Go together like a Horse and Carriage

As you can tell, I’m kinda on a “Salvation Army” distinctive rant at the moment. I think it’s probably because I’m passionate about our Army. I’m passionate about the movement we were, and the movement we are called to be. I’m concerned about some of the present trends and practices, and I’m reflecting on what I believe about them – keeping in mind that as an Officer in The Salvation Army – in the future, I will be in a position of leadership, at the very least (though I think it’s the most!) at a local level.

One of the things I’m really concerned about is the almost complete isolation of our Social Services and our Corps from each other. There are many amazing integrated ministries across our Territory, but at this stage, not every Social Service/Programme is attached to a Corps. More concerning for me though, is that not every Corps has aligned itself with a Social Service/Programme.

William Booth quoted many times the importance of having both, though I’m sure he never had in mind the split we have at the moment. Booth proclaimed “Soup, Soap, Salvation!” in that order… and was quoted as saying “But what is the use of preaching the Gospel to men whose whole attention is concentrated upon a mad, desperate struggle to keep themselves alive?” You see, yes, we were indeed called to be a Christian Movement, to spread the love of God to everyone we meet, to share the message of Jesus, and to bring people into the Kingdom. There was always, and should always, be a leaning towards the poor and marginalized within our community.


Booth also warned against becoming purely a Charity when he stated:
“To get a man soundly saved it is not enough to put on him a pair of new breeches, to give him regular work, or even to give him a University education. These things are all outside a man, and if the inside remains unchanged you have wasted your labor. You must in some way or other graft upon the man's nature a new nature, which has in it the element of the Divine.”

Corps & Social, Social & Corps…they go together, the are not separate entities. When we look at Jesus ministry, did He ever say “Well today, I’m all about building my church, let’s leave the work of healing the sick to the doctors, and serving the poor to the social workers, I’m called to build the church!”…. NO!! (“TEN THOUSAND TIMES NO!!”) Jesus constantly and consistently led His disciples to the poor, to being on the move, serving community after community, person after person, exactly where they are at. Not expecting them to go to a fully established service with professionals, or to come to a church and act as they should, in order to be accepted. No! It was quite the opposite… Jesus went out, and served people where they were at, and in turn, those people became followers of Him. So if we are truly honestly Christians (which is to say we are FOLLOWERS of Christ) then we are called to do likewise… to serve people and love them exactly as they are… and in turn, to trust that their Saviour will fill them with the hope they need to fight their battles and demons. How can we do that, when we are so comfortable in our churches?

Now I’ve worked in both Corps & Social, I see the value in both. I love both. I am able to see that one cannot, and must not exist without the other. I’m tired of Salvationists whinging and moaning that our Social Centres are staffed by non-Christians. To those that do, I say… where are you? Have you gone and studied, to become qualified in a field, so that you might serve our Social Centres? The buck has to stop with someone… can it stop with you?

We are so quick as Salvationists to judge the Army, but often, I find, we’re not overly quick to do anything about it! If you are an accountant, are you working for the Army? If you’re a teacher, are you working for the Army? If you are a social worker, are you working for the Army? How about if you are a cook, or a cleaner, or a receptionist? Because we’re desperate for all those roles, and whilst Salvationists are not getting trained up and working in them, we’re having to employ non-Christians. Perhaps if you can't work for the Army, you've got a few hours a week to help out at one of our Centres? You have no idea how much that would bless the staff!

Those of you who are qualified and are working for the Army, are you being a true expression of Salvationism within your job? Are your co-workers respecting you because you are giving above and beyond your job’s requirement? Or do you slack off and expect to cut corners because you’re a Salvo? This isn’t a judgement, I know many many BRILLIANT Salvationists who are serving God by using their skills and giftings by working for The Army. But sadly, many of our Social Centre managers have not such a great idea of Salvo’s working for The Army, and it had to come from somewhere. These are questions I ask of myself constantly in my work. When I turn up to work at welfare or in housing, am I a good example of The Salvation Army, not only to the clients, but also to my colleagues? Because if I’m not, I’m part of the problem not the solution!

And in our Corps… when someone from one of our Social Centres come along, do you introduce yourself? Do you offer to get them a coffee, or lend a listening ear? Do you sit with them, and explain what’s going on in our Services? Or are you expecting others to do it? You see, if we truly want to see our Corps grow, we need to start asking these tough questions of ourselves. We were not designed to be a middle-class church, we were created and formed to be a movement showing the love of Christ by serving others.

We’re a hard core movement… are you ready? Are you willing? Would you lay down your life for it? Because the Army needs militant Salvationists… it needs people who are going to say “Here I am Lord, take ALL of me”, because without those Salvationists, we’re nothing but a happy clappy church or a charity… the future is in our hands… decisions need to be made… I’ve made mine… have you?

I leave you with a challenge from our Founder, General William Booth in 1910 (most of you know it already, and some bits are possibly misquoted, to which I apologise):


“I am glad you're enjoying yourselves. The Salvationist is the friend of happiness. Making heaven on earth is our business. "Serve the Lord with gladness" is one of our favourite mottos. So I am pleased that you are pleased.

But amidst all of your joys, don't forget the sons and daughters of misery. Do you ever visit them? Come away and let us make a call or two.

Here is a home, six in family. They eat and drink and sleep and sicken and die in the same chamber.

There is a drunkard's hovel, void of furniture, wife a skeleton, children in rags, father maltreating the victims of his neglect.

Here are the unemployed wandering about seeking work and finding none.

Yonder are the wretched criminals, cradled in crime, tracking in and out of the prisons all the time.

There are the daughters of shame, deceived and wronged and ruined, travelling down the dark incline to an early grave.

There are the children, fighting in the gutters, going hungry to school, growing up to fill their parents' places.

Brought it all on themselves do you say? Perhaps so, but that does not excuse our assisting them. You don't demand a certificate of virtue before you drag the drowning creature out of the water. Nor the assurance that a man has paid his rent before you deliver him from the burning building.

But what shall we do? Content ourselves by singing a hymn, offering a prayer or giving a little good advice?

No, ten thousand times, no.

We will pity them, feed them, reclaim them, employ them. Perhaps we shall fail with many -quite likely. But our business is to help them all the same and that in the most practical, economical and Christ-like manner.

So let us haste to the rescue for the sake of our own peace, the poor wretches themselves (seen as the children) and the Saviour of us all.

But you must help with the means. And as there is nothing like the present, who in this company will lend a hand by taking up a collection?”

What on earth IS a COMMUNITY Church?!

Okay, so whilst my soapbox is ready for a work out, I thought I'd cover the next little gripe I have at the moment.

It's still in line with the whole "forgetting who we are in order to be more 'relevant'" line of thought. It's a question about the current trend in changing our name from Corps to Community Church - or in some cases just becoming a Community Church and dropping name of The Salvation Army all together!!

Why oh Why oh Why oh Why?! Seriously?! I did a bit of a vox pop of some of my (for want of a better word) non-church going or non-believing friends. The two questions I asked was "What do you think when you hear the words Community Church" and "What do you think when you hear the words The Salvation Army".

To the first the answers were:
"boring and irrelevant", "doesn't fit into my life", "hypocritical and outdated", "money hungry", and the most concerning I think were "judgemental" and "abuse".

To the second:
"You silly!... kind", "caring & compassionate", "tamborines and marching bands haha, nah they do great work with people", "my favourite organisation to give money", "always there to lend a hand", and "great...no awesome".

When I asked whether they knew that The Salvation Army was also a church - they all said yes, when I asked if they knew that before they knew me, all bar 2 said they did. So I investigated a little further, I said "So if you think that the church is (insert their word here) and you know that The Salvation Army are also a church, why do you think that church is (insert their word here) but The Salvation Army is (insert their comment)?"

These were the answers:

"Oh yeah we know you're a church, but you're not like that Hillsong one", "Yeah but we figured you're a church there to help people, not hurt them", "Well I dont' know what's different but you are", "Guess I never thought about it much", "Because you take the bible seriously and the others dont? Who knows!" and a "hmmm...dunno".

(*** I need to note that some of these friends were people that I went through my leaving the Army stage with, so even knowing what I went through, that's their comments - I think that in itself speaks volumes!)

So if this is just a vox pop of a group of friends that I know...what does the general public in your community think?

A friend of my father's, who worked for a PR firm, once did a focus group for The Salvation Army and found that according to it and their research, The Salvation Army had a 97% approval rating with the general public. 97%! That's huge! So why on earth would you want to make yourself a Community Church when the so many non-believers see the Church as either money hungry, judgemental or irrelevant, but the general public approves of The Salvation Army?! If you're trying to make yourself more "seeker friendly" just drop the Corps (which I disagree with), and be The Salvation Army in your community!

But in reality - are we doing it for the non-believers, or are we doing it to bring ourselves in line with other churches? I fear that, we are actually doing to be in line with other churches. We want to be seen as worthy. We want to be seen as just as good as the church down the road, not to compete for unbelievers but to compete for locals that are looking for a new church! But should we exist for the already believers?! Not that they don't deserve a church, but should we be working hard to win them over?!

I'm going to blog next about the Church vs. Social Program issue we've got at the moment, but should not our Corps exist to minister spiritually to the people we see through our Social Centre doors each week? To strengthen and support our Social Centre staff and Chaplains? To prepare our Soldiers for a week of ministering to the needy in their workplaces, their streets, and their places of study?

A few of the comments on my blog stated the dwindling Sunday attendance numbers over the past 10 years... I agree, it's a big issue. I find it interesting though to note, that in the past 10 years, we've been "losing our distinctives" in order to be like the other churches... Hillsong have been at their peak in the last 10 years yeah? We started dropping our old music (which I'm not saying doesn't need to be updated) in favour of "worship bands" playing their music - and yet our numbers aren't increasing like Hillsong's are, they're decreasing - why?! Because WE ARE NOT HILLSONG. WE ARE NOT THE BAPTIST CHURCH. WE ARE NOT THE UNITING CHURCH. WE ARE NOT THE AOG Church. Or any other church for that matter. WE ARE THE SALVATION ARMY.

When were our numbers at an all time high?! When our Soldiers and Officers were out serving the needy in our communities. When new Corps were opening weekly in the darkest suburbs of our cities and nations. I'm not waxing poetic about our history here... it just seems common sense to me that we started to see a dwindling in numbers the second we started focussing on our "church" and not enough on our "community"... so if you want to be a Community Church - I commend you - but don't start with a name change - start with being active and present in your Community. Start serving the poor and lost and lonely and needy in your community. Start being THE SALVATION ARMY - and you'll see numbers increase. Need more evidence? Check out the ever-growing work of the 614 network internationally, Brunswick Salvos, Shop 16 in Reservoir, Ingle Farm in South Australia, Street Level in Sydney - and countless other Corps who are actively going after serving the people they come in contact with. They are seeing ever growing "bums on seats" on a Sunday! Seems to me something works there!

I leave you with a Florence Booth quote... it's a part of a quote I plan to blog entirely about one day... something to make us all think about...

She said "Do not imitate the Church. Let your great aim be to raise an Army that shall glorify God by fighting His battles.”

The Times They Are A Changin'?!

I’ve got a couple of things to get on my soapbox about at the moment, so over the next week or so, I’m going to be exploring/venting/discussing these. I am interested in your opinions on it, but I’m saying at the outset that if you become abusive in any way shape or form towards anyone personally, your post will not be published.

So, let’s begin with The Salvation Army as it currently stands in worship on a Sunday. I (and many others) believe that the things that make The Salvation Army distinct and unique seem to be the very things many are fighting against and getting rid of.

For instance, let’s look at the Songsters – some of our Corps are busy trying to build the best worship band they can, at the cost of Songsters (or choir), with many of our songster groups closing down entirely. The same is happening with our brass bands, our timbrels and many other groups that have been successful ministries for many many years. And there is a rather loud group – which I’d like to think were in the minority, but are so loud they seem to be the majority – that say “good riddance! They’re irrelevant – let’s move on!”… But should we move on from what is tried and tested to work within our movement? Why are we getting rid of them? Is it because they are irrelevant? Or is it because they don’t seem to be as cool as what the church down the road has?

Now before we go on – I need to say that I am a great fan of modern worship songs – not such a great fan of the big mega-churches idea of worship songs – but a big fan of worship songs nonetheless. For instance – the work of the Soteira guys is brilliant – and Nathan Rowe and the team are an absolute asset to the Army. So as you continue to read, I ask you keep that in mind.

For those who argue our old ministries are irrelevant, I want to tell you a story about this weekend at my Corps. We were blessed by a visit from The Salvation Army Ringwood Corps Vocal Praise group (read songsters). This group sang many “oldie but goodie” songs, some of which had been arranged with a more contemporary feel, taking many of us back to some of our best Army memories. They also sang some great up-tempo gospel songs. And through their ministry, and that of their Corps Officers, Majors Colin & Di Corkery, a member of our congregation, a local man from our community, who has been battling the storms of life for some time now, was deeply moved. So deeply moved, he requested prayer and spent a large amount of time with our Officer praying and exploring faith issues. He joined the group for lunch and the afternoon concert where he enjoyed the ministry of the South Barwon Corps Band and the Ringwood Corps Vocal Praise group. Not relevant?! Seemed pretty relevant to him!

Whilst we’re on the “not relevant” bandwagon – let’s have a look at some trends in Australia & the Western world’s “non-church” cultures:

· With recent hit TV shows such as “Choir of Hard Knocks” & “Battle of the Choirs”, Community Choirs across Australia are experiencing an increase of numbers of people joining. So if the Songsters aren’t relevant, why aren’t Corps establishing a “Community Choir?” By merely changing the focus slightly from being a tool for enrichment in our meetings, they can become an Evangelistic tool, and in the same way continue to enrich our meetings!
· Each year, there is a National Brass Band Championships – this competition is not dying out with age! In fact bands such as the “Tramways Band” are seeing increasing numbers of young people join. Schools are using brass players in swing bands, orchestras and the likes. The Salvation Army once held the monopoly on the “best” brass players in the state, and perhaps even in the country – a monopoly that is lost now as more and more of our Corps Bands close. Kids are still learning brass at school, there is still the demand, but we’ve missed the boat. Not relevant?! Not appreciated more like it. Bring on the Melbourne Staff Band’s visit to South Barwon later in the year, I CAN’T WAIT!
· Timbrels – a hotly contended topic within The Salvation Army. My personal opinion for you Salvos out there is that unless you are a bando – or a former timbrel player – I’m not interested in your comments that Timbrels are irrelevant. Now there’s always been a “love/hate” relationship between the timbrels and band in our Corps – but even some of the most hardened “bando’s” who taunt that timbrel players are talent less and useless – will often when pushed admit it is in jest and that The Salvation Army has suffered a great loss by losing part of our culture. Interestingly enough, many of the “mainstream” churches are starting tambourine groups, some of which even call them “timbrel groups” and whenever I am out with friends and tell them I’m a Salvo, the first question I get asked is “Do you play the tambourine?”. Anzac Day – the old diggers in Geelong were teary when they saw the timbrel girls back. Not relevant?! Not appreciated.

Do we need to move with the times? Absolutely! Do we need to do church exactly the same way all the mega-churches and other local churches in our community model? Absolutely not!

It’s time we reclaimed some of our uniqueness and embraced it for what it is. It’s time we stopped trying to be cool in the eyes of whatever the latest church fad is (and let’s face it they change every two minutes!) and start doing what it is that we’ve done so well for so many years… let’s take back our culture and make it relevant. For if we don’t,… we’re no better than the other Community Churches out there… but that’s for another day!