JAC Online

The Salvation Army In A Post-Pandemic World:
On The Frontlines Against Nationalism
by Lieutenant Erik Johansson

Do you remember the time before the Corona-pandemic hit the world? Over the last three decades there has been a general understanding among almost all countries and political leaders from right to left, that open borders with free trade was desirable. In Europe, almost the whole continent had agreed to remove all border controls; goods and people were crossing countries without even thinking about it. Live in one country and work in another? Of course, who cares about borders anyways! Countries from all corners of the earth were connected, and goods and people were constantly on the move. A person could use his mobile phone in a small country village to order something from the other side of the world - and it would arrive within a few days! And in 2019 more than 4 billion(!) passengers traveled by air - a large proportion internationally!

A lot of things were of course still uncertain, and many problems remained, but one thing was sure: the way forward was open borders!

Then the pandemic hit the world. And everything changed. Europe, which had abolished most of their internal borders, was suddenly setting them up again. Families got stuck on different sides of newly erected borders in previously integrated, borderfree cities. The travel rates dropped to only a few percent of previous amounts. It was all supposed to be temporary, they said. A drastic measure for a short time. A bracket in the history of globalization. But now, when many parts of the world are slowly trying to get back to normal, something has changed. The border controls that were supposed to be temporary are in many cases still there. When traveling in Europe, citizens are required to show their passports to get through borders - for the first time in many years. And the airlines are talking about years before the travel rate will be back to normal again. If ever. At the same time politicians from left to right are talking about the need to strengthen their own production of goods and relying less on world trade while questioning whether this open world really was such a good idea.

Globalization has been replaced with nationalism.

Is that a problem? It is. And it’s not primarily a political problem, but an attack on the very essence of Christianity. Let me explain why.

In the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, we can read about the events of the first Pentecost. The day when the Holy Spirit came - as was promised by Jesus upon his ascension where he had given his mission of saving the word to his disciples to fulfill. There, in a world full of Roman imperialistic nationalism as well as Jewish nationalism - where the first demanded full allegiance and worship to the emperor and the second claimed that the long waited for Kingdom of God was only for the Jewish people - the Holy Spirit comes in, and in a way that must have been shocking to everyone present, breaks down all barriers. Suddenly pagans and Jews, Romans and Greeks, Arabs and Africans could all hear the good news of the Kingdom in their own language. In that moment everything changed. The sin of separation and division between people that had been plaguing the world since the tower of Babel had now come to the beginning of its end. Not only were all the barriers between people broken from that moment, but ever since, the Holy Spirit has given followers of Jesus the ability to speak new languages - sometimes through the miracle of hard work and sometimes through a more instantaneous miracle - that has broken down borders and divisions all over the world. All this, to point to and give a foretaste of the ultimate future, when the Kingdom of God has come in all of its fullness and borders and nations no longer exist.

Hence, globalization is not a “political” idea, but the very essence of Christianity. Like Paul summarized it: “Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.”^[1].

Few movements have been able to live this out as well as The Salvation Army. We don’t stop at an invisible unity above nations and borders, we make it very practical: We don’t pledge allegiance to national flags, instead we salute our Army flag. We have people from almost every race and tongue serving under one General, signing one set of Articles of War and thereby entering one covenant. As General Evangeline Booth expressed it “The Salvation Army is a great empire without frontiers, made up of a tangle of races, tongues, and colors, such as never before in all history gathered together under one flag.”^[2]

What can we do to keep it that way? How can we make sure the Army is not swept away by the nationalistic wind blowing over the world? To start with, let’s embrace what we already are. A universal embrace of our covenant will by itself make it hard to let any form of nationalism creep into our bloodline. The current Order & Regulation for Soldiers already makes it very clear: “...the Salvationist will not be a narrow nationalist”.^[3]

But more can be done to make sure nationalism doesn’t take hold of The Salvation Army, and emphasise that our allegiance is not to any nation or government - be them “good” or “bad” - but to Jesus Christ, God’s Kingdom and his Army of Salvation. For example:

The world of sports are united together through the Olympic Game that takes place every fourth year, alternating between countries and continents. Why not embrace a similar set up for International Congresses? Let’s already now schedule an International Congress every 5 years, rotating between the continents! That way we counteract this year's lack of international contacts and the coming together will strengthen our supranational^[4] camaraderie.

The Salvation Army equivalent to countries are its territories and commands. Depending on where you are in the world, they can encompass part of a country^[5], one country^[6] or many countries^[7]. I suggest we ensure that our territories don’t match the national borders by splitting up and rearranging those that currently are. That will serve as a visible sign that God’s kingdom trumps the nations of the world.

There is a custom that if the Territorial Commander of a territory is local, the Chief Secretary should not be. Or the opposite. Let's take that one step further and make it a territorial requirement that at least 20% of its officers serving must be from a different territory. For a small territory like Sweden & Latvia that would mean that around 20 of the officers must be officers from outside Sweden or Latvia. Currently there are only a handful such cases. This would, except increasing the experience for both those who are going abroad and those staying to fight alongside the foreign officers, reminds us of the international nature of our movement.

When the Army was young new soldiers were issued a “Soldier’s Pass”. A document that proved the soldiership status of the person, which was to be renewed regularly - sometimes as often as once a month. Did the person for any reason not live a soldier's life, his passport would not be renewed and he’d lose his status as a soldier. In time this practice faded away, and is today only in use in a few countries. But let’s bring back the practice of a Soldiers Pass on a global level - preferably also available on your smartphone! Not only is it a great discipleship tool that will solve the problem of soldiers on the rolls not matching the reality, it will also be a great visual tool to help us to embrace the fact that a Salvation Soldier is not primarily a subject to Caesar^[8] but to God^[9].

If we embrace these ideas, we shall see an Army that is even more strongly positioned to fight the poison of nationalism getting into our system and better live out the coming ultimate, borderless, nation-free future, already today.