Pilgrim Soldier

A couple of weeks ago I got a copy of the 10th March Salvationist from the UK. I don’t always read it all, but one article leapt out I thought it would be along the lines of something I feel strongly about. Basically it was about how one corps has changed the format of their Sunday evening meetings to help halt a declining congregation. Hurrah, I thought, finally someone from a larger corps talking about new strategies for developing their work.

It was not long before I realised that the writer was using the article to lament the lack of technically difficult brass band music for a select few, rather than writing a serious piece on how to halt decline. Oh there was a brief mention of Bible studies and evenings highlighting aspects of the Army’s work, but it was predominately about one of the major subjects that are actually minor ones.

As a response I wrote off to the editor, not something I do that often, and in the current issue the only very slightly edited response was published. I have an unfortunate suspicion that this may well cause a bigger stir than the current series of letters about ‘hell’ do.

This brings me to the real point! Last week, Patrik asked me a rhetorical question as to why we in the Army take ourselves so seriously. In the discussion on my previous post the issue was also raised about how we in the Army are almost obsessed with our uniqueness, rather than on the really important things like extending God’s kingdom. Why do we do this? After all we’re not really that special!