JAC Online

Interview: Commissioner Alison Walter

Original Publication - JAC #83 , February - March 2013

 

JAC: Please tell us about your background, how you came to know Jesus, and how you came to know the Salvation Army 

 

AW: I'm a "child of the regiment" as old-time Salvationists used to say, i.e. born and bred in the Army - Salvationist through and through.

 

I was born eighty years ago in Australia, the child of Salvation Army officers in Melbourne.  My paternal grandparents emigrated from England and settled on the West Coast.  They were Methodists, but when they boarded young officers who were opening a Corps in their town, they began attending Army meetings, became soldiers and several of their children became Salvation Army Officers (two of whom became Territorial Commanders/Commissioners).   My maternal grandparents were officers in New Zealand, where they chose to learn the Maori language, and travelled by canoe up and down the Wanganui River spreading the message of Christ.

 

 Our founders believed that being born and raised in a Christian home was like living in the pre-dawn light.  That was so for me as one of my first memories is of the Family Altar around the supper table where father read Scripture from The Salvation Army's  "Soldiers' Guide" and then parents and four children knelt around the table, sang a chorus, one of us prayed and then we repeated the Lord's Prayer.   I have a heritage for which I am grateful.

 

 When I was seven years old I was taken to Congress Meetings in the Adelaide Town Hall and when people flocked to the Mercy Seat I, barely understanding, went to join them.  My Mother knelt beside me and led me to salvation.  What pleased me most was that about a week later, she told me she could see a difference in me since I made my decision to serve Jesus. 

 

When I was 18 my parents were moved as Chief Secretary to Canada and I, the only unmarried child in the family, moved with them.  I met and married a Canadian Salvationist and a year later we entered the Toronto Training College. 

 

JAC: Please tell us about your sanctification. 

 

AW: Ah!   My favourite topic and one which has directed my whole life.  Although I was truly saved when a child, and attended all Salvation Army activities such as Directory, Sunday School, Corps Cadets, Songsters, Youth Group etc., there seemed to be something missing and I would sincerely sing the chorus, "Oh Jesus, be thyself to me, a living bright reality"  but to no avail. That inner hunger led me to kneel often at the Penitent Form (Mercy Seat) ask questions and read all the books I could find on the Blessing of Holiness, as it was called then.  At last I realised I had to DO something - ask, accept and believe.  One Saturday night (it is still so clear in my memory) I knelt alone at my bedside and, with the help of a little booklet called " A Ladder to Holiness" I made a complete commitment of my life to Christ.  What he wanted I would do and what he forbade I would give up.   I pointed to the promise in 1 Thess. 5:23,24 and thanked God for doing the work of sanctification in my life. I did not experience any great emotion but believed that, because God had promised it, I HAD been sanctified by his Spirit.  A few days later I was telling my friend about what I had done and as I spoke a wonderful peace, joy and assurance swept over me.  There was a difference in my life.  Christ was real.  I sought him out and read the Scriptures joyfully.  That summer at an Army camp, I shared the experience with the other girls in the cabin and discovered that the joy of the Lord was contagious for as we talked and  prayed together, the Lord opened their eyes and hearts to the possibility of their sanctification too.  Around the campfire that night we shared our testimonies and it was almost a mini-revival. 

 

JAC: What is the most significant part of your war fighting today? 

 

AW: I live in a Salvation Army Retirement Residence in Toronto today and I believe I share my faith here with fellow residents and staff. I am disabled now and have difficulty walking, so often it is necessary for people to come to me for counsel.  This past summer I was asked to help a Chinese immigrant learn English by reading the Bible with her.  Being brought up in Communist China she had no knowledge of God and Christianity and no faith at all.   We met weekly for three months during her summer break from studies.    It was a challenge but I know I had an influence on her.   My daughter smilingly says I'm like a magnet as several people want to come and chat.  I'm sorry that my energy has limits.  I also consider my E-mail and Facebook correspondence an important way to encourage and influence others. 

 

JAC: What was your most challenging appointment?  Why? 

 

AW: That's a hard question.  It could have been coming to Canada from Australia in my late teens when my parents were moved here as Chief Secretary.  Leaving friends and family to go so far away was certainly a challenge.  There were tears, but I very soon made lasting friends at the North Toronto Corps and started a timbrel brigade, as the Australian way of timbrel playing was unknown here.  This opened up specialling opportunities where we could share our faith. 

 

It could have been going with my husband to the Mazowe Secondary School in Rhodesia as young Captains with two small children.  My husband taught maths & science and I fitted in where needed - typing a newly translated Chishona song-book, teaching Religious Knowledge which was then an examinable graduation subject, organizing the Corps Cadet Brigade for Salvationist students boarding at the school.  It also fell to my lot to home school my children with the help of Canadian correspondence lessons until it was time to go to Boarding School at the age of seven.  Activists stirred up our students once to go on strike for political change and the education department expelled them and closed the school early one year. 

 

It could have been our years on Training College staff in Toronto. Because of the subjects I was assigned to teach I went to University and studied New Testament, Old Testament, Church History and New Testament Greek.  I counted that appointment a great privilege, being assigned to study and teach the Word. 

 

It could have been the time we were moved from Training College Principal to become Divisional Commander in Alberta.   I was distressed as it meant our children (3 by then) had to forgo the scholarships they had been awarded because we were changing provinces.  But it was interesting that God prepared me for that challenge, as I remember being silently asked by the Lord during one prayer meeting as to what I really wanted for my children. I easily decided that it was their spiritual life that meant more to me than anything else, so when, a few weeks later our farewell orders came, I had to cling to the belief that God knew what he was doing.   Sure enough, the family did well in all respects in their new surroundings. 

 

It could have been when the next move came.  We were sent to Kenya and it necessitated leaving the family, aged 21, 19, and 16 behind in Canada, as two were in University and the other was finishing high school.  Yet, once again, looking back I can see that it was beneficial for them to have to run their own lives. 

 

I could go on and on, but I`ll skip over the years and several appointments, and say that it was a challenge to retire in England, as International Secretary for Africa, and have to start from scratch in many ways when we returned to Canada.   I`ve certainly needed, claimed and proved so many of God`s promises over the years. 

 

JAC What was your most influential appointment?  Why? 

 

AW: I think that was our appointment as Territorial Commanders to Southern Africa in 1986.  Apartheid was still in operation. Fortunately our early appointment, living on the campus of a  boarding school in Zimbabwe, gave us experience and friends of all races. There had been two training colleges, but the previous leader began taking the 'white' cadets to the Soweto township for combined classes.  In our term we were able to arrange for a working girls' hostel on T.H.Q. to be redesigned as a combined Training College.  Following a lawyer's advice, we were able to circumvent the apartheid laws.  It's thrilling to look back and see that some of the young officers whose lives we touched then, are now territorial commanders in other territories. 

 

JAC: Who has been most influential in shaping you into who you are today? 

 

AW: My parents certainly set my feet on the right path.   My husband, Stan, set me an example of disciplined Christian living and true Salvationism. I distinctly remember three people who, presumably led by the Spirit, challenged me along the way.  I even remember their names all these years later.  One was my Corps Officer who didn't hesitate to ask the D.C.'s young daughter if she had given her heart to the Lord.  A few weeks later I did just that.  The second was a Corps Cadet Guardian (as they were called in those days) who walked beside me on a hiking trail and reminded me, having heard that I did well in High School exams, that 'to whom much was given, from them much would be required.' (Luke 12:48)  And the third was a Divisional Youth Secretary, Colonel Leslie Pindred, who preached, taught and embodied the truths of Full Salvation. 

 

JAC: What books have influenced you most? 

 

AW: A book I have read often is The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence. Other writings by Teresa of Avila and Julian of Norwich have left an imprint on my life.   Favourite authors have been William Sangster, Thomas R. Kelly, John Stott, C.S. Lewis, William Barclay, Henri Nouwen, and N.T. Wright.   Salvationist writers like Allister Smith, Frederick Coutts, John Larsen, & Chick Yuill have been helpful and a joy to read. 

 

JAC: Can you tell us of the most memorable campaigns and meetings in which you were involved and their impact? 

 

AW: It has been a privilege to speak at many Women's camps, Brengle Institutes and Bible Camps such as Junaluska in the Southern States and at Collaroy N.S.W., Australia.   I trust the Lord's promise to water the seeds I have planted for him.  JAC: Our first General often wrote letters to the soldiers with teaching for daily life and warfare.  Would you take this opportunity to offer a message to soldiers around the world?  AW: I cannot stress Scripture reading and memorization enough.  When my children were young we memorized several Psalms, one verse a day as a means of 'returning thanks' after a meal and they sometimes refer to them even now.   Paul was right when he spoke of Scripture as 'the sword of the Spirit' and the 'power of God'. 

 

Then there is the daily joy of offering yourself to God each morning, asking again to be indwelt by His Spirit so that you walk through the day listening to His inner voice guiding you in everything you do, sometimes reprimanding, and always leading you to people who need a word from the Lord through you.  Commissioner Andy Miller was a great example of this.  He stayed once with us in South Africa, and always went out for a run before breakfast, trusting God to lead him to someone who needed  to hear him  speak of Jesus. 

 

I would quote Paul's advice in Colossians 3:15-16: 

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.      Be thankful.   Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

   

 

 

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