Pilgrim Soldier

Earlier today I was doing a Google Search and found something that I wrote back in October 2001 on the “Voices of our Global Family” Poverty Conference that The Salvation Army ran. It was written in response to General John Gowans’ opening address:

I was interested to see that you highlighted Social Exclusion as one of the biggest problems relating to Poverty. In the “Industrialised” world, we have become so interested in the pursuit of wealth, that to be poor means that you are deemed a failure, and therefore are excluded from “Normal” society.

Even the Salvation Army is not exempt from this. Whilst in many places around the world, the Salvation Army ministers to the poor, there are many people trapped in poverty for whom the Salvation Army is no longer a place where they are welcomed. I am aware of Salvation Army corps that have moved from a poor community in which it had its roots, to a wealthier area which more suited the current make up of the congregation.

In a recent article in the Journal of Aggressive Christianity, Major Geoff Ryan made the following observation:

“the Salvation Army in Canada & Bermuda territory over the past 10-15 years has strategically targeted middle- to upper-middle class neighbourhoods. Systematically we have withdrawn our worshipping communities from inner-city, multi-ethnic core areas and poorer neighbourhoods and shifted to outlying suburbs (note: this is not a strictly Canadian thing — a friend of mine who is well-known in urban ministry circles throughout the continent lamented the fact that one can drive through downtown Chicago and point to half a dozen sites where ‘the Salvation Army used to be’). We have left our social service providers in these areas in order to maintain a presence even as the officers in these institutions live in better neighbourhoods, leaving the downtown areas without any incarnational presence.”

So this is not simply a problem in the UK, where I come from. We have become more interested in being comfortable in our churches, and have left the “professionals” to work with the poor.

In many areas of the world, Salvationists have forgotten the ministry on which their church was founded. I, like many others, can trace my Salvation Army heritage back to the earliest days of this movement, but like many cannot be classed as poor, even though my ancestors were.

Last week, I witnessed extreme poverty for the first time in my life. I met people who live in a partly demolished building and have to pay for the privilege. People who cook on scrounged coal in the corridor outside their single room. People whose only water is from a communal tap and live in a building without electricity, and so have no opportunity to get involved in a debate such as this. This wasn’t in Africa, or Asia, or South America, but in Europe. I have recently moved to Latvia and this is the reality in which many people live.

The Salvation Army is here. It is doing a job and trying to meet the needs of the communities it serves. For many people the love shown by the workers in the centre is their only means of hope. For them the Salvation Army is a light shining in the darkness.

The Salvation Army will never be able to meet the needs of all the worlds poor, but until each corps, and each person in each corps, returns to the ministry to which our church was called, we will not even begin to meet the needs in the communties around us. While we still leave the poor areas of our towns and cities so that we can worship God in comfort, we fail in our most basic responsibilities.

One final thought. In the early days of the Salvation Army we were involved in both Social Services and Social Action. We claim as successes the raising of the “age of consent” in the UK, and a part in the closure of leper colonies. However, we live as a movement on past glories. Captain Matt Read, again in the Journal of Aggressive Christianity, recently wrote:

“(Commissioner Shaw) Clifton asks some hard questions of the Army’s involvement at the political level, the level where preventative action can take place and not leave the Army simply bandaging the wounds of the poor and oppressed. Clifton looks at the early Army attempts at being ‘world-formative’, the ‘Darkest England’ scheme being one of the most powerful. He cites a powerful comment by General Albert Osborn, ‘ “The Founder put a dream on the map and made practical politics of the social implications of Christianity.” ‘ ”

God did not stop calling us to speak out against the injustices of this world, (Proverbs 31:8 & 9) but we seemed to get so caught up helping the wounded, that we forgot to speak out against the things that injured them!

Now in May 2006 I can see little of what I wrote that I don’t still believe. Progress has been made and certainly we are engaging more in the standing up for the rights of oppressed people across the world, especially with the anti-Human Trafficking campaigns.

I question though whether the conference for which I wrote this actually made any difference! The conclusions of the conference said:

… that the internet conference highlighted the great opportunity for rediscovery of the focus of Salvationist mission in reconfirming priority for the poor. This commitment is likely to stimulate growth of the Army and strengthen Salvationist identity as it revitalizes Salvationist worship, teaching and social action. It may prove to be the way in which Salvationists of the 21st century experience again the one who ‘though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor,’ ( 2 Cor 8:9)”

Have we actually seen this though? Have we really rediscovered the focus of Salvationist mission?