Pilgrim Soldier

This seems to be a subject that I’m touching on in many of my interactions with people on the Internet recently.

From Facebook to blogs there are people who want to see The Salvation Army change dramatically believing that this will bring back the early Blood and Fire mentality back to the our mission. Voices call for us to be relevant to today’s society by allowing soldiers to drink or to bring back the sacraments or scrap the uniform.

The problem is that there are many who think the problems are all with the institution of The Salvation Army. If we change the hierarchy or the autocratic style of leadership or the way we do everything then things will improve.

Why can’t people see that whilst some of the problems that blight this Army of ours are structural, the main problem is in the hearts of many that call themselves Salvationists. If all of us were prepared to make the sacrifice that is the life of a disciple of Jesus then maybe we’d get back to the heart of our mission.