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Orders and Regulations for The War
College
by Jonathan Evans
The War College is an intense year, and as such
we have intense guidelines, all to provide students with the
best possible year they can get. Below is a portion sample
our O&R for War College students.
So take a read through these and perhaps
challenge yourself to try living like a War College student
for a week. Can you hack it?
Rules of Engagement
Aka: Orders and Regulations for War College
Students
Mission
We exist to train warriors to win the world for
Jesus. Anything that accelerates, accentuates, or amplifies
this mission is welcome. Conversely, anything that thwarts
this mission and grieves God’s heart needs to be quickly
weeded out so that we can continue blessing Jesus and
establishing His kingdom both here in the Downtown Eastside
and in each of our lives. In everything we do, we aim to train
you in being a part of God’s Army of Salvation!
Attitude
Humility - Our
attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had. Though He
was God, He did not demand and cling to His rights
as God. He made himself nothing, He took the
humble position of a slave and appeared in human
form, and in human form He obediently humbled himself
even further by dying a criminal’s death on a cross [Phil 2:5
– 9]. Don’t be selfish; don’t live to make a good impression
on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than
yourself. Don’t think only about your own affairs, but be
interested in others, too, and what they are doing [Phil
2:3-4].
Expectancy - Come
before God with anticipation and eagerness. Expect to have a
good time of fellowship with Him and receive a blessing from
your time together. That was what David expected: "O God,
You are my God, earnestly I seek You." (Psalm 63:1)
Teachability -
This attitude is crucial: you don't come to God to choose what
you will do or not do, but to do anything and everything that
God asks of you. Jesus said, "If anyone chooses to do God’s
will he will find out whether My teaching comes from God or
whether I speak on My own" (John 7:17). So come to meet
the Lord having already chosen to do His will, no matter what.
Honour that your leaders, teachers and other community members
have years of discipling experience and have wisdom, knowledge
and discernment for you to incorporate into your life.
Community
Living in community is a tricky process that we
are still figuring out. Community is difficult for a variety
of reasons, but a few standing out: 1. Our Western culture is
anti-community in philosophy and practice. In the West the
individual is valued before others. This fact is exemplified
in “The American Dream,” and in new levels of apathy, with
crimes of omission escalating. The American Dream states that
we will be happy if we live for ourselves and gain resources,
homes, fame, etc. for ourselves and our immediate community.
This is unbiblical, as in scripture we see believers sharing
everything they had and selling not only surplus but necessary
items in order to support each other. Crimes of omission
exist, such as allowing someone to be raped because ‘That’s
not my business!’ This prevailing philosophy allows for the
breakdown of social care and results in extreme lawlessness,
as exhibited in our neighbourhood. We are in this together.
All people are our neighbours, and we take responsibility for
them! Every War College student is part of one body, and we
will ensure that we support, cover and train each other into
the image of Christ. Paul expresses this principle in
Philippians 1.27-30, “But whatever happens to me, you must
live in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ, as
citizens of heaven. Then, whether I come and see you again or
only hear about you, I will know that you are standing side by
side, fighting together for the Good News. Don’t be
intimidated by your enemies. This will be a sign to them that
they are going to be destroyed, but that you are going to be
saved, even by God himself. For you have been given not only
the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of
suffering for him. We are in this fight together. You have
seen me suffer for him in the past, and you know that I am
still in the midst of this great struggle.”
Living Above Reproach
This verse leads us to the knowledge that our
actions, within the seen and unseen realms, have consequences
in our warfare. We must be on guard for anything that would
compromise our collective witness and discredit the testimony
of Jesus. The Message paraphrase of Phil 1:27 – 30
brings this to light. “Meanwhile,
live in such a way that you are a credit to the Message of
Christ. Let nothing in your conduct hang on whether I come
or not. Your conduct must be the same whether I show up to see
things for myself or hear of it from a distance. Stand united,
singular in vision, contending for people’s trust in the
Message, the good news, not flinching or dodging in the
slightest before the opposition. Your courage and unity will
show them what they’re up against: defeat for them, victory
for you—and both because of God. There’s far more to this life
than trusting in Christ. There’s also suffering for him. And
the suffering is as much a gift as the trusting. You’re
involved in the same kind of struggle you saw me go through,
on which you are now getting an updated report in this
letter.”
Our neighbourhood is rampant with compromise,
with the devil’s pointing finger aiming to discredit the
message and discourage converts. This is not a new trick of
the devil. We are not unaware of his schemes! We will ensure
that Christ’s message will not be questioned and that his
reputation will not be dragged through the mud. There are
three very common ways the devil can trick us to compromise
our witness:
Sexual innuendo –we
will not give even a hint of sexual immorality by occupying
private spaces with those of the opposite sex. [Also,
we will be careful when with people of sexual orientation of
which we are an object]. This means no being in washrooms,
bedrooms or any closed door. Billy Graham went so far as to
avoid entering an elevator alone with a woman.
Finances – We will
not accept money from or pay those to whom we minister. If
someone would like to bless us, and the Lord, we will ask him
or her to fire a cartridge [give an offering to The Salvation
Army]. We will be witnesses when handling any money that is
not our own. We will be honest about our own stewardship and
pay any debts that we have incurred.
Our tongues – We
will speak words of encouragement regarding other believers,
the church, and ourselves. We will not utter offensive,
slanderous, or foolish words. We will be joyful and use our
words to heal and love.
Relationships
Exclusive relationships rob you of the blessing
of making relationships with more people and investing
yourself in mission. Any relationship that is shown to be
exclusive, such as dating or romance will not be tolerated.
Dating relationships demand extra attention and can cause
stress. While recognising the value of God’s plan for intimacy
with a spouse, you are not permitted to enter any romantic
relationship [engagement, courting, dating, casual physical
contact] until your year at The War College is completed.
Be aware, also, that the Lord is faithful, and recognises your
commitment to fasting relationships for a year. Please don't
assume that He would tempt you by bringing true love to you
during this time, but be faithful, keeping your eyes on Jesus,
as he remains faithful to you. “Promise me, O women of
Jerusalem, by the swift gazelles and the deer of the wild, not
to awaken love until the time is right.” [SOS 2:7]. In a
word, this year is dedicated to focussing on Jesus rather than
the distraction of finding love.
Training & Learning
You have heard it said time and time again,
“You get what you put in.” This is true at The War College.
Your year has been planned for you to go through a gauntlet of
experiences ensuring that you grow in spirit, wisdom and
grace. However, the tempter would like to augment our
attitudes so that Jesus does not fulfil His wonderful plan for
your year at The War College. Therefore, be on guard; make the
most out of every opportunity and persevere through
every challenge. Each student is responsible to their squad to
ensure they are meeting all the requirements of The War
College. Students who are not fulfilling requirements will be
corrected in squad and further by leadership if required. It
is our delight to share with you in a growing and changing
process. You will thrive this year with scheduled sessions and
the lifestyle of warring for Jesus!
Time
In order to show the utmost respect to our
neighbours, punctuality is valued at The War College. This
means arriving at least 5 minutes early to scheduled events.
We recognise that our time is not our own: we have been bought
at a price, and will offer our bodies as living sacrifices, at
all times of the day and night, to God. We will gift each
other with our presence and exhibit the sacrament of The Body
of Christ by being together.
Fast Food Fridays
It is our corporate witness and discipline to
fast on Fridays from 7:00 AM through 3:00PM for three reasons:
1. We want to discipline our flesh in order to
subject it to our spirit.
2. We want to discipline ourselves in fasting
so that when the Lord asks this of us, we are ready.
3. We want to intercede for our session’s
holiness, our session’s warfare, and for those who are
sexually trafficked.
Wordly Items
We live not for what is seen, but for what is
unseen, for what is unseen is eternal! Also, we recognise
God’s blessing in our lives. Every good thing we have he has
given to us, and we’ll try to share it and take care of it to
the best of our ability. We will not
be distracted with TV’s, worldly magazines, video game
consoles, Internet sites, movies etc. During the week we will
fast from such media.
Retreats
Retreating into solitude is a necessity when
engaged in serious warfare. We will prayerfully retreat at the
required time.
Bonus Blessings
Bonus Blessings are a lot like the push-ups my
basketball coach used to give us as a punishment/reward.
Nobody really wanted to do the work at first but we were
impressed with the results. Our punishment made us into
superior basketball players by discouraging selfishness and
irresponsibility. You are responsible in your squad to
acquire and do bonus blessings. A bonus blessing is a bonus
spiritual exercise consisting of at least an hour for such
things as lateness, not doing assignments, attitude
adjustments etc. The group does the bonus blessing
together, teaching us that we are responsible not only for our
own behaviour, but also for the behaviour of those entrusted
to our care. However, in some circumstances a bonus blessing
is not a group’s responsibility, and therefore individual
blessings can be obtained from squad leaders.
Diet
Food items that are hydrating, nourishing
and high in fibre ought to be selected when eating at Harbour
Light. Meanwhile, we respect that
God created food to be sensory, satisfying and shared. Thus,
we will use food as a means of celebrating our common life in
Jesus and do not discourage modest portions of such things as
deserts.
Junk Food [any food item that is perceived
to be unhealthy or to have poor nutritional value] is highly
discouraged. We recognize the convenience and low cost of
fast food, but insist that it simply doesn’t help the mission.
Examples of junk food may include, but are not limited to:
hamburgers, pizza, candy, soda, slurpees, and salty foods like
potato chips and french fries. Since junk food is high in fats
and sugars, it is a leading cause of obesity, dental cavities,
increasing cases of Type 2 diabetes, heart diseases, etc. They
are very low on proteins, vitamins, and fibre. This leaves our
bodies ineffective, lethargic, and recuperating, rather than
poised to engage the enemy. Junk food, in addition to being
unhealthy, tends to be anti-social and costly. For these
reasons we discipline ourselves to abstain from the pleasure
such food gives and use it on special occasions to celebrate.
[If you don’t believe me, check out Supersize Me!]
Moreover, tobacco is highly discouraged while
alcohol and non-prescribed drugs are prohibited.
Drill
Drill is our way of disciplining our bodies to
an active lifestyle. We choose to present our bodies as living
sacrifices, holy and blameless before God. That is to say, we
will do our best to make our body healthy and able to serve
God for the long term. We will evaluate our fitness levels
individually and see that personal fitness improves throughout
the year. Drill times are mandatory unless another ministry
time is scheduled for an individual at that time. If a
conflict presents itself, the student is responsible for
exercising for an equivalent amount of time in the same week.
Spiritual Warfare
Sometimes we find ourselves in the midst of
manifestations of the spiritual world [i.e. demons and/or The
Holy Spirit]. It is important that proper discernment and
leadership are present to guide students through such
experiences. Here are our basic guidelines:
1. "Our terms of engagement are that we
confront the enemy whenever possible on our terms, not its."
- Stephen Court. In other words, we set the times for serving
eviction notices. If the enemy is manifesting it is to
distract attention from Jesus, this should be bound and dealt
with at a proper time.
2. As a sign of love and respect for each
other, class time takes precedence over personal prayer
issues. This does not mean that we can't pray for one another
during class, but a general consensus must be reached, and we
must have the blessing of the teacher. This should not result
in breakout groups.
3. To give you some spiritual covering and
direction, we would like you to enter these situations with
someone who is a part of leadership, such as a teacher, squad
leader or discipler.
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