The Year That Changed Nothing
by Lieutenant Erik
Johansson
Do you
remember 2020? The year of the pandemic. The year when people
talked about how everything was going to change. “New normal”
was the phrase on everyone's lips, and everything, from the
climate to discipleship, was going to be so much better
because of all the lessons we had learned during 2020.
We all know that didn’t happen. People
said that the era of flying all around the world was over -
instead, the first years after the pandemic, the travel
industry boomed like never before! Never before had people
been so keen on travelling fast, often and long distances!
Experts also predicted that the era of the office was dead -
everyone would keep working from home, having gotten used to
it during lockdowns and restrictions. Instead offices became
more popular than ever - apparently the desire for coworkers
and coffee machine chatter were big in people! And they said
the era of global trade was over - no more relying on goods
from all over the world. Of course, the complete opposite
became true.[1]
Since the vaccines that finally put an end to the pandemic
were discovered by an international group of scientists, and
distributed through an intricate chain on worldwide logistics,
global trade agreements and free markets became the buzz of
the decade![2]
Now, in 2030, when world poverty has been eradicated, we can
look back and be glad that 2020 was nothing but a little bump
in the many decades of global progress that had started at the
end of the 1900’s.
But it
wasn’t only the society around us that was going to change,
they said. 2020 was the year that was going to change the way
Christianity, at least in the western world, operated. Gone
were the days of “going to church” culture - now we were all
going to be the
church! We were going to be friends with our neighbours and
embrace small groups, wards and cells. But, we all know what
happened. As soon as the pandemic was over people forgot all
about those things. We had a few years when music festivals,
big gatherings and Christian concerts had a revival not seen
for many decades. Those who didn’t join that craze continued
to stay at home browsing the internet for live streamed
meetings from all over the world. Christians consumerism had
never been stronger.
Yet here we are, with an Army that has advanced significantly
since 2020, fighting in many new countries, cities, towns and
neighbourhoods. So what happened?
After the
first years of post-pandemic craze, we began to focus on the
two things that have always been the essence of our movement:
Salvation and holiness. And
that changed things.
After the
General issued the challenge to every Salvationist to bring 5
new people to God during one year we realized that we needed
to get to know our neighbours. The festivals, concerts and
rallies - no matter how much we liked them - were simply
deemed inefficient. And after the global call to Holiness we
quickly realized that it’s easier to be accountable in a small
ward than in a big crowd - not to mention how impossible it
was as a holy army to justify the costs of big buildings when
we instead could meet in our homes and release more money for
the actual work of bringing salvation to the world.
And today, in 2030, we see the results.
The Salvation Army is soon to have invaded every country in
the world, Salvationists have doubled in numbers since 2020
and we are finally getting back the spirit of winning the
world for Jesus and ushering in the good times coming.[3]
What can we learn from this? Pandemics don’t change people -
holiness and salvation do.
[1]
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-2020-was-the-fourth-best-year-in-history
[2]
The first approved vaccine was developed by a Turkish
born German, living in the USA and produced by an
American multinational company with a Greek CEO.
[3]
http://www.armybarmy.com/JAC/article12-83.html
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