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Programming: Cookie-Cutter or
Custom-Fit
by
Cadet Aaron Abram
Cadet Aaron Abram (Prayer Warriors, USA Southern Territory)
asks,
“When it comes to the ministries we offer and the programs we
lead, does one size really fit all?”
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Home League, Men’s Club, Junior Soldiers, Girl Guards,
Adventure Corps, Sunbeams, Corps Cadets, Sunday school… oh,
pardon me. I got caught up in reading the corps standard.
That’s right, each of these and several more are all programs
that are required to take place on a weekly basis at every
Salvation Army corps. The question remains, however, must they
all look and function the same way in every corps?
Several years ago I heard of a plan for the future of new
building projects. Essentially, there would be several designs
to choose from, and based on the budget and needs of a
particular corps you would choose from the designs and build.
These were referred to as “cookie-cutter corps.” There was of
course some logic to the plan. Not to mention the fact that it
would be easy for someone from a “Cookie Cutter B” corps to
find their way around when they were visiting your new “Cookie
Cutter B” corps.
This brought to mind for me trips to Wal-Mart; those of you in
the states may be able to relate. Have you ever walked into a
Wal-Mart in a different town and known just where to go to
find your favorite section of the store without looking up at
the signs that lead the way? For the most part, one Wal-Mart
is much like the next. I remember the first time I went into a
store in a different state and I thought I was in an episode
of the Twilight Zone. That only ceased to amaze me on the day
that I stopped at a red light and looked to my right and saw a
Starbucks coffee shop. When I looked to my left I saw… you
guessed it, another Starbucks.
I do not seek here to question the validity or necessity of
the aforementioned programs, nor any other that the Army sees
fit to place in every corps. I only question the methods that
we sometimes use to put on these programs. Does it best
benefit the corps to do things the same way as everyone else?
Let’s draw a comparison using two imaginary corps locations:
Mosquito Net, Mississippi and Urbantown, Texas. The corps in
Mosquito Net has all of these programs as does the corps in
Urbantown. The programs exist to build up the corps, but what
does the corps exist for?
A Salvation Army corps exists to serve humanity in the
neighborhood in which it is located. This means that at each
corps, there is the potential for an entirely different
community surrounding it than the next or the last. Let’s
stick with my two made up corps for the sake of argument.
The corps in Mosquito Net is an average Southern-American
sized corps of about 60 soldiers, adherents and friends. The
community is a fishing community where the men work and the
women generally remain home to raise the children until they
are in school. Once all of the children are of school age, the
mothers either take on part-time jobs or work on homemaking
skills. The average annual salary for the family is
approximately $62,000. The people of the town consider
themselves to be well-off and truly believe in loving their
neighbors.
A different story exists in Urbantown. The men that can be
found in Urbantown homes generally are unemployed. Many others
are in prison or have never been around at all. There are many
single parent homes consisting of a mother and an average of
four children. Most of the mothers are forced to take at least
one, if not two full-time jobs to make ends meet. Those who
are unable to work rely on government assistance. By the age
of sixteen most have dropped out of high-school with the boys
becoming involved in the various gangs in town and many of the
girls contributing to the town’s 23% teen pregnancy rate. The
corps in Urbantown however has a very vibrant congregation of
150 soldiers, adherents and friends.
Each of these communities loves The Salvation Army and
supports its work in any way that it can. In turn, the corps
is open nearly twelve hours a day with various programs and
services offered to the community.
As Mosquito Net is essentially a family community, it is in
turn a family corps. Most of the people in attendance are
related to one another and the families have been part of the
Army for generations. The Salvation Army is the community
church in Mosquito Net. Having such a long history, the
community knows and understands the programs of the Army.
Guards, Sunbeams, Adventure Corps etc. all attract a large
crowd of dedicated students eager to learn something new. They
are very used to how the programs progress and they enjoy it
that way.
The new officer in Urbantown is facing a problem however. He
has noticed that the people who attend the regular programs do
so more out of a sense of obligation. They want to be at the
corps, but they do not necessarily want to be at the programs.
Their minds are in the nice new gym that was just added on, or
on the playground out back. When looking over the lessons each
week, the leaders notice that most of them are riddled with
scribbles and doodles. The programs are not working, but the
officer does not know what to do.
Next to our campus is the beautiful new South Atlanta Ray and
Joan Kroc Corps Community Center. Many years in development,
this new venture was undertaken with one hope in mind, to meet
the needs of the community and introduce them to the God who
makes all things possible. Part of the planning that went into
the development of this Kroc Center was a survey of the
community. Civic leaders, business leaders, school
administrators, area religious leaders, community activists,
even children were asked what the dream community center would
hold for them. The overwhelming response was a center for the
arts. Like many communities here in the states, the arts have
been cut from many school budgets in this time of fiscal
strains. The Salvation Army found themselves in a unique
position to serve this need through the new Kroc Center.
Having officially opened in October of 2008 and now fully
operational, The South Atlanta Kroc Center is meeting the
needs of this community in ways that could only have been
dreamed about before. Inside the building can be found dance
studios, a state of the art gym with a fitness center, a
pottery studio with its very own kiln, cartooning classes,
storytelling, spoken word poetry, martial arts etc. While the
Kroc Center functions still as a Salvation Army corps, meaning
that it has the same programs that every other corps has, it
is finding a way to meet the needs of its community. Some of
these desires can be found incorporated into the various new
program ventures that accompany these regulars.
I also recall hearing of the Alove program a few years ago. It
was marketed to us here in the USASouth as a new way of doing
corps cadets. We were told of how there was now a little more
freedom from brigade to brigade as to how the program would be
accomplished. There was even talk of football jerseys to
identify corps. I even heard tell of a large number of teens
being commissioned as generals because chances are they were
the highest ranking Salvationists their peers would meet. All
of this was intriguing and I waited full of hope for what the
fruit would be. I never would have imagined all that would
come of it.
A couple weeks ago I went online and found all new lessons
produced by Alove that rival the lessons here in the U.S.
Pictures, testimonies, videos, artwork… evidence of progress
through creative thinking and making a program fit the
community in which it was meant to serve.
Again, every program has its place and there is certainly
reason for doing things a certain way, but as the Apostle Paul
encourages us, we must be all things to all people. If what we
are doing is not meeting the needs of the people anymore, is
there a catalyst there for change? Could we do the same
programs in a different way in two places so that the needs of
those in them are best served? Could not the people of
Mosquito Net still go to their regular Sunday school classes
each week, while the people of Urbantown are learning and
praising God through a hip-hop Sunday school?
Perhaps it is time to look at these things. From my
understanding, the programs are under constant review and they
are being tailored even now as we speak ahead of the next
batch being rolled out. Maybe we can end the cookie-cutter,
and give some basics and let the officers and leaders of the
individual corps custom fit them to the needs of their people.
If there is a specific list of required outcomes, then why not
meet them in a way that will leave a lasting impact on the
community. It is all about ministry and getting people saved.
Programs in and of themselves are not ministry, but all
programs should be undergirded by ministry.
I read a very interesting quote last week and I will close
with it. “If we continue to tailor to those we already have,
we will continue to be irrelevant to those we need to get.”
This quote was posted online by Phil Laeger, a great Army
composer and someone I admire for his heart to God and hand to
man lifestyle. I would only add one word at the end of his
quote. “If we continue to tailor to those we already have, we
will continue to be irrelevant to those we need to get SAVED.”
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