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The General's Keynote Address at
International Leaders Conference: one Officer's Response
by
Major Stephen Poxon
I am not a
surgeon, but were I, I would be delighted to see before me,
for diagnosis, our beloved Salvation Army, carefully,
reverently and gently laid bare, so to speak, by General Shaw
Clifton.
Delighted because his expertly forensic analysis of The
Salvation Army is timely (perhaps, even, overdue), deeply
methodical, and, obviously, soaked in prayer. These points in
themselves are all immensely reassuring. There resonates
throughout the address a robust yet sensitive awareness of the
Lordship of Christ (which, in itself, generates tremendous
spiritual confidence and humility), coupled with sensible
optimism and a willingness to accept and implement important
action if and when the prognosis demands it.
This is a thoroughly modern address rooted in Army history
against an ancient Scriptural backcloth. Our modernity is
crucial, but so too our need to remain aware whence we have
come, and how (and why) the Lord of history has graciously and
faithfully enabled our progress. The General achieves great
success in bringing these three key elements of Army life -
the modern, the historical, and the Scriptural - to the fore,
and reminding us of the importance of such balance.
This is, too, of necessity, a document with a distinctly
international flavour, reflective of the important relevance
of General Shaw Clifton’s service on five continents. This all
amounts to good evidence of Providential care and concern
(and, hence, authentic grounds for optimism). So too the range
of subject matter, which is generous and inclusive - almost to
the point of it representing a ridiculously ambitious and
impossible mandate were it not for encompassing, abounding
grace that constantly undertakes on our behalf, after the
manner of Song No. 579 in our (current!) Song Book.
The Salvation Army, worldwide, continues to swim (march),
quite deliberately, against various tides, and is repeatedly
made only ever stronger by such swimming and marching. The
tides of secularisation and the (apparent) abandonment of
holiness teaching by some denominations (the latter being,
incidentally, one of the fruits of the former - the two are
bedfellows) are swelling, and want to intimidate, but we do
not forget Commissioner Dalziel’s words: ‘Dominions rise and
perish, the mighty have their day, but still thy word abideth,
it shall not pass away’. Our denominational semi-isolation on
the point of holiness does not matter.
The Conference themes listed should keep us healthily busy for
years, and it is highly commendable that the address is able
to accommodate huge issues of global Salvationist concern as
well as matters that might reasonably and courteously be
categorised as important minutiae, to the detriment of
neither. This happy marriage should not be overlooked or
undervalued, for if attention to detail plays any part in the
wellbeing of our Movement, then it warrants appropriate
mention in such a paper, but not to the extent we ever forsake
our largest visions. Without the formation of large visions,
we perish (cf. Proverbs 29:18), but we may, by the same token,
need the reminder that the avoidance of perishing is usually
worked out in the trivial round and the common task.
Experience shows us this, at any level of Army life and
practice. Within that reminder, there lies a nugget of warm
encouragement. It behoves us, therefore, to polish up and
perfect the trivial and the common, hence their legitimate and
welcome inclusion here.
Were I to take any slight issue with the address (and I am
mindful that I have only seen the abridged version), it would
be with regard to two points:
Firstly, I feel the General has been overly cautious (perhaps
overly polite) in seeming to understate the role of The
Salvation Army as ecclesial entity.
This, I realise, may well be an ecumenical courtesy, but even
if it is, I would still very gently suggest the pressing need
for a mindset amongst Salvationists - the renewal of our
corporate Salvationist mind, as it were - that might
eventually release us from the semi-chronic, creeping,
lurking, crippling inhibition of an inferiority complex, and
for that reversal in our thinking to be heralded from the top
(i.e. the Office of the General).
This complex has so often served, or threatened, to shackle
us, and to make us lose heart when radical evangelism has been
our gift, only to swap that gift for what we might generally
refer to as good works, or at least, if not that, then tepid
outreach.
In part, we may have exchanged (probably unwittingly, and
almost certainly reluctantly) our presentation of Calvary’s
epic for the consolation prize of ecumenical involvement by
virtue of our presentation of charity.
Worse still (despite the hugely valid place of good works), we
have even begun, in some quarters, to accept that they and
they alone represent our only mature contribution to any
ecumenical witness. This passive acceptance of our invented
default status has almost certainly infected officer personnel
as well as non-officer membership, and could actually amount
to a spiritual crisis (at least, a crisis of identity).
I personally searched for, and would have valued, a specific
word from the General to redress this cruel, phoney and
mocking imbalance, and to bolster our self-belief as
ecumenically-worthy evangelicals. Pro rata, on the ecumenical
scene, The Salvation Army is, in many ways, quite literally, a
world leader, yet we continue to endure (and even secretly
nurture) an unnecessary paucity of confidence in what we are
as an entity; hence our retreat, often, into secondary
matters.
The irony is that, fundamentally, our sister churches very
often admire, or even quietly envy, our stances and our unique
attributes, and are thirsting for the calibre of vanguard
leadership and pioneering theological initiatives of which we
are still capable.
Secondly (and I am almost certainly skating on the thinnest of
thin ice here), I searched, equally fruitlessly, for any
explicit mention of those of us who serve outwith senior
leadership, and are probably always likely to do so.
I do of course fully realise that this address was given to
senior leaders from around the world, hence its numerous
references to those who hold positions of divisional or
territorial leadership. Hence, too, its exclusive content and
bias. I accept that, but not, to be honest, without the mild
concern that those of us who constitute the rank and file of
officership (e.g. corps officers) quite possibly represent the
majority. Without the likes of us (I have served as a corps
officer for fifteen consecutive years), there would be no need
for divisional or territorial commanders.
Whilst the General’s pastoral letters are acknowledged as a
brilliant and caring pastoral idea, and whilst they are read
with interest and appreciation, it remains that it would be
easy to digest this particular address without feeling
included. That is definitely not so, I realise, but I think I
will stand by my personal observation on that point - which
is, I concede, subjective.
Nothing in that observation is intended to show or even imply
disrespect towards the General or any senior leader, nor to
engender same. I simply make it in the spirit of discussion
and as a small, quiet contribution from ‘the coal face’.
In conclusion, I think of Song No. 648 in our Song Book, set
to music by Brigadier Richard Nuttall. General Orsborn’s
marvellous words could well serve as part of a daily Office of
Prayer for Salvation Army officers, and especially, in the
context of General Clifton’s Keynote Address and this
response, the lines of verse one:
Where lowly spirits meet
Instant in Prayer,
All at one mercy seat,
One plea to share,
With thee we intercede,
Leader of those who lead,
Heart of our Army’s need,
Make us thy care.
We owe our General, and all our leaders, our support in
prayer. Most of us know little or nothing of the burdens and
demands of senior leadership (nor its joys and rewards). If
we, wherever we serve, and in whichever capacity, fail to
arrive at the Mercy Seat on behalf of our leaders, the Army is
poorer for that. So too, are we.
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