On a mission from God

This is Salvation Army founder General William Booth as you’ve perhaps never seen him before.

It’s from a series of caricatures published by the British magazine Vanity Fair in November 1882. The illustration ran as part of Vanity Fair’s ‘Men of the Day’ series, which featured royals, politicians, sportsmen and other eminent figures of the time.

Compared with photographs of William Booth, this cartoon is perhaps over-flattering. Around the office, we refer to it as ‘hipster Booth’, because the subject appears so effortlessly cool and stylish. But there’s still the air of a revolutionary—a man on a mission from God.

As The Salvation Army celebrates 150 years since its birth, there is naturally renewed interest in our early days. But to understand the DNA of The Salvation Army, we need to return to the life of its real founder, Jesus Christ, because Jesus is whom William Booth and the other early Salvationists served. Jesus is whom they called others to encounter. Jesus is the one whose transforming salvation power they fought for people to experience in their own lives.

When William Booth and the other Salvationist pioneers chose to confront the spiritual and social problems of their day, they were following the example of Jesus, who called his followers to the type of Christian servanthood that demands a responsive compassion to the pains of this world. And they would want today’s Salvationists to follow that same example of Jesus—far more than they would have us follow any particular tactics they employed.

Salvation Army writer Henry Gariepy, writing in Christianity in Action, issued a compelling challenge that the modern-day Army would do well to consider as we celebrate our many bright achievements: ‘Christ ever calls us to participate in what he is doing now, not to a cult of remembrance of what he did yesterday. Christ does not call us to programme, position, promotion … But he calls us to relate to people—in their hurts, crises and spiritual needs. The costly implications of the call deter many from becoming involved. It is not a short-term but a lifetime commitment.’

He continues, ‘The Salvation Army was born as a spiritual revolutionary movement. It was born with a God-given capacity to be unconventional, innovative and daring for God. It was born as the infantry of the militant Christian church; its place is out in the trenches of the battle.’

Any movement is naturally inspired by the boldness and vision of its founders. But we must also consider how to enact their mission in our times. As William Booth himself said, ‘If you cannot go to the rescue one way, go another.’ Tactics change; the beating heart of the mission does not.

Or, as his daughter Florence said at a council of Salvation Army officers in 1922, 10 years after her father’s death: ‘The Salvation Army—we shall never lose that title! It is for you to see that the meaning does not cease to be apt. It is for you to protect that title from becoming as a tombstone over what was once a living and breathing body.’

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by Christina Tyson (c) 'War Cry' magazine, 27 June 2015, pp3.
You can read 'War Cry' at your nearest Salvation Army church or centre, or subscribe through Salvationist Resources.