ever you feel comfortable doing. We have left the solid hymns for cushy non offensive choruses. We have limited our church services to one hour Sunday mornings. I remember when we had Sunday school at 9:30 then as a family we went to Holiness meeting and that could last up to 2 hours sometimes more. There was open air meetings then evening service. We had opportunities to serve our corps.

It appears the more we as an Army want to appear like the churches down the street the more we loose touch with our biblical charge and I think that is hazardous.
There are times when I have considered leaving the Army. Yes that's right you heard me I have at times been tempted to hang up my uniform and head off to a church that has not removed its foundation. I agree the Army is becoming more like the YMCA/YWCA.

So Leaders of the Army are we going to continue pleasing the world or shaking it up for the glory of God?
What are we afraid of?

On Thursday, January 21, 2010, David Holliday said:

1 Corinthians 13 stresses the pre-eminence of love in all things and says in verse 3 “If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere.”
Albert Osborn wrote
“I must move thee, love must rule me, springing up and flowing forth from a childlike heart within me, or my work is nothing worth. Love with passion and with patience, love with principle and fire, love with heart and mind and utterance, serving Christ my one desire”.
The Bible uses many military metaphors e.g. Ephesians 6. The Salvation Army has also capitalised on military metaphors. I seem to remember that at one time there was a slogan “make love not war” in secular circulation. Maybe that memory dates me. On the surface there may appear to be a contradiction but we read in Romans 12; 20, 21 how loving actions can be used to combat evil. “If you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he's thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don't let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.’ Jesus is our prime example as always.
Any division between our social work and our evangelism is artificial. We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:10. We are saved to serve. Our evangelism and social action must be grounded in love.
Unlike Cathy I am encouraged when I hear that The Salvation Army is the largest private social services agency in Canada. 1 John 3:18 says “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” When our social service is offered in the spirit and love of Jesus then peoples lives can be transformed. But it is the Christ-like nature of that service that is more important than the quantity alone. Love for the individual will also mean that we will approach individuals with sensitivity around the gospel message and respect their right to reject our spoken message of God’s love. Sometimes we may need to remind ourselves that actions speak louder than words. When our actions are carried out in the loving spirit of Jesus then lives can be impacted and changed. I believe that our faith in Jesus is often caught and then learned. Our lives may be the only Bibles that some people ever read. Are they encouraged or discouraged by our presence and unspoken message? The answer to this question may well determine the future of the Salvation Army.

On Saturday, January 16, 2010, Kathie Chiu said:

Sorry, there was an error in my comment - we take in over $1,000,000.00 in government grants annually.

On Saturday, January 16, 2010, Kathie Chiu said:

What is our future? Does anyone really know where we are going as an organization? It's hard to know when there are so many compteting voices from within. If we are going to be fruitful then we all need to be of one accord and on the same page as far as our mission goes.

It often discourages me to hear the advertisements say The Salvation Army is the largest private social services agency in Canada. However, I also know that Jesus sent his disciples out "as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves." Humanitarian work isn't over and above the gospel, it is the gospel. Faith and deeds go together. We can take the government's money, we can use public donations but we cannot forsake the work of the gospel by leaving out the word of God.

When we applied for a (federal) grant to buy our building in Maple Ridge, BC, we were very clear that it was Mountain View Community Church applying for the grant. We were clear that on Sundays we would hold church services in the building bought by government money. Our DHQ staff had a hard time believing that the government would give us the money and so asked the government representative to put it in writing saying that they understood that it would be a church using the building. They had no problem at all with that request and wrote the letter willingly. It was our reputation as a church, not an humanitarian organization, that has earned such trust.

Just because we accept government money, doesn't mean we are a government agency. We just need to be honest about who we are and what we do and not compromise that, and God will continue to bless us. I am continually awed by God who allows us to see new men and women put on those coats every week. We take over $100,000 per year and there is no compromise on the gospel in our ministry. We have more people saved through the week in our shelter than many corps see in several months of Sundays. We are truly blessed to be a part of that.

The times we live and minister in are changing. It is a challenging time for all Christian churches, we are not an exception. The Church must change and roll with the punches to continue to be relevant and reach our communities. Those of us still willing to fight the good fight must be willing to make difficult decisions to carry on.

And God willing, we will do so. As we seek His heart for ourselves as individuals and as an organization, we need to trust Him to speak to us, gude us and give us wisdom.

God bless our leaders who have the difficult task of leading us in these times. Theirs is not an easy job. We must continue to uphold them in our prayers daily.

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