Ive been thinking a little bit lately and one of the things thats been bantering around my head is The Salvation Army's mission. This is what it is officially:
The Salvation Army, an international movement, is an evangelical part of the universal Christian Church. Its message is based on the Bible. Its ministry is motivated by love for God. Its mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and meet human needs in his name without discrimination.
The early Salvation Army was an evangelical holiness movement. Out of the Salvo's loving hearts they helped people any way they could. Getting people jobs, food, shelter etc and most of all getting people saved. Everything we did came out of their loving hearts. Love for God and love for mankind.
However I believe our mission wasnt to help people, I believe it was to get people saved. Because these early Salvationists were so passionate, so zealous, so committed to Jesus and holiness and evangelising that in their hearts grew a deep love for people. And out of that love came our amazing social work.
If we look at our crest or flag we see a glimpse of our mission. Neither mention social work. Instead they both depict holiness and evangelism. "Blood and Fire" the motto of The Salvation Army is depicted, The Blood of Jesus and the Fire of the Holy Ghost. Our mission was holiness and Salvation, and as said above holiness led to us loving people, then serving people.
Our society is drifting from the truth in the Bible, many no longer believe in hell or salvation only found in faith in Jesus. With a drift to a more liberal side people now see "hell" as sin on earth. Perhaps this has been caused by our western culture of seclurasim, not believing in the supernatural, or anything that cant be 'proved'.
Perhaps the Social Work has become part of our mission. Perhaps with the eternal, supernatural stuff gone many believe they are doing Gods misison of Salvation by simply helping people in the now, and not worrying too much about eternity. It is interesting, that as peoples beliefs have changed we have also lost our doctrine of holiness.
And with the cause of our social work gone (holiness) we have sought to find reasons to include social work into our mission. Perhaps the reason it is in our mission is because we have lost our holiness.
These are only ideas, some of them i dont know how much i agree with. Im not sure what came first, holiness then evangelism and social workk, or holiness and evangelism then social work. From what I have read and heard it was evang and holiness... What are your thoughts people? Are these ideas wrong? Missing something? Spot on?
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Historically, revival = evangelism = social change.
"Revive thy work, O Lord,
Thy mighty arm make bare;
Speak with the voice that wakes the dead,
And make thy people hear,
Revive thy work, O Lord,
While here to thee we bow;
Decend, O gracious Lord. descend!
O come and bless us now." (Albert Midlane)
Catherine Booth wrote in 'Popular Christianity' about the danger of meeting only physical needs and not changing the person's heart:
"It seems to me that the Popular Christianity which would put these things in the place of the Gospel is only another of the clever shams of the devil by which to ruin our race, and to turn aside God's people to broken cisterns, only insuring a more eternal weight of misery at the cost of a little present relief.
"Oh, friends, you who have health, talent, and means, make up your minds on which side you will act. Remember that in the light of that judgment which is coming on, it will appear worse than useless to have expended your energies and powers on doing that kind of good which will NOT LAST, which will, in fact, by itself, serve the enemies purpose rather than otherwise. Either do as Christ commands you, or cease to call your work by His name. Do not let any one delude you with the idea that you are following Christ, or doing that work which is peculiarly His, in contradistinction to all merely human benevolence and earthly salvation, unless you are seeking first His kingdom, both within your own soul and every one else's."
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