|
Dreams and
Visions
by Captain Andrew Bale
"This article was
written while my soul was still very much being melted and
moulded by the fires of conversion. It expresses a simplistic
approach motivated by a naive optimism which cares nothing for
the complex issues that are supposed to surround the ongoing
survival of the Salvation Army and its mission. 13 years on,
whilst I wouldn't want to change it, I would like to clarify
its perspective. The article is not suggesting that smartness,
uniformity and professionalism are sins but that 'God opposes
the proud but gives grace to the humble."
The word humble in a
Christian context has very positive connotations unlike the
word humiliate or humiliated which have very negative
associations. If the Salvation Army refuses to humble itself
then God will humiliate it because his 'strength is made
perfect in weakness'. If the only soldiers that God can find
who are prepared to be totally dependent upon him are those
with gravy down their ties who wear brown shoes with their
uniform and sing out of tune then those are the soldiers he
will use to win the world. One of the greatest enemies of the
Salvation Army has always been (and remain) a self-sufficient
professionalism that has no need for God." Andrew.
In 1997 the UKT Church Growth and Planned Giving Department
launched an essay competition titled "Do you see what I see?"
Salvationists were asked to visualise what the Army would be
like when 20/20 Vision is effectively accomplished. My entry
came second and is published here as it first appeared in the
UK Salvationist on 13 December 1997.
Dreams and
Visions
“The optimist is right. The pessimist is right
... Each Is right from his own particular view, and this point
of view is the determining factor in the life of each. It
determines whether it is a life of power or of impotence, of
peace or of pain, of success or of failure,” said R.W. Trine.
He was stating the eternal truth that what we believe today
has a significant bearing on tomorrow.
Spiritual
health has always been associated with 'dreams and visions'.
At Pentecost Peter quoted Joel, who clearly predicted that the
hallmark of God's ultimate blessing would be young visionaries
and old dreamers.
Spiritual death, on the other hand,
has always been associated with a lack of vision. The Book of
Proverbs declares that 'where there is no vision the people
perish' (29:18 Authorised Version).
What The Salvation
Army will be like in 2020 is dependent on where we see
ourselves now. Today's priorities are the building-blocks of
tomorrow. The fruit harvested in 2020 will be the result of
seeds sown in 1997. As General George Carpenter said, we will
always be what all our yesterdays have made us.
Accepting the foregoing as fact we are faced with thousands of
possible permutations. The Salvation Army is made up of
territories made up of divisions made up of corps made up of
soldiers. Every cog within the machine is unique and therefore
the collective elements (or corps) within that machine will
also be unique.
For the sake of brevity I am going to
focus on only two of many potential scenarios.
My
comments are generic and not targeted at specific corps or
individuals. These visions are not portraits lovingly painted
but ugly caricatures, harshly drawn in the hope that they will
provoke debate. Individuals who see themselves or their corps
portrayed in this essay have no need to defend themselves to
anyone other than God. If the cap doesn't fit then please
don’t try to wear it!
As a Salvationist I see the
development of two separate movements within our organisation.
The first was accurately predicted by Samuel Logan
Brengle and is primarily secular. Its priorities are
intellectual achievement, social acceptance, attention to
detail and musical expertise - all of which are commendable in
their own right.
This Army, as Brengle says, will
never fail for want of resources. It will feed from within,
nurturing recruits in its own nurseries and rescuing the
wounded from other corps.
The high feasts of this Army
will be large musical celebrations, justified on the grounds
of building bridges into the community. The music presented
will be, on the whole, exclusive and require the possession of
certain qualifications if it is to be fully appreciated.
The unsaved targeted by such an Army will develop positive
relationships with the Movement but will remain onlookers.
Admiring and respecting the old lady from a safe distance,
they may even lend financial support but they will never
become converts or disciples.
Recognising its
inability to integrate fully with its audience, this army will
experiment with compromise. Total abstinence will be up for
discussion on the basis that man-made morality should always
come second to what on closer inspection might prove to be
biblical pragmatism.
Uniforms, titles, flags will be
fanatically protected yet this Army will be neither
evangelistic nor militant. It will be insular and incestuous -
its parochial attitude marked by pride and blind loyalty.
It will be an Army that meets once on a Sunday with no
literature evangelism and no open-air work, the majority of
soldiers funding a minority workers who continue to maintain
in-house community service programmes.
There will be
no Bible study or prayer other than the liturgical remnant
still recited on a Sunday.
The social services of this
Army will be isolated from the corps programme and rely
heavily on funding from outside agencies. The restrictions
placed on them by funding will sound the death knell of any
remaining evangelistic enterprise.
It will be a
justifiably proud institution, self-sufficient, respected and
accepted at the highest level of society but, as Brengle
warns, it 'will no longer be shepherds of the lost sheep' and
'God will no longer be with it'.
The second vision I
would like to resent will be born in the unsuspecting manger
of poor corps.
Such corps, as a result of economic
reality, will lose their additional financial subsidies and
find themselves threatened with closure. Like the prodigal
they will discover that lack of funds and impending death has
wonderful way of bringing you to your senses. Even so, some
will curl up and die.
Others will rediscover the truth
their forebears prospered on and this truth, when applied to
their circumstances, will set them free. The truth is that
'God's work done God's way will never lack God's provision'.
Such corps have never been hampered by the chains of
musical expertise, the bondage of ceremonial uniforms or the
doubting which so often accompanies educated liberalism.
Over the years they have become the homes of the
disenfranchised within our Movement - misfits who tried every
corps within the division until they settled here. They felt
at home here and they stayed.
Here it doesn't matter
whether you sing in or out of tune. As far as the band is
concerned the only qualification is to 'make a joyful noise'
(it doesn't even have to be 'unto the Lord').
Here you
can wear brown shoes with uniform. Here you feel not only
accepted but used. The decision to stay is not spiritual but
practical.
Physical, emotional, intellectual and
spiritual poverty combined with a naive hunger for something
better has often proved to be the breeding ground for revival.
At first this Salvation Army will take God at his word
because it doesn't possess the capacity to entertain any other
possibility. God will bless its inherent humility and soon its
members will believe not by default but through experience.
This Army will grow for two reasons. One, The Salvation
Army was raised up to reach such people. Two, because they
share a culture with those around them.
Contrary to
popular opinion, the artistic highlight of many secular social
occasions is still a drunken rendition of ‘The Birdie Song'.
Ultimately this Salvation Army will speak to all sections of
society just as it did once before. It will be both militant
and evangelistic. It will learn (painfully at first) from the
pitfalls of previous revivals and insist on making disciples
as well as converts.
In moral terms there is little to
choose between these two Armies. The first Army is smart,
organised, polished and respectable; its troops unquestionably
sincere and committed. The second Army merely confirms the
principle that God's glory is better served when the material
he works with is (in worldly terms) inferior.
One
man's dream is another man's nightmare and you may choose to
dismiss both of the above scenarios as unlikely. But if we
want a Salvation Army in 2020 then we must 'make the future in
the present'.
Already corps once threatened with
closure are seeing spiritual rebirth and growth. This is the
Lord's doing and only he can take the credit.
However,
corps which dispensed with the praise meeting because the band
played to the songsters and the songsters sang to the band are
now looking to do away with the salvation meeting on the same
grounds. Literature evangelism is disappearing and open-air
evangelism is on the decline. In contrast our music festivals
become grander and greater by the minute.
Look and you
can see two brothers struggling like Jacob and Esau for their
father's blessing. One bullish and blind, the other weak and
wily.
One sees that blessing as his by right. He is
strong and disciplined and has earned it. The other has always
looked to his mother (in this case the bottomless purse of
THQ) to protect and further his ambitions.
Who will
win this struggle? I believe it will be the weaker. Why?
Because if you reminded him that Christ came to call the
unrighteous he would find comfort in the thought. If you said
the same to his brother he would take offence.
The
first Army is the Army of the optimist. He thinks his position
is unassailable and he's right. The second Army is the Army of
the pessimist. He thinks he will fail and he has.
Ultimately the Army of 2020 will be the Army that God calls.
God is not bound by tradition but the Bible does prove him to
be consistent.
When it comes to armies he prefers to
start with the bare minimum. The soldiers he calls are
amateurish, unskilled and usually led by a coward. If you
don't believe me, ask Gideon.
|
