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A ‘new’ Identity Crisis?
by Cadet Joel Boyd,
I've been reading Marching to Glory, a book about the history
of the Salvation Army in America, for my pre-training
homework. While the stories about the early Salvation Army
were interesting and inspiring, what really stuck out to me
was the last chapter, 1980-1992. One part quoted General Rader
(before he was General) writing about the Army having a
identity crisis. Wasn't that on the cover of the War Cry not
too long ago? Another section talked about people's growing
passion for more urban, inner city work.
Really? Have we really been throwing this kind of stuff around
for over twenty years? Since I was a toddler? Since before I
was born? If there is really such a big problem, why haven't
we fixed it yet? How come in over twenty years, we still
haven't found ourselves?
I'm not trying to pass judgement on my elders, on a previous
generation. I know people have been trying to solve these
kinds of problems and have come up with new ideas. But I look
around and see that America still doesn't know we are a
Christian evangelical movement. We are still failing to make a
major impact on our nation and on our communities!
So I'll suggest what I think the problem is. I don't think
this will be super profound or new, but here it is anyway. I
feel like we've gotten so caught up in our methods and
programs and models that we've lost our spirit of salvationism.
It's the very core of The Salvation Army, the center of what
makes us who we are. It's the passion to reach out to the
lost, the lonely and marginalized, the victims of injustice,
the worst of sinners. Salvationism is the creative
evangelistic ferver that will stop at nothing to find a new
way to bring the gospel of Jesus, the hope, peace, joy, love,
and wholeness of knowing the redeeming God. It seems we've
sacrificed this spirit, our zeal, for a world of business, of
liability, of being a respectable organisation, America's
favorite charity. There is nothing wrong with these things,
but they HAVE to be a means, never the end. If ever we
sacrifice evangelism for the fear of being liable, or if we
sacrifice zealousness for respectability, or reaching out to
the least for good business practices, we lose sight of the
spirit that birthed this Army and has kept it alive and
effective for so many years.
I'm not recommending throwing caution to the wind. There is a
practical side of things, but we have to find a better way to
reconcile the two. The days of marching the streets and being
thrown in prison may be over, but sharing the love of Jesus
with drug addicts and prostitutes isn't! We need to go to the
Lord, have Him fill us up and re-commission us to the work of
the Army for the 21st century. It will be different than ever
before. In some ways it will probably be more dangerous and
more radical. The world is a crazy place these days, in
desperate need of the Salvation Army. It's time we finally
found ourselves.
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