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In
Defence of Indoctrination
We used to do
indoctrination much better than we have done in the last
generation.
Sociologist Erving Goffman developed the concept of the 'total
institution' that describes an all-encompassing type of life
shared by a group of people.
The military provides a good example of it.
And The Salvation Army used to be an excellent
representation.
Every aspect of
a person's life could be wrapped up in The Salvation Army,
even a generation ago.
Covenant, worship, friendship circles, socialising,
schedule - time, money, vocational aspirations, language,
dress, songs... an ascendant sense of identity was provided by
The Salvation Army.
I stumbled on
to one classic example of the indoctrination - using the term
in the original sense, 'into doctrine' - this week with a
Canada and Bermuda Territory publication from 1978 by Cyril
L. Kingston called An Army A B Cs.
Here's the
text:
A stands for
ARMY so mighty and grand
B is for BIBLE,
for BONNET, and BAND
C is for
CITADEL, home of our CORPS
D is for DRUM
and the wide-open DOOR
E an ENROLMENT
when soldiers are made
F for the FLAG
so proudly displayed
G is for FLORY!
glad spirit expressing
H - the HOME
LEAGUE offers friendship and blessing
I is for
INSTRUMENT, good news declaring
J for a JUNIOR,
a song of JOY sharing
K for the
KINDNESS all children should show
L for the
LESSONS we learn as we grow
M is for
MARCHING, also for MEETING
N for
NEWCOMERS, let's give them a greeting
O for our
OFFICERS, souls are their care
P is for
PENITENT, also for PRAYER
Q is for
QUESTIONS, the Bible's our guide
R our RECRUITS,
new strength they provide
S for the
SONGSTERS who bless with their singing
T for the
TIMBRELS which set the hall ringing
U is for
UNIFORM, tidy and clean
V is for
VETERAN, three cheers for him!
W for WORKERS,
WILLING and WISE
X marks a text
we should each memorise
Y for YOUNG
SOLDIER all children should read it
Z is for ZEAL,
all soldiers need it.
The good news
is that The Salvation Army is making some strides toward
returning to an unashamed posture.
Canada
and Bermuda's brand new
'Ready to Serve' Junior Soldier DVD series and sendthefire.ca
are unapologetically salvo.
USA Western's wildly popular WarDrobe and SAVN.tv,
Australia Southern's 'Follow The Black Cat' and Department of
Youth, New Zealand's firezone.co.nz, training schools like
SAVED2SAVE, Railton School, Revolution Hawaii, various
campuses of The War College, USA Southern's Captain Gabriel,
training courses like SA101/201/301, and several other
initiatives are strategically aiming at different aspects of
people's lives - moving us once again toward a total
institution.
What are the
next steps:
- books -
thanks to JustSalvos for their great kids line of books, but
we need more aimed at kids; we need books aimed at teens, at
young adults, at mature and old people; we need books aimed at
more issues than we're covering these days... (We know one
author who has titles on holiness, leadership, mission,
discipleship, identity, and prayer... so we're covering a lot
of subjects);
- radio -
thanks to Wonderful Words of Life (USS) for their consistency,
but we could spin more radio (online?) with various specific
markets; - tv -
we have done tv pretty well in the past - from a generation
and a half ago in England with BBC to the earliest days with
Arnold Brown and The Living Word - but we might more
strategically exploit tv time (coverage, documentary, and
maybe production);
- online -
we've not owned internet like we have owned each of the
various media in modern history - movies, tv, radio - but
there are currently initiatives - the boldest being SAVN.tv -
aimed at catching up to some other Christian evangelistic
initiatives (though we should strategically decide if we're
going to piggyback on excellent existing projects or if we're
going to try to create SA versions of them);
- programmes - cradle roll, junior soldiers, band of
love, YP company, corps cadets, recruits, soldiership, league
of mercy, home league, and so on worked when deployed
faithfully. Let's
introduce them to a new generation;
- meetings -
open air, knee drill, holiness, salvation, soldiers, etc. all
worked when deployed faithfully.
Let's introduce them to a new generation;
- uniform - our
uniform worked in the past, but we can do even better these
days with the wide range of casual uniforms now available
(from USS A-OK division's informal high collars through
WarDrobe's epaulet-hoodie) as well as some great quality
t-shirts and jackets and hats and more;
- language -
well, we've slipped so far it may seem unreasonable to even
hope that we can return, but (and see articles in recent JACs
- Semantic Antics, in
http://www.armybarmy.com/pdf/JAC_Issue_075.pdf and Blood and
Fire Under Fire, in
http://www.armybarmy.com/pdf/JAC_Issue_074.pdf ) if we return
to calling officers, corps, soldiers, meetings, by their
accurate names would help significantly.
- identity - it
may be false nostalgia to suggest that in the 'good old days'
salvationists identified themselves primarily as
salvationists, but can you imagine an Army in which we do
that? In one
city, we don't have to - one prayer letter from 2012 had this
story: "The other day one of our Juniior Soldiers Seth, was
one of two boys suspected of graffiting the toilets at school.
The principal Natalie told me that she confronted him and she
was taken aback with the response she was given. "No Mrs
Jenkins, I am a Junior Soldier, and I would never do anything
like this because I wouldn't want to ashamed (sic) Peter and
Diane". She is blown away with the attitude of these young
soldiers and the difference God is making in their lives."
And how about the day when officers stop
mis-identifying themselves as 'pastors', 'ministers', 'church
leaders', and 'clergy'?
- mission -
well, as you may know, our mission is to win the world for
Jesus and we are Saved to Save.
If we return to these goals instead of the
committee-speak description of our activities aimed at
avoiding lawsuits, we'll be well on our way toward
accomplishing the true mission.
Indoctrination
is, purely, to bring someone 'into doctrine'.
That's a good thing.
Let's start doing it.
Let's return to the total institution of primitive
salvationism that was on its way to winning the world for
Jesus.
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