laupäev, oktoober 23, 2004
Eternal Salvationist principles
We need to rethink some of our strategies
says Captain Stephen Poxon
IN his book Sowing Dragons Captain Geoff Ryan argues that on the day of judgment he will stand before the Lord not just as Geoff Ryan the person but also as Geoff Ryan the Salvation Army officer. There is not, of course, any reference to the actual clothes he might be wearing come judgment day, for I suspect that if Revelation 7:14 is anything to go by white robes will figure much more prominently than blue serge. Ryan’s word-picture deals with the aspect of judgment that is to do with the part of his Christianity known as Salvationism....
For some reason we appear to be under a kind of subtle pressure not actually to be very interested in Salvationism any more....
We have everything to gain by continuing to be practitioners of Salvationism, and everything to lose by diluting the distinctives of Salvationism almost beyond recognition. For whose benefit? Whatever became of shoulders-back, heads-held-high, unapologetic Salvationism?
The Salvation Army has great potential to remain outstanding as a brilliant and envied form of Christianity; potential that quickly would be sacrificed at the altar of conformity. Uniformed Salvationists, for example, can be spotted a mile off. Salvation Army bands can be heard at the same distance. What a sad and irretrievable day it would be if a colourful Army invented by a colourful God voted to surrender its individuality in the name, not of healthy ecumenism or the overdue recognition of outdated, silly sentimentalism, but of a lost spirit and a misguided practice....
We need conviction about what actually constitutes Salvationism in 2004. This needs to become an ongoing debate. Just as a diamond is multifaceted, so too the gem of Salvationism has a number of sides, all equally worthy of tough scrutiny. The side, for example, that is our uniform-wearing. The side that is our music-making.... It is a debate that will require honesty, humility, courage and diplomacy if The Salvation Army is to grapple with its sacred cows and then move with Christ into the future.
Such debate about the distinctives of Salvationism is crucial to our present wellbeing and to our strategy for the future. Any ignorance of our distinctives now will inevitably drain us of our God-given lifeblood. How can we know who we are if we have no idea who we have been? Without clear distinctives of Salvationism we risk losing wholesale respect and recognition in the eyes of the general public. We risk forfeiting God’s particular blessings. We will have little or no social or political impact any more. We will cease to function financially. And we will have slighted the memory of those on whose shoulders we stand. The clarification of Army distinctives can serve as a catalyst by which Salvationism is re-energised and freshly defined.
I don’t understand why we sometimes give the impression of being vaguely embarrassed about being The Salvation Army. Either we have no real idea of the esteem in which the Army is held or we have at some point taken a secret decision to disarm and regroup as a new denomination known as The Church of Nothing in Particular....
Might it actually be the case that if we stood up in front of the world and said clearly what our expectations, terms and conditions are, we might find ourselves as the recipients of a great deal more respect? Criticism and ridicule too, no doubt, but that doesn’t matter....
from Salvationist 23 October 2004 (written by Captain Poxon, not Captain Clark!)
says Captain Stephen Poxon
IN his book Sowing Dragons Captain Geoff Ryan argues that on the day of judgment he will stand before the Lord not just as Geoff Ryan the person but also as Geoff Ryan the Salvation Army officer. There is not, of course, any reference to the actual clothes he might be wearing come judgment day, for I suspect that if Revelation 7:14 is anything to go by white robes will figure much more prominently than blue serge. Ryan’s word-picture deals with the aspect of judgment that is to do with the part of his Christianity known as Salvationism....
For some reason we appear to be under a kind of subtle pressure not actually to be very interested in Salvationism any more....
We have everything to gain by continuing to be practitioners of Salvationism, and everything to lose by diluting the distinctives of Salvationism almost beyond recognition. For whose benefit? Whatever became of shoulders-back, heads-held-high, unapologetic Salvationism?
The Salvation Army has great potential to remain outstanding as a brilliant and envied form of Christianity; potential that quickly would be sacrificed at the altar of conformity. Uniformed Salvationists, for example, can be spotted a mile off. Salvation Army bands can be heard at the same distance. What a sad and irretrievable day it would be if a colourful Army invented by a colourful God voted to surrender its individuality in the name, not of healthy ecumenism or the overdue recognition of outdated, silly sentimentalism, but of a lost spirit and a misguided practice....
We need conviction about what actually constitutes Salvationism in 2004. This needs to become an ongoing debate. Just as a diamond is multifaceted, so too the gem of Salvationism has a number of sides, all equally worthy of tough scrutiny. The side, for example, that is our uniform-wearing. The side that is our music-making.... It is a debate that will require honesty, humility, courage and diplomacy if The Salvation Army is to grapple with its sacred cows and then move with Christ into the future.
Such debate about the distinctives of Salvationism is crucial to our present wellbeing and to our strategy for the future. Any ignorance of our distinctives now will inevitably drain us of our God-given lifeblood. How can we know who we are if we have no idea who we have been? Without clear distinctives of Salvationism we risk losing wholesale respect and recognition in the eyes of the general public. We risk forfeiting God’s particular blessings. We will have little or no social or political impact any more. We will cease to function financially. And we will have slighted the memory of those on whose shoulders we stand. The clarification of Army distinctives can serve as a catalyst by which Salvationism is re-energised and freshly defined.
I don’t understand why we sometimes give the impression of being vaguely embarrassed about being The Salvation Army. Either we have no real idea of the esteem in which the Army is held or we have at some point taken a secret decision to disarm and regroup as a new denomination known as The Church of Nothing in Particular....
Might it actually be the case that if we stood up in front of the world and said clearly what our expectations, terms and conditions are, we might find ourselves as the recipients of a great deal more respect? Criticism and ridicule too, no doubt, but that doesn’t matter....
from Salvationist 23 October 2004 (written by Captain Poxon, not Captain Clark!)
