|
Open
For Business
by Commissioner Wesley
Harris
DURING a corps review a divisional officer was interested to
learn how a corps had been nudged into becoming a beacon in
its district.
The corps officer had been asked by a local business
man where the local Salvation Army building was situated.
When told he remarked, 'Oh, that place where the door
is always closed!'
It was an awakening moment for the officer and the corps.
The hall was seen as a monument to inactivity, a closed
shop never open to the community.
The situation is now changed. The buiding is open
throughout the week with many programmes available to the
community.
It may not be practicable to have our doors literally open at
all times but at the very least there should be notice boards
which make it clear when access is available to all.
As a lieutenant I was stationed at a very small
London
corps on a busy thoroughfare along which passed trams and
other traffic. Our programme was limited somewhat by a lack of
financial and human resources although we did all possible.
But hallelujah!
We had a large notice board which was seen by thousands
of people every day and that was one of our means of showing
that we were open for our business of helping all in need.
In the Army we have a very close-knit fellowship and that is
one of our strengths but it can be counter-productive.
Unconsciously, perhaps, we can give the impression that
our ' barracks'
(as our halls were once commonly described) were only for
salvationists rather than for anybody and everybody, as
intended. To
dispel that idea and at the risk of further misunderstanding
one corps officer of whom I heard, described his hall as a
public house!
There must be less ambiguous ways of making clear that our
halls are open to all and demonstrating as we are able that we
are not an exclusive sect but an open-hearted Christian
fellowship.
In the part of the world where I live I believe that is
becoming increasingly evident as more corps open their doors
for various expressions of community service.
|
