VASA CORPS, STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN - GOSPEL CHOIR

Why I am a Salvation Army officer

Recently theRubicon sent out a general call to officers on our mailing list asking them to tell us why they are Salvation Army clergy. The responses were pithy, profound, provocative and, in some cases, troubling. But most of all they were genuine and honest reflections on a career and calling that can both uplift and crush.

The Rubicon served an important role in offering intelligent and challenging thought on many SA matters, many considered controversial. The website ceased posting suddenly. We pray for its return, but until then er are pleased to share some very relevant articles.

Major, male, Australia: I have been an Officer for over 50 years and have spent almost 10 years in post-retirement service. The reason I became and am an officer is related to a personal calling, but before accepting that calling I rejected it and left my homeland - Australia - running from that calling. It was similar to Jonah. I was later asked by a very close friend of mine, a retired commissioner, what I was doing in England. I tried to answer but he stopped me with one word: Officership.

So I returned and commenced all over again to fulfill that calling. Over the years came marriage, 3 sons and almost 12 years in third-world settings. These have all enriched my life in so many ways that are very hard to describe. To share with a family in the death of a new-born infant, to enjoy the sharing of wedding vows, and to stand by the casket of a faithful Soldier being laid to rest are all part of that calling.

There were other things I could have done with my life, but they could not compare to the joy brought to me in His Service. The old question of “would I do it again?” is answered by a resounding YES. Why? Because of the calling of His Spirit. He has blessed, used and given me so many opportunities for service that they are too many to count.

My prayer is in the words of John Gowans, “May others see Jesus in me.”

Captain, male, Canada: I feel called to a full-time ministry role. To say it’s a “calling” is somewhat elitist; all Christians are called to serve and are called to ministry. Not all Christians will enter Salvation Army officership. That’s not an evaluative statement, just a fact. We need teachers and bus drivers; doctors and janitors; pilots and city employees; day-care professionals and lawyers (actually… do we need lawyers?).

I guess I still haven’t answered the question, though. I grew up in The Salvation Army my whole life, so that plays a role. I like The Salvation Army, so that plays a role. I love our focus on spiritual needs and practical needs. We have church buildings and worship meetings; we have food banks and shelters; we have thrift stores and a Bible college.

Captain, female, USA: Right now that seems like a question as dangerous as asking a married couple in a “valley” if they’re happy … I can’t really say that I became an officer to be a faceless bureaucrat stuck in middle management offering virtually no resources, guidance or structure to corps officers and flailing against a micro-managing THQ that is culturally clueless…. I’d like to think that being in a corps or social work ministry would give enough reality to deal with bureaucracy, just didn’t want to have to be bureaucracy - especially without power or resources to make decisions or deal with consequences… but not a reason to give up on officership.

Captain, male, Canada: No matter how cliché it might sound, I would love to answer this question by simply saying: “Because I am called!” While I believe this is true, it would not create an accurate portrait of why I entered this occupation, vocation, and/or ministry.

1. It’s what I know! My parents are officers; I grew up observing them every single day of my life. I witnessed the stress of church conflict, unapproved budgets, and dealing with death and tragedy, but I also took part in the joys of new converts, new building projects, and the wonderful gift of new life. I guess you can say Officership has been engrained in my life and is part of who I am.

2. The Confirmation! Another reason is the number of doors that opened since my saying “yes” to ministry. When I began this journey I was a single lumber salesman who gave little thought to active service. Now I am a married father, who is actively engaged in the fight of my life - the fight against sin.

3. The Rewards! There are many days that bring about stressful and negative situations, but when I look back at each year of ministry, the benefits, rewards, and blessings far outweigh the days that seem like too much!

Major, female, UK: During my training with CAPE, the supervisor asked me why I was a Salvation Army officer. Wow, much food for thought.

I answered that when I was 6 years old I committed my life to serve God in full-time work. I said that if I had been raised a Catholic then I would have been a nun. I did not necessarily have to serve God in The Salvation Army, but I knew that I was born to serve and it did not occur to me to serve in any other denomination. The Salvation Army was all that I knew. No other denomination could have given me the same opportunities that I have experienced. I have never appreciated the control that another officer can have over my life decisions, but God has worked me through the times when I felt I was “in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
My officership has been a career with a calling to ministry and service. That is what God called me to do.

Lt-Colonel, male, Canada: I have been a Salvation Army officer for fifty-seven years (commissioned in l952) - forty-three years as an active officer, and fourteen years as a retired officer. Margaret, my wife, served with me as a partner in ministry for fifty-three years.

I am an officer in The Salvation Army for three good reasons:

First, I had two very good parents who believed so intensely in the ministry of the Salvation Army that they prayed and pleaded with God that their children would follow in their footsteps. When I was very young, I often woke early in the morning to hear my father crying out to God for the salvation of his children. What I have become in life, I owe in a large measure to the influence and passion of my parents.

Secondly, when I was twelve years old, during the visit of a specialling officer to our home, I heard God calling me to be an officer. It buzzed around in my mind for almost ten years, without anyone knowing my hidden secret, and then at the age of twenty, one month before my twenty-first birthday, I rose from my seat in a youth council and said: “Yes, whatever you are asking me to do, I will do it.” I took the leap, not into the dark, but into the arms of a God who had already planned from eternity the destiny of my pilgrimage.

Thirdly, I now can look back on almost six decades and stand in awe of the way he has blessed my life, far beyond anything I could have dreamt or imagined. The thought of committing my life to an organization whose foundational principles were sacrifice and obedience seems unimaginable, but at eighty, with life nearing the end, it seems a very reasonable thing to do (Romans 12:1). If I could have written my own biography, I doubt if I could done it any better.

Life as an officer is not easy, but never dull; not purely selfish, but submissive to the way of Jesus; not “I’ll do it my way” but “not my way Father, but thy will be done.” I never asked for an appointment, nor refused to go where I was sent.

Officership is more about eternity than it is about time, and I believe time is only preparation for eternity. Today I see the journey has been crammed full of challenges, privileges, surprises, opportunities and much more. But the incomparable surprise is in the future: when, by God’s grace I entered into the inheritance which God has prepared for those who love and serve him (1 Peter 1:4, 5). Then we will know that life is not about success in terms of this world’s values but about faithfulness to the known will of God.

Lt. Colonel, male, Congo: Why I am a Salvation Army Officer? What an interesting question! I suppose the first answer is that I felt called to Salvation Army Service. I was in the military during the Korean Conflict at the time of my calling, and I had an overwhelming sense that God wanted me to serve Him. I had little talent to offer and was a first-generation Salvationist, but I felt that service in The Salvation Army was the best thing I could do with my life.

After I was discharged from the Air Force, I entered the “Faithful” Session in 1956 in San Francisco.

I met my wife in training, and over the years, we have had many kinds of appointments and have been privileged to travel and serve the Lord in many un-imagined places. Each appointment has only confirmed that I was just where God wanted me to be. Since retirement, we continue to serve as Coordinator of the Territorial Call to Prayer ministry, Phoenix ARC Chaplains, and the Southwest Divisional Congo Partnership in Missions Coordinator.

Oh, there have been times of disappointment and stress, but God has been faithful, and even though we are now retired we still have the joy of service and sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ. I used to be a bit turned off by those old “fogies” who used to totter up to the pulpit and say, “I’ve never been sorry I heeded God’s Call, etc” Well, I guess now I’m one of them! Would I do it over again? Absolutely! God is just as wonderful now, as all those many years ago. And I’m not finished yet!

HE IS RISEN !

One of my favorite C.S. Lewis quotes is "I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else." This month we celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ: the only person through whom we are reconciled to God.

We as Christians affirm the truth declared in Scripture that not only was Jesus dead and buried but "he was raised on the third day." We marvel at the fact that he was put to death for our sins and raised for our justification (Romans 4:25). Christ's death on the cross is a forcible reminder that our Christian faith is based in historical fact. We need to remember this when our unbelieving friends suggest that reason deals with fact while faith exists only in the realm of personal ideals or internal virtues. The New Testament does not allow for such a distinction, and nothing breaks down the wall of partition between faith and reason more than the reality of the resurrection.

When talking with people about these things, I often point out that if Jesus is not raised from the dead, then Christianity is irrelevant. However, if Christ is alive, then Christianity is supremely relevant! The one thing our Christian faith can't be is "kind of relevant." In his book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis explains that Jesus has not left open to us the option of sidestepping Him as just another great moral teacher. This Easter, let the resurrection be a reminder to all of us that Jesus is the Christ and the only Savior who makes us acceptable to God.

With my love in the Lord Jesus,

Alastair Begg

Take my Life

No Christian rises higher than their prayer life -2-

Salome:  A Place of Rebuke

The second person I want us to consider  is Salome.  She was Mary’s sister, the Mother of James and John, and the wife of Zebedee.  We remember her as the woman who came to Jesus with her sons, asking Him to let them be enthroned on his right hand and His left hand in His Kingdom.  (Matt 20: 20-28)

If we asked Salome what the cross meant to her, I think she could have replied, ‘The Cross to me is a place of rebuke’.  I stand here rebuked because of my selfishness.  I wanted my two sons to have the place of honour.  And yet I stand here seeing Jesus on a cross, not on a throne, and I’m ashamed of myself for praying as I did.’

Salome wanted something grand and glorious for her sons, but she didn’t consider what the answer to her prayer would cost them and her.  Her prayer was born of pride and arrogance, not of humility.  She was concerned only about her sons, not about the glory of the Lord.

Thrones are something we have to deserve, and for Jesus, the way to the throne was through the cross.  First the suffering, then the glory...  Salome had forgotten the cost of reigning with Jesus:  ‘If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him’ (2 Tim 2:12)  If we want to wear the crown, we must be willing to drink the cup.

No Christian rises any higher than his or her prayer life, and sometimes the selfish things we do come from selfish praying.  How can we pray selfishly in the light of the cross?  How can we ask for easy lives when Jesus had to endure so much?  

God delights to honour His servants, and one day we will share in His glory.  But before the glory there must come the suffering.  ‘But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered for a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.’  (1 Pet 5:10)

Major Glad Ljungholm

How Close Would You Come?

If you and I had been in Jerusalem when Jesus was crucified, how near to His cross would we have stood?  It’s one thing to be able to sing in church ‘Jesus, keep me near the cross’, but something else to actually do it.  After all, Jesus was ‘despised and rejected of men’, and it would have taken a great deal of courage and love to stand by His cross.

The Roman Soldiers were standing near the cross because they had to be there; it was their duty.  Four women were there, because they all loved Jesus.  They were there out of devotion, not duty.  They wanted to be with Jesus and so did John, the beloved disciple.

Today, we use the phrase ‘near the cross’ to announce our dedication and devotion to Jesus.  Perhaps there have been times when we have prayed and sung:  ‘Lord, keep me near the cross’, without stopping to think what we are really praying for and whether we are willing to pay the price if that prayer were answered.  The Lord could say to us as He said to James and John, ‘You don’t know what you ask.’  (Mat. 20:22)

Obviously, being near the cross isn’t a matter of physical proximity, but it is a spiritual position, a special relationship to Jesus Christ; a intimate and committed relationship.  To be near the cross means to identify with Christ in His suffering and shame.  It’s what Paul called ‘the fellowship of His sufferings.’  (Phil. 3:10)

This 2012 Easter season I want us to consider again what it means for us to be near the cross and by doing so, look at Mary Magdalene, Salome, Mary the Mother of Jesus, and the Apostle John.

Mary Magdalene – A Place of Redemption

If we were to have walked up to Mary Magdalene that afternoon and asked:  ‘Mary Magdalene, what does it mean to you to be standing near the cross of Jesus?’  I think she would have answered, ‘To me this is a place of redemption.’

Jesus had redeemed Mary Magdalene and set her free from the terrible bondage of demonism.  According to Luke 8:2 and Mark 16:9, she had been delivered from seven demons.

When we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ we go from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to the power of God.  God begins to control and use our lives.  We go from guilt to forgiveness, and from poverty to wealth as an heir of God through faith in Jesus Christ.  This is what Jesus did for Mary Magdalene.

The miracle of redemption is a costly thing.  When Jesus delivered Mary Magdalene from the power of Satan, it cost Him His life.  Standing there at the cross, Mary watched Jesus pay the price of her redemption.

Jesus had to die that we might be set free.  For us to move from the darkness into the light, He had to move from light into the darkness.  For us to be delivered from guilt to forgiveness, Jesus had to be made sin for us.  For Him to make us rich, He had to become the poorest of the poor.

No wonder Mary was standing at the cross!  And that’s not all.  She was at the tomb when Jesus was buried and she was at the tomb early on the resurrection morning.  Mary Magdalene had experienced redemption, and Jesus was precious to her.  As she stood near the cross she could sincerely say, ‘The cross to me is a place of redemption’.

Let us ask ourselves; ‘Is the cross a place of redemption for us?’  ‘Is the cross a place of redemption for you?’

Major Glad Ljungholm

Officer Recruiting.

A few places are doing it great (Army grapevine suggests that US West is shooting for 100 cadets in this year's session). Most places in the developed world aren't. Maybe it's time to check out the old days.

Some note that the application for officership is a long process. Maybe you'd prefer the 1890 application:

http://aleph0.clarku.edu/huxley/CE9/War.html

Some noteworthy questions:

2. What is your height? ............…

15. Have you ever been an open BACKSLIDER?................... If so, how long? ...............….
16. Why?................... Date of your Restoration?...............….
19. Did you ever use Intoxicating Drink?................... If so, how long is it since you entirely gave up its use?...............….
20. Did you ever use Tobacco or Snuff?................... If so, how long is it since you gave up using either?...............….
31. Can you start the SINGING?...............….
43. Do you pledge yourself to spend not less than nine hours every day in the active service of the Army, of which not less than three hours of each week-day shall be spent in VISITATION?...............….
55. Are you willing to come into TRAINING that we may see whether you have the necessary goodness and ability for an Officer in the Salvation Army, and should we conclude that you have not the necessary qualifications, do you pledge yourself to return home and work in your Corps without creating any dissatisfaction?...............….
1. All Candidates are expected to fill up and sign this form themselves, if they can write at all.
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I'm not making fun of any of it (well, maybe the height question). Three are reasons they were so successful back in the day.
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Check that stuff out:
- 63 hour work week minimum;
- 21 hours of visitation;
- confirmation that you won't whinge if you can't cut it;
- no stress if you can't write (as long, as Catherine Booth famously said, as you can kick out demons).
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Stephen Court
Canada