You can download a PDF of Called to Be a Soldier: Exploring the Soldier’s Covenant and Day by Day: Call to Mission here. Day by Day: Call to Mission is also available to purchase on Amazon as an ebook. 

As I was planning Sunday morning worship services for 2022 as the corps officer at Melfort—Circuit with Tisdale, Sask., I was looking for a theme or structure for my sermons. Then I recalled Day by Day, the discipleship resource by Commissioner Robert Street, provided to every corps by General Brian Peddle as part of his Call to Mission. I had found it inspiring and practical, and thought if it piqued my interest, then our corps members might find it valuable as well.

I wondered if there would be enough material to carry us through to the end of June, minus the weeks we would focus on the Lenten and Easter seasons. I couldn’t have planned it better myself, as we had exactly enough weeks to cover the entire book. I knew this was what we were meant to do, to help focus our hearts and hands on hearing and responding to God’s call to mission.

Then I was on a mission, as I wanted to make sure that not only our soldiers and adherents, but each person in our small congregation, had a copy of the book. After a few emails, I was able to connect with Captain Jaclyn Wynne, corps officer at Estevan Community Church—Circuit with Weyburn and Estevan, Sask., who had enough extra copies that she was willing to send me. I felt that God was enabling us to take this journey together, not only on Sundays, but also in personal devotional reading of the book. My anticipation of what God was going to do in us and through us was building.

It has been interesting and challenging to see how the pre-selected theme for each Sunday has coincided with things happening in peoples’ lives, holidays and global events. In early February, a beautiful couple who attend our corps were married during a Sunday morning meeting, when we also talked about “knowing our mission.”

Commissioner Street wrote, “For most of us, life has to be lived in its ordinariness—just where we are … it doesn’t mean life can’t be an adventure. It doesn’t mean we can’t have a calling or a mission.” For that couple, their coming together in marriage has been the adventure of their lives. It has helped them, their families and others believe that all things are possible when we trust God to lead us where he wants us to go and make us the people he wants us to be.

Just a couple of weeks later, we found ourselves witnessing war in Ukraine with devastation and displacement in eastern Europe. The Sunday after the war began, we happened to focus on “being ready through being battle-ready.” There couldn’t have been a more appropriate topic, as we pondered and prayed about the world needing Christ now more than ever, and that today is the day of salvation because we aren’t promised tomorrow.

We were reminded that the battle we fight is “not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12). With a few members of our corps being of Ukrainian descent, the reality of this hit close to home. It was an emotional time to look our fears in the face and know that we are still called to love God and love others, and he enables us to do it.

In early May, we celebrated Mother’s Day, where we expressed appreciation to all women for their love and influence on those around them. Since the theme of this Sunday was to “be engaged through confidence,” we compared a person who shows love to others to a seed that is planted in good soil. There is hope and confidence that the seed will germinate, and the plant will bloom. It was important to know that just like the person who is rooted in God’s love, what is planted and produced in others will be beautiful and life-giving because it comes from God.

After using Day by Day as a guide for our time together, my prayer is that our corps will keep the conversation with God going strong, be challenged by his Word and grow in ways they never thought possible as they serve him faithfully in response to his call to mission.

Called to be a Soldier and Day by Day are available for free to every Salvation Army soldier. Ask your corps officer for more information.

Effective July 1, 2022, Major Jennifer Robins took up a new appointment as the corps officer in Fernie, B.C.

Photo: Courtesy of International Headquarters Spiritual Life Development