This Blog entry carries a Sensitive Salvationist health warning!
When I was a teenager we used to go to Youth Councils, usually, while we were there we would do one or possibly all of the following;
- Go to the Mercy Seat
- Buy takeaway food on a Sunday
- Lead a glory march
- Offer for Officership
On the way home we would lean out of the mini bus windows and sing ‘When the roll is called up yonder’ and shout out at strangers on the street ‘Jesus loves you’.
By the following Monday lunchtime most of us would be back to our old ways, playing football in the school playground and swearing at our friends.
I call this the ‘Youth Council’s Syndrome’ and I have noticed that it is now applicable to other SA events; in particular I think that we have developed in the UK a ‘Roots Syndrome’.
Now don’t get me wrong, great things happened when we went to Youth Councils and great things happen at Roots too but the impact is largely limited and the effect short-lived.
Why is this?
I believe it is because the territorial spirits that beset the Salvation Army, work wherever there is a crest, a shield or a flag (even if they are carefully tucked away in the corner). Whether it is Youth Councils, Congress, Roots, Bible Weekends the demons are always there and they know the Army - the SA is their specialist subject.
Their modus operandi is to make any ‘encounter’ with God as emotional as they can, their wish is to keep any thought of real commitment as far from what takes place as possible. Again, please don’t get me wrong – you can’t have an unemotional encounter with God but you can have an emotional experience in which you do not encounter God.
These spirits are helped by our own apathy, self righteousness, self importance and self reliance.
This year at Roots I heard a sermon which contained little substance and inappropriate illustrations, a sermon which contained one illustration which lasted nearly 10 minutes (which I have heard at least twice from the mouth of the same speaker – and which my wife tells me the same speaker used last year at Roots!). This sermon was ill prepared (probably) because the one who delivered it is blessed us with the gift of communication and so therefore thought he could get by (and even impress) with what was in the light of day nothing more than poorly tacked together revivalist rhetoric?
Do we really expect God to honour this?
Then there is the issues of music. Music is a wonderful gift from God but like all gifts it can be manipulated and twisted by the evil one.
Some Salvationists go to band festivals and listen to brass and call it ‘inspirational’ others go to Roots (or something similar) and call it praise. Both groups of people tend to criticise each other and think of themselves as superior. Yet, at the end of the day, if the activity (in terms of the commitment it generates) is simply nothing more than a concert it is not a better concert simply because it carries the tag ‘charismatic’. For many people the ‘praise’ at Roots is no more ‘praise’ than is the ‘inspiration’ received received by some at Band festivals. Worship will always result in lifestyle change, always lead to greater commitment and always humble us. Whether it is a band festival or a praise party the questions we should be asking are; Does it change us? Are we different because of it? Does it empower us? Does it humble us? Does it lead us into repenantnance? We would do well to remember the words of Isaiah…
“When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations— I cannot bear your evil assemblies. Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood; wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.”
Music is irrelevant what matters is the state of one’s heart; if the heart is right then whatever comes out of the heart will be the music that God wants to hear. If the heart is wrong then whatever the style used it will offend God.
I heard someone at Roots explain to me why we hardly sing any Army songs? The answer, I was given was because the Army songs are old and people at Roots want to sing new songs. Yet we sang ‘Holy, holy, holy’ and ‘Be thou my vision’ both of those songs have got at least 200 years on anything published by the Army!
Another reason for the Youth Council’s Syndrome is that we refuse to accept who we are. Momentarily we catch a glimpse of what God wants to do with our lives, but it quickly fades as we re-enter the real world. Why do we struggle not just individually but as an Army when both the need and our destiny (which is to meet that need) stare us in the face. With such a clear calling set before us why do we refuse to look? One of the best things I heard at Roots 2006 was Danielle Strickland’s take on ‘true humility’ – For God’s sake we AN ARMY!!! Let’s fall on our knees, repent of our ‘false humility’ and be what God wants us to be.
We have drums and bands (whether powered by electric or our lungs who cares?) We have flags; we wear uniforms (a simple t-shirt with a crest or shield will do). We fight social injustice, we fight sin, we protect widows and orphans, we go for souls ‘and go for the worst’. We are not a middle class, limp wrested, main stream, left of centre, comfortable, evangelical denomination! WE ARE AN ARMY!
God doesn’t need a church he already has one! He doesn’t need unidentifiable Christians wandering the streets – he has millions of them! He doesn’t need a humanitarian organisation subsidising people’s addictions or entertaining young people – We are not the YMCA or the Red Cross WE ARE THE SALVATION ARMY, FOR THE SAKE OF THE LOST, FOR GOD’S SAKE LET’S BE ONE!
Youth Councils certainly helped me but it didn’t change me only the red hot God of Pentecost could do that! Roots will help, it will help individuals – it has helped me but it will not change our movement (not even in the radical way it seeks to). To really change, to have a revolution, then the God of Elijah will have to “hear our cry”.
Yesterday the Officer Review Board will have sat down and determined whether or not I can be an Officer again – what will their answer be? If it is a yes then watch this space for as an Officer (without the distractions of secular employment) I will live and pray and strive for nothing less than an absolute unadulterated revival-revolution in the SA UK, then the western territories and then the world (if they haven’ already beaten us to it). There is nothing grandiose, unrealistic or arrogant about such a calling - indeed this ought to be the attitude of all Officers and Soldiers.
“We need another Pentecost” please, please, please dear God send the fire!!!!
Yours -frustrated, sometimes angry, chomping at the bit, yet as always - under Christ and irrepressibly over the devil.
6 comments:
...but for many over the years Roots has been their Pentecost!
I wouldn't be here in Latvia without it!
Graeme - In asense you back up my point.
You are in Latvia because of an encounter you had at Roots which led to a committment.
I am measuring impact against the events of Acts 2 & 3 or the SA circa 1870-1880.
I say Hallelujah! to your response and to the many other genuine 'encounters' at Roots and other such events but if we seriosuly believe that they constitute 'another Pentecost' we are sadly mistaken.
I would ask you to consider the objective criticisms I have made and then tell me if I am wrong or if I have set my expectations too high.
By the way I read your Blog (to get to know you better) and I will ask God to guide you and Zoe as you stand at this 'crossroads'.
Yours under Christ and irrepressibly over the devil!
It may not have come across as it, but I'm not disagreeing with you! I remember the many Youth Councils/Music School experiences of my youth and only one of them really made a lasting impact and that was when I was in my mid-twenties and at Music School as a favour for my bandmaster. It was only then after years of blowing hot and cold (but acting like I was hot) that my own Damascus Road experience occured!
I accept that Roots (and lets face it many other Christian events) are not always long-lasting in peoples lives, but many in the Army today have been reborn in their faith as a result of their Roots experiences.
Yes we need another Pentecost, but when it does arrive, we'll look back at the Roots event as being one of the major catalysts.
I might not express things in the same way as you but I reckon our thoughts are pretty similar!
Thanks for your thoughts and prayers! I'm looking forward to hearing how your own future is going to shape up as well!
Yours in Christ,
Graeme
I wonder if we have an Andrew Murray (the tennis player not the preacher) and Wayne Rooney syndrome with Roots and other large events. What I mean by that is that too many expectations and some wrong expectations rest on them. They have been seen by some as a cure all and as the answer to everything. It is also a bit like parents putting the responsibility for the teaching of morality, citizenship and sex education solely on the education system.
Roots and other large events can be good players who can help motivate people for evangelism, prayer, holiness, ministry, the word of God and release the prophetic. They can bring some teaching and some equipping but they cannot replace what is done in the family of the local corps. Neither can the enthusiasm of the event carry people for long. After Wimbledon everyone wants to play tennis but it only lasts a week when they realise that sportsmen and women only get that good because they live for their sport and that involves long hours of training come rain or shine.
Do they have any value then? Of course they do. The Salvation Army has been having congresses and jamborees since the 1880’s but we need to be aware of what they are for.
Northallerton Outreach Centre is cell based for lots of reasons but one of them is that in a cell group members can experience community, worship, discipleship with accountability and reach out to others in evangelism and service. However it has been discovered through experience that cell groups work best when they work in tandem with a large group experience, not independently of it. The large group worship experience is helpful because it is a place where people can experience the God who is bigger than themselves and it is where they can see they are part of a movement and mission that is much larger than personal goals and even their local group’s goals.
The problem I find is that the big event and the week by week experience rather than acting in tandem with one another often highlight the gaps. Sometimes the problem is that the local situation is dead and the large event is an oasis in a desert. Then the person who attends goes home refreshed but soon very thirsty again. Or as has been the case sometimes for us we have gone to a large event to expose our people to a wider vision of God and the army’s mission only to have been disappointed by what has been delivered, causing us to want to retreat into our own backyard and forget about the bigger picture.
What I am sure of is that Roots, Youth Councils, Congresses cannot turn the whole Salvation Army ship around and take it in the right direction by themselves. They might act as a tug boats that sometimes catch the wind of the Spirit and some progress is made. Sometimes they get it so wrong they push the ship even further in the wrong direction. But overall nothing we do will be as effective as it could be unless we are willing to really let God in to every aspect of our Salvation Army and Christian life together and individually.
I agree Carol with everything you say.
I don't expect Roots to change the Army or the world but it could do both of those things, what I do want is for Roots to reach its potential and squeeze every last drop of comittment from those who gather there.
I know that both you, Graeme and I are all on the same side, so tell me (I value both your opinions) Am I wrong to want too much? Am I wrong to be frustrated when I see opportunities wasted. Some of what we got at Roots was shameful - the vast bulk of it was excellent, but some of it was nothing more than poor quality stand up comedy.
If I was writing a report for Roots I would say this...
"Has enormous potential, great leadership skills, always plays an active part in class discussions, however is easily distracted and could do better. Has enormous talent and charisma but spends too much time playing the class clown."
Sorry if I'm being too hard its been a tough week :-)
Much love and prayers Andrew
Andrew
I haven't been to Roots since 2003 but I can see the problem. I went to every Roots at Southport up to and including 2001 and as it grew it lost some of its hard-hitting edge! It wasn't intentional but it has taken on a life of its own.
Looking at what people say there is still a radical centre but its put on a bit of weight and its not quite as fit as it used to be!
As for you being wrong to expect too much? No I don't think so! I know I find what you say uncomfortable at times, but I appreciate it because of that discomfort!
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