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How The Salvation War Looks Different Next Year
by Captain Anthony
Barnes
Over the past six months, the universal
Christian church – not excluding our movement called The
Salvation Army, has come face to face with navigating what has
been labeled as a global pandemic. In the early days of the
pandemic, congregations had to face the challenging reality of
not meeting together physically. In the name of Social
Distancing, we – the body of Christ, took precautions for
personal and community wellness and safety, but we were
unaware of, and didn’t consider, the associated collateral.
The novelty of operating in a new way was initially exciting
for some. Without warning, the army was propelled into what is
considered a current or relevant existence. No longer “behind
the times” technologically, we began livestreaming our
services. However, we quickly learned the realities of moving
into something ill-prepared. We were ill-prepared
technologically, emotionally, contextually, and in some cases,
missionally. For the purposes of this discourse, we will focus
on a portion of the missional aspect.
The Salvation War, as it’s been coined,
is what had driven The Salvation Army for generations; the
battle to win souls for Jesus reflected our commitment to The
Great Commission. Historically, testimonies in salvation and
holiness meetings proved the legacy of the Salvation War.
However, as of late, it appears –
in some places and cases – the Salvation War has diminished, and in
its place is a desire to create a refuge for the
saints/soldiers who glory in the stories of old. As a result,
when the place of refuge was removed, and we were relegated to
online worship, we had no foundation to rely on; no “safe
space” to simply tell our stories. Our saving grace is that
this came by way of a lack of intention rather than by apathy.
Realizing the posture in which many of
us have found ourselves, it is important that we take a step
back, re-evaluate our origins and priorities, and adjust our
focus from what has become primarily saint-centered efforts.
We must reclaim our legacy and return to evangelistic
campaigns for the Salvation of those who don’t know, or need
to be reminded of, Jesus.
This evangelistic campaign can happen
in the one area that has been increased during this pandemic;
social services. We have gained increased access to those in
the margins of society. People who once found security in
independent sustainability, now find themselves need
assistance to make ends meet. We must begin thinking about how
we integrate the part of our mission that says, “meet human
needs” with “in His name”.
I think that we have been really good at meeting human
needs, but in a statistic driven world, meeting needs has
become the focus, while “in His name”, or sharing His name,
may have taken a back seat. Why not engage both? As my
theology professor once shared, “we have a two-fold mandate to
provide Spiritual Redemption AND Social Reformation”. This
doesn’t mean that we need to explain the entire Roman’s Road
to Salvation while handing out a food box, but we have the
opportunity to create a follow up plan and establish true
community as opposed to what has become the normative practice
of the Hit-And-Run method of administering social services. An
intentional plan for follow-up with our social service clients
can be the first step to refining our efforts as we Wage Love
in our communities this year, next year, and beyond.
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