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Parade Ground Army
JAC Issue #50
by
Graeme Smith
“… it is as
though the pilgrim [Church has] … accumulated too many
possessions on the way, found the weight too heavy to carry
and so settled down to look after and protect the overloaded
rucksack. The pilgrim Church became the settled Church, the
static Church. The pilgrim people, unable to cope with
marauding bands, settled down to protect themselves, threw up
stockades, then high walls. The pilgrim Church became the
parade ground Church, the beleaguered garrison of Christ the
King. Within its high walls the loyal troops performed their
outmoded arms drill and manoeuvres in the parade ground,
assured that as long as they kept up the drill and obeyed
orders without question, they could be sure of ultimate
victory.”
Gerard W Hughes, God in All Things
When I first read this I was amazed by the similarity between
his picture of the ‘parade ground Church’ and The Salvation
Army. In fact if you re-read this passage exchanging Army for
Church, it would read almost like a history of The Salvation
Army! What has happened to us? We seem to have a siege
mentality and we’ve had it so long that our supplies are
running out.
In his famous Vision of the Lost letter published in the War
Cry in June 1885, the Founder said the following:
“You have enjoyed yourself in religion long enough. You
have had pleasant feelings, pleasant songs, pleasant meetings,
pleasant prospects. There has been much of human happiness,
much clapping of hands and firing of volleys—very much of
Heaven on earth.”
Is it just me or does this sound a little like the voice of a
modern day Amos? Booth seems to be saying that even back in
1885 that people had started to lose the vision for the lost
that had resulted in the birth of The Salvation Army. Could it
be that in echo of Amos’ prophecies against God’s chosen
people, Booth was saying 122 years ago that the Lord already
despised the gatherings of Salvationists because they had
turned away from His mission for them?
If so how much more is this the case today? In much of the
western world The Salvation Army has got stuck in a rut. It
perpetuates the style and practices of late 19th and early
20th century Britain, but has forgotten both the reason for
why the activities were so effective and that it was all about
the battle to win souls. To paraphrase Hughes, we have become
a parade ground Army, and history is full of examples of that
sort of Army being massacred by the enemy.
In many places our soldiery drive to our Citadels in their
cars, by-passing the very people we were called to reach, and
leaving that job to an elite band of paid professionals, many
of whom profess no active faith in Christ. We then wonder why
God has ceased to bless us and why our congregations are
dwindling.
However, it is possible for us to recapture the vision. All
around us in varying styles are examples of the Army
reclaiming the ground it has lost. The most obvious methods
might be different, but they do have things in common. They
have thrown off their overloaded rucksacks, knocked down their
high walls and ventured out into the world. They have regained
the vision of the early Army and have become combat troops
rather than purely ceremonial ones.
So what are we going to do? Are we going to continue to enjoy
the pleasantness of the experiential worship meetings, all the
while safe in our concrete bastions of religiosity? Or are we
going to join those who have caught the vision and understood
that in reality the Army’s call is to be on the move,
constantly seeking to destroy the work of the evil one both in
the lives of the individual and society as a whole.
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