Yesterday's Army for today?

My good friend Carol Young sent me some material recently that came out of an ‘all night of prayer’ she had attended. Some of it was for private consumption and some I am sure will find its way into the public domain via her blog (The Old Wells).

However, in a discussion afterwards, on the phone, she mentioned that (I think it was a quote from a book) the Army’s early success was directly related to the fact that it perfectly reflected the needs of the day.

Last night I was walking down Dartford High Street thinking about today’s needs and what a Salvation Army that met them might look like.

Dartford High Street is pedestrianised with a kind of cobbled effect road service. The shops are mainly made up of cheap cafes (what we in the UK call ‘a greasy spoon’) betting shops and pubs. We also have the obligatory ‘Primark’, a bingo hall, two amusement arcades (slot machine parlours) and two pawnbrokers. The people that walk up and down the High Street are primarily poor (though not as poor as some in the UK) and many of them look harassed and lost.

In Dartford (as in the wider UK) gambling, teenage pregnancy, violent crime, prostitution are all rife and on the increase and alcohol costs less than bottled water - it is very easy to get seriously drunk in Dartford for less than £3.

It would seem that in spite of new technology, sexual liberation, sexual equality, human rights legislation and political correctness, post modern Britain doesn’t actually look that different from how it looked 140 years ago.

So I’m going to attempt an experiment in consecration – that sounds less sincere than it ought to – I’m not playing games here, what I’m about to do I have been prayerfully considering for some time.

It seems that the primitive Salvationists in their attitude to things like worldliness, Sabbath keeping, evangelism, fighting for social justice etc actually got it about right.

Now I have a copy of O&R’s for Field Officers 1908, an early doctrine book, a copy of ‘Heathen England’, a Salvation Soldier’s Guide, Cadet’s Lessons and countless other instructive books from those early days.

I’m going to attempt to live my life as I would have been expected to live it if I had been a Salvationist about the turn of the century. I’m not looking to utilising old methods (unless they still work) but I do want to recreate that primitive spirit that enabled our pioneers to be so completely focussed in what they did.

I’ll use this blog to let you know how I get on.

Love and prayers

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