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Soldier Interview - Andrew Grinnell
United Kingdom Territory
JAC interviewed soldiers from five territories regarding
battle issues that we all face. We expect that most of you
will learn much on what the problems and solutions are in this
great salvation conflict. We esteem the interviewees as those
fighting hard and committed to glorifying Jesus as they
capture, train, and deploy on very different fronts.
JAC: Quick bio:
AG: I'm Andrew Grinnell and I live in Leeds in the north of
England with my wife and three children. I work for ALOVE as
the Emerging Mission Officer and am passionate about seeing
churches developed in some of the toughest areas/ estates in
the UK.
JAC: Tell us, about your salvation and sanctification.
AG: I was brought up in the Salvation Army and so I guess I
inherited much of my early spirituality from a mixture of the
belief of my parents and the Salvation Army corps I found
myself in. Loads changed during my mid to late teens firstly
as I encountered Christians from other churches and secondly
as I started to try and work out what faith meant to me
directly, not only as someone who was born into it. Throughout
the last 10 years it’s been much of the same, as I wrestle
with who God is, who I am and how together we might not only
survive the world, but see it transformed as well.
JAC: What engages your passions and energies these days.
AG: well, although loads of different things energise me, I
suppose it all boils down to a few things. I love building
bridges for people to walk over and connect with each other.
That is in so many different areas, whether its people in my
community who don't know each other, different church leaders
who are unaware of what each other is doing, those who have
dreams and passions and no-one to share them with or people
applying to be involved in one of our programmes. There's
something about seeing people connecting for the first time
with the intent of making a difference!!!
Another area would be in seeing people get it. Again that's on
a variety of levels but I'm passionate about people
understanding more about God, the universe and how to live in
it. In many ways this mirrors my own journey and wrestle and
so as I enjoy those ah-ha moments, I love seeing others having
them as well.
In the middle of all this is probably my greatest passion to
see the poor encounter the Kingdom of God. I want to see the
poorest communities in the
UK being built into real community, and people getting it as
they experience the love of Christ. I want to see Christians
sharing this vision and getting out to live in these places to
see God's transformative grace at work.
JAC: What is your role with The Salvation Army?
AG: Fortunately my role fits perfectly with these passions. I
work for ALOVE as the emerging mission officer and two main
responsibilities. Firstly I oversee the development of the NEO
strategy
www.salvationarmy.org.uk/alove/neo which plants teams of
people on estates in the UK. We've currently got nine teams
out there and we're researching and planning for more.
Secondly, I'm responsible for creating and developing training
courses to help with this. I guess one of the greatest
excitements for our teams are that there often is loads of
energy, desire and passion to do something. This is great but
shear energy alone will not plant long-term sustainable
churches. We need to give people the theological, spiritual
and mission resources to help them keep going for a long time.
JAC: What is your mission/calling?
AG: Difficult to separate from the above. I guess the only
thing I'd add is that I'm also called to be involved in it
locally. It’s not just my job all this, I shouldn't only go
around theorising about how to do it, I'm called to be
involved in it on a day-to-day level. A few of us have just
moved in to this estate in Leeds to bring a bit of change, and
to be changed as we seek God out there.
JAC: How does The Army support your war-fighting?
AG: On the practical level it pays me so that's a start. But
beyond that it places me in a tradition with a heritage that
is about all that I'm about - seeing the orphan, widow and
stranger (as the Old Testament puts it) transformed by the
gospel of Christ.
JAC: How do you influence people?
You: Badly!!! I guess it's a long haul. You build
relationships by learning to listen to others, and then
speaking when the times right. If all that's backed up by
someone who's living as authentically as they possible can, I
think people are influenced, even if it means they only change
a little.
JAC: What are your dreams for the next several years?
You: To keep seeing communities transformed by planting a
whole bunch of other teams. To see my children grow up as
authentic disciples, and to see a bit of transformation in my
own community.
JAC: What are the keys to successful warfare on your front and
the larger salvation war?
You: Humility, vulnerability, courage and thinking!!! You
can't do it any other way as far as I know and I'm very much
committed to making sure that the last of these is not
neglected. Getting out there is vital, reflecting on what we
learn there is key.
JAC: How are you and your comrades strengthening The Salvation
Army?
AG: By opening up new opportunities for mission.
JAC: What are some of the dangers we have to face in the
coming years? (and how?)
AG: Not to become too self absorbed and self obsessed. It
strikes me the church in general spends more time trying to
articulate who it is to each other than engaging in the real
issues in the world. In truth, the people on our estate
probably don't care too much about what we wear, how we
describe ourselves, what role we play within the
denominational structure. They just want people around them
that will make a difference for them and care. I guess we need
to stop taking ourselves too seriously and get on with making
a difference.
JAC: What final exhortation have you for this audience?
AG: I think Richard of Chichester puts it best: 'to love you
(God) more dearly, follow you more nearly, know you more
clearly, day by day.'
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