Thursday, February 08, 2007

Dartford for Christ - then the world!

So the Bale family are off to Dartford, a small town on the very outskirts of London. Step out of the hall and you step onto the town High Street - I can't think of a better placed bridgehead from which to mount all out war on the enemy. Lots of social need in the area and of course plenty of people hungry for the gospel.

The SA has a great history in the town...

One Sunday in September 1886, two Salvation Army lasses were brought to Dartford to begin a pioneering work in the town. The early days of the Salvation Army in Dartford were characterised by opposition and hard work. Despite initial opposition, the Salvation Army attracted a strong following in Dartford, local drunkards and criminals were converted to Christianity. A brass band was quickly formed to accompany worship and to attract people to open air meetings.

After holding open air meetings in Dartford for more than twenty years, a dispute arose with the local authorities regarding the Salvation Army's use of the Bull Centre (outside the Royal Victoria and Bull Hotel) for their street services. A general ban on outdoor meetings in Dartford was introduced and the police were ordered to ensure that the ban was enforced. The Salvationists ignored the new ruling and continued to hold their street meetings. A number of their members were summoned by the Dartford police for obstruction. Rather than pay the fine imposed by the local Courts, some of the Dartford Salvation Army Corps members elected to go to prison at Maidstone. This incident caused a public outcry.

The imprisoned Salvationists were given a hero's welcome when they were released from prison and returned to Dartford in triumph. Possibly the largest crowd ever to assemble in central Dartford greeted the Salvationists. The dispute was later settled at a formal meeting between the Salvation Army, the local council and the Kent Police.

A local newspaper report from the day reported the incident like this:

In defence of the Salvation Army - wild scenes on the streets of Dartford

There was a massive and fervent response to the arrest of Dartford's Salvationists. A defence committee was formed to co-ordinate the protest campaign. Public meetings of protest attracted large crowds; protest marches were held and banners, slogans and posters appeared all over the town.

Banners declared 'IMPRISONED FOR CONSCIENCE SAKE'; 'DEFEND RELIGIOUS AND PERSONAL LIBERTY' and 'WE DEMAND LIBERTY TO PREACH CHRIST'. 15,000 people gathered at Dartford Station to welcome home the prisoners when released from jail, two of them still wearing their prison uniforms bearing broad arrows.


During the course of the exuberant celebrations the Dartford police were stoned and pelted with rotten fish heads and bad eggs. Hooligans used the occasion to vent their spleen on the local constabulary. Dartford's Superintendent Poole was pelted for four hours. Policemen were stoned to the station. There were violent speeches at the Drill Hall - a torrent of rancorous abuse."
Sadly there is no band at the Corps now and some over-zealous Officer in the past decided to sell all the instruments! However the Corps does still sell 'War Crys' round the pubs and that is something I am looking forward to.

Read the following in my devotions this morning...

"The LORD said, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt."

God bless, redeem and sanctify the people of Dartford!

Yours set apart by Christ, for the lost, in the Army!

8 comments:

Andrew said...

Andrew,

May God bless you and continue to guide you as you fight the war against sin and death in Dartford!

Love and peace,
Andrew S

Anonymous said...

Intense. Make it like that again. A holy life is a blessed one.

Stephen Court said...

Hallelujah! Go in the strength of the Lord.
grace,
stephenC

Anonymous said...

Been praying for you since I read of your work to reenter officership. Look forward to rejoicing in God's victory in Dartford!

a castle said...

Hey, I hope you don't mind, I've used your flaming flag image on my blog. If this is at all presumptuous let me know and I'll remove it. Thanx.
A Castle

paulgardner.info said...

Hi Andrew

God bless you in your appointment. I pray that God moves through you and that many are saved in Dartford.

I want to refer to a previous blog simply because of a sentence that caught my eye in this entry. What follows is the text of my blog (paulgardner.info)

There's been a lot of posts around about the myth of cultural relevance (CR) and why parts of the church are watering down the Gospel in pursuit of same. (See here for an example from Andrew Bale)

Regrettably, this backlash against CR is warranted as, all too often, one can find churches around where sin is now never mentioned on the basis that it might offend people!

The problem is though, that these churches have totally misunderstood the real need for CR in its true form. What we really need is the full and true Gospel presented to all in a way they both understand and using methods that are sufficiently attractive to draw them away from their current focus long enough to actually hear the good news.

In a later post, Andrew even agrees with the "attraction" aspect when he praises methods used in 1886 at Dartford. (My emphasis)


A brass band was quickly formed to accompany worship and to attract people to open air meetings.

Likewise we know that Paul used CR methods to spread the good news and Jesus himself told stories about sheep and crops because he was talking to people who understood about sheep and crops.

My plea is simple. Please don't throw out the baby with the bathwater. What we are preaching must be full and accurate, how we are getting that message across is a totally separate discussion - don't get confused between the two.

God bless

Anonymous said...

May God use you and your family powerfully in Dartford.

The battle belongs to the Lord, and any gates of Hell that have been set up in that town will not stand against the onslaught of God's holy warriors.

Fight with love, because it never fails.

Grace,

Aaron

614:leadership said...

Bless You and The Salvation Army on this new appointment.

Cory Harrison