Living It Out

I couldn't believe it. How could this person think that way? What they said was so obviously wrong - and I tried as hard as I dared to get them to see that they were wrong. Either they couldn't see it or wouldn't have it, whatever was the case they certainly wouldn't back down.

What do you do in situations like that, I asked in my quiet time that evening.

Some people never learn, said the still small voice. And history repeats itself time and again because people never learn. Every generation makes the same mistakes. Be different! And be wise - don't just read about it, let it become part of you, so you can live it out:

James 1:22-25 (NIV)
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it — he will be blessed in what he does.

Salvationist Distinctiveness

I've been inspired by a comment on a Salvation Army forum recently, which included a quotation from General Shaw Clifton. The quotation was taken from the book "New Love", a collection of essays on practical holiness. I haven't read the book, but am interested to do so following this extract! In one particular passage, the General addresses the present and future of The Salvation Army in a section entitled 'Modern Salvationism is vulnerable'.

"Vulnerability arises when we trim our Salvationist sails to the winds of the world and the dollar. We cannot expect to be popular. Jesus was not. The Apostles were not. William Booth was not. Today however, mostly we are. Why is that?

The ongoing secularisation of our employee force is another potentially disastrous source of vulnerability. The genius of Salvationism has from the outset been that its mission is carried out by saved persons… this basic concept has all but been abandoned.

The morale of officers is at risk. The attractiveness of officership is in danger of being affected in proportion to its distinctiveness being undermined. It is not too alarmist to say that in some lands officership is at risk. The risk deepens wherever those who have made a lifelong vocational covenant are marginalised in favour of those whose intentions are explicitly short-term or transitory."

Here's where I need to nail my colours to the mast. I am a Christian, pleased to be an active member of The Salvation Army for the last twenty-three years. I know that God has a plan for my life and am actively seeking His will. As part of this I have attended Design For Life and Exploring Leadership weekends. My voluntary work for the Army has taken me to some exciting places - and I am keen to do more!

I have also been employed by a Salvation Army department for nearly ten years. I wanted to work for TSA as an expression of my commitment to the Army's work. However, as a Salvationist, I work alongside non-Salvationists in my office, and experience many occasions where my working colleagues completely fail to understand the Army's motivation. Indeed, they even fail to understand my motivation, despite attempts to explain. This does sometimes have an effect on my own commitment.

The jobs I see advertised for work in TSA centres state that a prospective employee 'must work in sympathy with the aims and ethos of The Salvation Army'.

I'd be interested in other people's views on the General's comments.