27 June 2015 NZFT War Cry - 150 Years Commemorative Edition

THE

OFFICIAL GAZETTE OF THE SALVATION ARMY NEW ZEALAND, FIJI AND TONGA TERRITORY

ISSUE No. 6620

SATURDAY, 27 JUNE, 2015

Celebrating 150 YEARS Internationally

Price ONE PENNY

02 WarCry 27 June 2015

WAR CRY

The Salvation Army Te Ope Whakaora New Zealand, Fiji & Tonga Territory FOUNDER William Booth GENERAL André Cox TERRITORIAL COMMANDER Robert Donaldson The Salvation Army’s message is based on the Bible. Our ministry is motivated by love for God. Our mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and meet human need in his name without discrimination.

War Cry exists to support and advance The Salvation Army’s message, ministry and mission.

EDITOR

Major Christina Tyson GRAPHIC DESIGN

Lauren Millington, Amber Wilkinson STAFF WRITERS

Ingrid Barratt, Robin Raymond, Vanessa Singh PROOF READING

Major Jill Gainsford COVER

Kieran Rynhart Many of the historical images in this edition were generously provided by The Salvation Army Heritage Centre and Archives (www. salvationarmy.org.nz/archives) and The Salvation Army USA National.

OFFICE Territorial Headquarters, 204 Cuba Street, PO Box 6015, Marion Square, Wellington 6141 Phone (04) 384 5649 Fax (04) 382 0716 Email warcry@nzf.salvationarmy.org www.salvationarmy.org.nz/warcry SUBSCRIPTIONS Salvationist Resources Department Phone (04) 382 0768 Email mailorder@nzf.salvationarmy.org $75 per year within NZ PRINT MANAGEMENT MakeReady | www.makeready.co.nz

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Member of the Australasian Religious Press Association.

All Bible references from the Holy Bible, New International Version, unless otherwise stated.

Articles are copyrighted to The Salvation Army, except where indicated, and may be reprinted only with permission.

Love God and love others It’s a joy for our team to bring you this commemorative edition of War Cry to mark 150 years of The Salvation Army. This week, Salvationists from around the world converge on London to rededicate themselves to the Army’s worldwide mission: to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in his name without discrimination.

Where do you start and end when sharing the history of an organisation such as The Salvation Army? We’ve tried to focus on our earliest pioneers: starting with our founders, William and Catherine Booth, and their deep love for God. We share William Booth’s vision for the lost, and then turn our attention to the arrival of The Salvation Army in New Zealand, under the dynamic leadership of two young men aged just 20 and 21.

Thank you to those who have contributed thoughts and memories. It’s wonderful to sense your gratitude at the influence of the Army in your lives and your communities. Thank you, too, for sharing ideas on how we can face the future. This is something our Territorial Commander also addresses in his own challenge to the Salvationists of New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga.

Our cover is reminiscent of early War Cry covers with their detailed illustrations. But it shows that 150 years after our founding, there are still many people in need of hope in the world. Meeting those needs is our heritage. And this is the part God would still have us play.

The cover price of this edition is ‘one penny’. Of course, in inflation-adjusted terms, a penny is worth a great deal more today than it was in the late 1800s. But, as I used to say when offering the War Cry to hotel patrons in my younger days, ‘Whatever you can afford is fine.’

By the way, the advertisements on page 27 are reproduced from early Salvation Army War Crys.

Our office favourite reads: ‘Is Your Hair Long? Then you are probably a poet …’. I wonder, is your heart captured by love for God and love for others? Then you are probably a Salvationist!

Christina Tyson Editor

Publishing for 132 years

ISSN 0043-0242, Issue 6620 Please pass on or recycle this magazine

salvationarmyNZFijiTonga @salvationarmynz salvationarmynzft

salvationarmy.org.nz

MATTHEW 22:37–39 NIV

MATIU NGĀ 22:37–39

‘Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: “Love your neighbour as yourself.”

‘Ka mea a Īhu ki a ia, “Kia whakapaua tōu ngākau, tōu wairua, tōu hinengaro, ki te aroha ki te Ariki, ki tōu Atua.” Ko te tuatahi tēnei, ko te kupu nui. He rite anō te tuarua ki tēnei, “Kia aroha koe ki tōu hoa tata, ānō ko koe.” ’

Commemorative Edition | 03

BY CHRISTINA TYSON his 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-in-law 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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THE ARMY’S FOUNDERS In 1865, in England, a new Christian missionary movement came into being. It was born of the conviction of a Methodist couple, William and Catherine Booth, that the churches were failing to bring the gospel of God’s love to the large masses of people—the poor and working classes —and that new methods were called for to carry out Jesus’ Great Commission (of Matthew 28:19).

William Booth

William Booth was born in Nottingham, England, on 10 April 1829.

Writing about his father, William said, ‘My father was a Grab, a Get. He had been born into poverty. He determined to grow rich; and he did. He grew very rich, because he lived without God and simply worked for money; and when he lost it all, his heart broke with it, and he died miserably.’

When William was 13, his father sent him to work as an apprentice in a pawnbroker’s shop situated in the poorest part of Nottingham. It was through this work that William’s social conscience was stirred and he became aware of the plight of the poor.

In September that same year, his father Samuel became ill and died, though not before making a death-bed repentance. Shortly after, his mother had to leave the family home for a small shop in one of the poor quarters of Nottingham where she earned a meagre income selling toys, needles, cotton and the like.

It was at this time that William started attending Broad Street Wesley Chapel (Methodist), and in 1844 he had a conversion experience. In 1846, he was impressed by the preaching of the Reverend James Caughey from America and David Greenbury from Scarborough. Encouraged by Greenbury, he joined a group of fellow believers who preached in the streets.

In 1849, William moved to London to find work, briefly returning to pawnbroking but also joining a chapel in Clapham.

Through this church he was introduced to his future wife, Catherine Mumford. After becoming an evangelist in the Methodist New Connexion, the couple married on 16 July 1855.

After a brief honeymoon, William was appointed to preaching circuits in Halifax and Gateshead. But, finding this structure restrictive and feeling himself called to itinerant evangelism, he resigned in 1861.

In 1865, William and Catherine moved to London. It was here that William commenced his first open-air evangelistic campaign in Whitechapel, preaching in a tent. This ministry led to the formation of ‘The Christian Mission’, with William as its leader.

In 1878, The Christian Mission was renamed ‘The Salvation Army’. ‘General Booth’, as he was now known, summed up the

purpose of this body by saying, ‘We are a salvation people—this is our speciality—getting saved and keeping saved, and then getting somebody else saved.’ But there was to be frequent opposition to the Army’s methods and principles in its early years.

Catherine’s ‘promotion to Glory’ on 4 October 1890 left a significant void in William’s life. In the same month, he published the major social manifesto, In Darkest England and the Way Out. This explored wide-ranging ideas, such as providing hostels, employment centres, and helping young men learn agricultural trades before emigrating to the colonies.

William then turned back to preaching and evangelism, with day-to-day administration of the Army passing to his oldest son, Bramwell. The years that followed were difficult ones for William.

Three of his children left The Salvation Army and one died in a train crash.

In August 1904, William, always eager to make use of new technology, commenced his first motor tour, travelling from Land’s William Booth came across a group of missionaries holding an openair meeting outside the Blind Beggar Pub in East London (left).

When asked if anyone wanted to speak, he stepped forward.

Returning home to his wife, Catherine, he declared, ‘Kate, I have found my destiny!’

Commemorative Edition | 05

… from the day I got the poor of London on my heart and caught a vision of all Jesus Christ could do with them, on that day I made up my mind that God would have all there was of William Booth.

End to Aberdeen. Six more motor tours followed. In the spring of 1905, en route to Australia and New Zealand, he visited the Holy Land. On his return he was honoured by being given the Freedom of the cities of London and Nottingham. Amongst many other honours, Booth was also awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Civil Law from Oxford University.

Though his eyesight started failing at this stage in his life, it didn’t prevent him from conducting further evangelistic campaigns, with his last trip abroad being to Norway in 1912.

On 17 August 1912, The War Cry reported that the General was ‘not so well’. Three days later, on 20 August at 10:13 pm, ‘the old warrior finally laid down his sword’.

The body of the General lay pavilioned in state on the Friday, Saturday and Monday after his passing, with 150,000 griefstricken people paying their respects. Thirty-five thousand people attended his public memorial service, including representatives of

King George V and Queen Mary.

The funeral was conducted by the new General, Bramwell Booth, on 29 August. The heart of London stood still for nearly four hours as the lengthy procession of 7000 Salvationists, including 40 bands, wended its five-mile way through densely crowded streets.

When asked for the secret of his success, William Booth said, ‘I will tell you the secret. God has had all there was of me. There have been men with greater brains than I, men with greater opportunities. But from the day I got the poor of London on my heart and caught a vision of all Jesus Christ could do with them, on that day I made up my mind that God would have all there was of William Booth. And if there is anything of power in the Salvation Army today, it is because God has had all the adoration of my heart, all the power of my will, and all the influence of my life.’

William Booth’s legacy at the time of his death was a Salvation Army that numbered 15,875 officers and cadets, in 58 lands.

HOW DID THE SALVATION ARMY GET ITS NAME? In May 1878, Booth summoned his son, Bramwell, and his good friend George Railton to read a proof of the Christian Mission’s annual report. At the top of the report was the headline: ‘THE CHRISTIAN MISSION is A VOLUNTEER ARMY.’ Bramwell strongly objected to this wording. He was not a volunteer; he was compelled to do God’s work. So, in a flash of inspiration, Booth crossed out ‘Volunteer’ and wrote ‘Salvation’. The Salvation Army was born!

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Catherine Booth

Catherine Booth was born in 1829 in Derbyshire, to Sarah and John Mumford, a family of Methodist association.

Catherine was home educated by her mother, who imparted a strong sense of religious and moral conviction in her daughter, instilling the values of domestic piety, selflessness and the need to submit to God’s will. It is evident from Catherine’s adult life that these values remained centrally important to her and guided her actions in public and in private; they encouraged dedication to her duties as a wife and mother of eight and her commitment to The Salvation Army.

From an early age, Catherine attended Wesleyan Methodist classes and was a supporter of the temperance movement. She was also an avid reader. The works of John Wesley and American revivalist Charles Finney particularly influenced Catherine—they inspired her with the ideas of holiness theology, the value of female ministry, and the necessity of seeking new ways of presenting the truths of the gospels.

Catherine and William shared a passionate belief in the need for reform of the Church’s outreach to the ‘unsaved’. However, while Catherine believed in the potential of female ministry as a powerful tool to reach new audiences, William was initially opposed to women preaching. His opposition served to motivate Catherine to refine her arguments. She utilised an interpretation of the Bible that supported equality and challenged the precept that it was unfeminine for women to preach.

Catherine first stepped up to preach on Sunday, 28 May 1860, astonishing both the congregation and her husband. She walked up the aisle as William ended his sermon and told him she wanted to preach. Later, she recalled how an inner voice taunted her, ‘You will look like a fool and have nothing to say.’ Catherine decided this was the Devil’s voice. ‘That’s just the point,’ she retorted, ‘I have never yet been willing to be a fool for Christ. Now I will be one.’

Catherine’s sermon was so impressive that William changed his mind about female preachers. She soon developed a reputation as an outstanding speaker and won many converts to Christ. However, many Christians were outraged by her actions. As Catherine pointed out, at that time it was believed that a woman’s place was in the home, and ‘any respectable woman who raised her voice in

Whether the church will allow women to speak in her assemblies can only be a question of time; common sense, public opinion, and the blessed results of female agency will force her to give an honest and impartial rendering of the solitary text on which she grounds her prohibitions. Then, when the true light shines, and God’s words take the place of men’s traditions, the Doctor of Divinity who shall teach that Paul commands woman to be silent when God’s Spirit urges her to speak, will be regarded much the same as we should regard an astronomer who should teach that the sun is the earth’s satellite.

CATHERINE BOOTH, Female Ministry

public risked grave censure’. A verse of a song published in The War Cry in 1880, encourages female Salvationists not to give up in the face of such criticism:

Take heart Sister Soldiers, to Jesus be true, There’s work and a place in the battle for you, Fear not when the lip of derision is curled Keep fighting and help us to conquer the world.

The value of female ministry was proclaimed by The Salvation Army and a statement regarding sexual equality in ministry was published in The Salvation Army’s Orders and Regulations. For many Salvationists, Catherine’s legacy is this success in advancing an expanded public role for women in church life.

Catherine is also celebrated for her commitment to social reform. She is known for her advocacy of better conditions and pay for women workers in London’s sweated labour, notably in the match-making industry.

Toward the end of her life, Catherine was ill with cancer and on 4 October 1890 was ‘promoted to Glory’. She is affectionately remembered by Salvationists as ‘the Army Mother’.

PRIMARY SOURCE: The Salvation Army International Heritage Centre

Commemorative Edition | 07

BY PHIL NEEDHAM

The Salvation Army is Born After repeated attempts to be appointed permanently by the Methodist New Connexion to evangelistic work with the masses, the Booths saw no other alternative outside a courageous embarking on their own, under God’s leading.

Where God led them was the slums of London’s East End. This was the place—more than any other in that great city—of human suffering, exploitation, degradation and immorality. This was London’s embarrassment, a festering sore that exposed the social and spiritual diseases of the whole body of the metropolis.

This was the place where the church was surprisingly scarce, given its prominence otherwise in Victorian society—as if it had something on its hands here which it did not quite know how to handle. This was where The Salvation Army began.

The beginning, however, was not the same as the ending.

The Booths intended the establishment of an evangelistic organisation for converting the masses to Christ and referring new converts to local churches for membership. But local congregations were not always prepared to accept converted ruffians, riff-raff, derelicts and prostitutes as full members. All they offered, in many churches, were crude benches in the back reserved for those who could not afford pew rental and needed to be kept separate from the more civilised, dues-paying members.

The Victorian church had its own version of the Pauline ‘dividing wall of hostility’ (Ephesians 2:14). The Booth’s impoverished converts could see the wall very clearly, and feel it very deeply.

They were not wanted.

[And so] the Booths found themselves inundated with Christians without a fellowship. Their Salvationist movement was now standing at a new crossroads. An important decision had to be made: either to continue working with existing congregations to find a way for converts of humble estate to be accepted and trained as members, or to embark on yet another significant departure by allowing this new evangelistic movement to also be the permanent spiritual home of those converts who felt led to make it such and who wanted to become involved in its mission.

Based on experience, the first option seemed unpromising. The choice—made prayerfully and wisely—was to be the second.

The Booths now had a church on their hands. A very unchurchly church, to be sure; a church that did not like to be called a ‘church’ (remember, ‘church’ was associated with bad memories, discrimination, rejection), but a church that bore all the essential marks of the body of Christ. Those whom the

respectable Victorian churches were unable to embrace, the Salvationists welcomed home. And in this new fellowship of believers, sharing a common experience and united in a common mission, the Lord found more rock upon which to build his church.

The very reason for the Army’s emergence in Victorian England and its consequent rapid spread around the world is a clarion reminder to the churches of their calling in the world.

The Army came into being because—allowing for some glorious exceptions—by and large, the churches were not carrying out their mission to the poor and dispossessed. If one of the signs that the Kingdom had come in Jesus Christ was that the poor had the gospel preached to them (Matthew 11:5), the Victorian churches had forgotten. The Army reminded them.

The social, economic and spiritual alienation of the poor masses cried out to the church for response, but few heard.

The Salvation Army stands today as a reminder. Only now it needs to remind itself. It could lose its own missionary heartbeat.

It could forget that the sole reason for its existence is the world for whom Christ died. Nothing would be more pale and pathetic than a missionary movement without a mission.

Each generation provides its peculiar challenges to the life and mission of the church. In responding to those challenges, the church searches the scriptures and its faith and inevitably rediscovers aspects of its life and calling that need to be taken more seriously in the light of the present situation.

The Salvation Army came into being in an era when the urban church was, for the most part, neglecting its missionary calling.

The social, economic and spiritual alienation of the poor masses cried out to the church for response, but few heard. The early Salvationists were among the few who did. The cry drove them to rediscover the pre-eminence of mission in the work of the New Testament church, and out of this rediscovery The Salvation Army came into being.

SOURCE: Community in Mission: A Salvationist Ecclesiology by Phil Needham

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IN THE PUBLIC EYE In the early years of its history, the novelty of Salvationist methods shocked, even horrified, the British public.

It was not so much that William and Catherine Booth had commenced a ‘soup to salvation’ mission in East London, as the fact that they had departed so audaciously from accepted religious practices. An army of religionists? Bands, drums, flags and tambourines? Marches through the streets? Songs that sounded like music-hall ditties? All-night prayer and praise meetings?

Female preachers, still in their teens? Orders and Regulations?

Gutter and Garrett Brigades? Safety-match factories? A poor man’s insurance society?

Salvationists were nothing if not brash; they were noisy, insistent and ready to perform cartwheels for the Lord. Eyebrows were raised, public denunciations were written, sermons were preached against them, rotten eggs (and worse) were thrown, and Skeleton Armies smashed the Salvationists’ brass instruments and sometimes their heads. But what William and Catherine Booth knew was this: if men cared enough to fight against a new idea or institution, many more would care enough to support it.

It would not be unfair to say that, in some instances, The Salvation Army courted public confrontation. To stay within four walls and merely preach against the evils of alcoholism would be totally ineffectual. It was necessary to confront the publicans, outside their gin shops, and shame them and the English public into an awareness of the problems caused by drink. We might describe that kind of public engagement as the Army’s ‘intentional’ warfare. It was initiated sometimes to promote the Army’s work and sometimes as the only means of accomplishing that work. It certainly drew a great deal of hostile commentary, even physical abuse, but it did bring thousands into the Army’s fold and eventually gained many outside supporters for its work.

It was the informality and spontaneity of Army meetings that impressed most supportive commentators, and which they thought was one of the secrets of the Army’s astounding success. In Red Cross Knights of the Salvation Army (1884), Agnes Maule Machar marvelled at the ‘unconventionality’ of an Army meeting and how adept the leaders (often young women ‘thrilling with electric energy and personal magnetism’) were at keeping things ‘red hot’, with an appropriate chorus after an ‘impromptu’ testimony, a pithy remark between songs, and ‘hymns appropriate to the testimony’.

But the greatest ‘charm of these meetings’, she felt, ‘and that which secures for them perpetual freshness and attractiveness, keeping their halls filled, night after night, is contained in their personal testimonies of the converts in the “great salvation” from sin and its bondage … That young men and women, but a short time before as careless and giddy, as reckless or dissipated as any of their companions, should have the courage and power to stand up before a crowded assemblage of their own class, and declare

The satirical magazine Puck enjoyed poking fun at the Salvationists and William Booth.

what a change the accepted love of God has wrought in their own hearts and lives, appears to most of the hearers little short of miraculous.’

Most observers believed the immediate use to which the Army put its converts was good for the convert and practical for the Army’s work. Others noted the Army’s ‘watchful care’ over its new converts, the ‘sense of belonging’ which every convert experienced, and the astuteness of William Booth’s notion that his best witnesses were other people’s newly-converted neighbours.

There was a single characteristic of Salvationism that could not go unnoticed: The Salvation Army was more attractive to the common people than any other religious movement of its day. In the first four years of its existence, almost 1500 converts were enrolled as soldiers and about 800 others had committed themselves to full-time officership. In 1883, its officers were holding more than 6000 services a week, at some of which (on Sunday evenings especially) they could expect as many as 2000 people to hear their ‘salvation’ messages. Some, no doubt, were drawn by the publicity, seeking perhaps to find out for themselves the truth of the matter. And a few may have been so favourably impressed that they, too, became a part of the newest religious experience in Britain, enlisting as soldiers in The Salvation Army.

SOURCE: The Salvation Army and the Public by R.G. Moyles (abridged from Introduction and Essays One and Three)

Commemorative Edition | 09

FIGHTING TO LIFT THE AGE OF CONSENT The law in the early 1880s, said a girl of 13 was legally competent to consent to her own seduction. Girls under eight were not allowed to give evidence against their abusers—thought too young to understand the oath.

Josephine Butler, a women’s rights campaigner, wrote to Florence Booth, wife of the Army’s Chief of the Staff, Bramwell Booth, about the sale of young girls into prostitution.

Florence, as pioneer leader of the Army’s women’s social work, had an insight into the lives of girls working as prostitutes. Bramwell had also seen their desperate situations. He sought out W.T. Stead, editor of the Pall Mall Gazette.

W.T. Stead was horrified to hear that young girls were being bought and sold. He investigated and published his findings in July 1885 under the

headline ‘The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon’. His expose into child prostitution and the abduction, procurement and sale of young English virgins to Continental ‘pleasure palaces’ played a major part in lifting the age of consent from 13 to 16 in 1885.

Prior to publishing, the Pall Mall Gazette ran this warning: ‘All those who are squeamish, and all those who are prudish, and all those who would prefer to live in a fool’s paradise of imaginary innocence and purity, selfishly oblivious to the horrible realities which torment those whose lives are passed in the London inferno, will do well not to read the Pall Mall Gazette of Monday and the three following days.’

However, a vital part of the plan involved its agitators in what could technically be considered the ‘abduction’ of a 13-year-old, Eliza Armstrong,

to demonstrate that a girl of this age could be bought from her parents, sold into prostitution and transported to the continent. For this alleged crime, Stead and his accomplices were ordered to face the court. Their trial began at the Old Bailey on 23 October 1885. Bramwell Booth was found not guilty. Rebecca Jarrett, a recently converted ex-brothel-keeper who had played a major role in the plot, was sentenced to six months in prison. W.T. Stead was sentenced to three months in Holloway Jail, even though the jury had recommended mercy.

The lot of the working class was a constant struggle with poverty. This cartoon from Punch illustrates the landlords’ greed, the parents’ despair and their children’s miserable living conditions.

FIGHTING FOR WORKERS In 1891, William Booth bought a derelict factory, fitted it with large windows and wash basins, installed machinery and set people to work making safety matches.

During the latter part of the 19th century many workers (mostly women) in the match-making industry suffered from necrosis, or ‘phossy-jaw’. This form of bone cancer was caused by contact with the poisonous material used for the match heads. The sides of people’s faces turned green and then black and discharged a foulsmelling pus. Death would follow. Young girls carrying boxes of matches on their heads were bald by age 15.

A non-toxic substance had been invented by the Swedes, but the rate of take-up had stalled. And so The Salvation Army became matchmakers.

The Army’s match boxes carried the banner, ‘Lights in Darkest England’. William Booth found agents all over the country and urged people to shun poisonous matches for the sake of the workers. His competitors felt the pressure and began producing their own safety matches.

Once necrosis was wiped out, William Booth shut down his match factory.

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PERSECUTION The Salvation Army’s expansion brought it to the attention of a wider audience—and not all of this attention was appreciative.

‘Persecution,’ William wrote to his officers, ‘ensures publicity.

Persecution has done more to make a corps known in a town district in one day than would have been done in 12 months without it.’

A number of pamphlets appeared criticising the early Salvation Army, including ‘Social Diseases and Worse Remedies’ by biologist Thomas Henry Huxley. He attacked The Salvation Army’s ‘religious fanaticism’ and the autocracy of the General, but the pamphlet’s main criticism was of Booth’s ‘In Darkest England’ scheme.

In the 1870s, small, locally organised groups began to organise themselves against the spread of the Army—their

attacks on Salvationists were often treated leniently by police and magistrates. Some of these called themselves ‘Skeleton Armies’, and their attacks on Salvationists, such as singing obscene versions of Salvation Army songs, throwing rotten food or daubing meeting halls with tar, often formed part of a tradition of ritualised protest designed to humiliate rather than to physically injure.

Violence was often directed at instruments and flags.

During the 1880s, a number of local authorities came to regard Salvation Army openair meetings as obstructions of public space, especially in the resort towns of the English south coast, where publicans

The captain pictured here found his life spared when the pistol pointed at him misfired, 1900.

and hoteliers felt the Army’s open-air meetings and brass bands would damage the tourist trade. Salvation Army officers were instructed not to pay fines and many were imprisoned.

These legal challenges to The Salvation Army went handin-hand with more serious

outbreaks of violence. Local authorities and magistrates tacitly sanctioned or even openly supported violence against Salvationists. Riots occurred at Exeter, Worthing and Hastings, where Captain Susannah Beaty later died from injuries she received.

Street, Wellington, on Sunday afternoons. Eventually, Kim decided to return to China to preach the gospel in the district where he was born. He was warned of the turbulent state of the country, with large areas under the ruthless control of warlords, but Kim persisted. News filtered back that he had gathered a group of young men who had been imprisoned several times for continuing their Christian witness.

News ceased for two years, but then confirmation came from Salvation Army headquarters in China that Kim

Lock and his companions had been taken outside the village and beheaded after stoutly refusing to deny Christ.

New Zealand Salvation Army officer Commissioner Sir Dean Goffin told an interesting sequel to the story of Kim Lock’s martyrdom. In 1957, while serving as Music Secretary in Britain, he led meetings at Oxford Corps.

Noticing some Chinese children in the congregation, Goffin told them that as a boy he had been in the meeting when Kim Lock had made his decision to follow Jesus. He went on to tell the story of Kim

Martyred in China

Kim Lock was a young Chinese man who wandered into a Salvation Army meeting in Wellington one Sunday evening, and was led to make a decision to follow Jesus by

Ernie Robinson, a colourful character who had been stationed in Chinese waters in the Royal Navy, and knew a smattering of the language.

Laboriously taught the rudiments of English by Ernie and his friend ‘Dad’ Hawker, Kim Lock was enrolled, with 47 others, as a Salvation Army soldier at the 42nd anniversary of the Wellington City Corps in June 1925.

It became a common and stirring sight to see Kim witnessing in the open air to groups of Chinese in their own language in the Chinese quarter of Haining

Commemorative Edition | 11

Opposition was also met in other countries. Swiss authorities suspended The Salvation Army in 1883, and William Booth’s daughter, Kate, was briefly imprisoned.

Violence was not uncommon, and a number of Salvationists were martyred, including Louis Jeanmonod who was murdered guarding a Salvation Army meeting in Paris on 4 February 1886.

The Salvation Army was banned outright by antireligious Marxist regimes in China (1952) and Russia (1923). Although The Salvation Army was invited back into Russia in 1991 following the collapse of the USSR, it was subsequently banned as a ‘paramilitary organisation’ due to its uniforms and militaristic language. This decision was overturned by the European Court of Human Rights in 2006.

SOURCE: The Salvation Army International Heritage Centre

The Salvation Army Today We now serve in 126 countries. Recent additions: Cambodia and Greenland (2012); the Solomon Islands, Togo, and the Turks and Caicos Islands (2011); Nicaragua, Sierra Leone and the United Arab Emirates (2010); Nepal (2009); and Kuwait and Mongolia (2008).

603 (capacity: 148,339) Day centres for the elderly 106 (capacity: 4037) Drop-in centres for youth 116 (capacity: 190,550) Community day care centres

Corps-based community development programmes Homeless hostels and emergency lodges Addiction dependency programmes Homes for children The aged Street children Mothers & babies Refuges

11,570 (number of

beneficiaries: 1,891,877)

817 (capacity: 43,678) 367 (capacity: 38,612) 222 (capacity: 9913) 158 (capacity: 11,309) 24 (capacity: 471) 41 (capacity: 1163) 65 (capacity: 2140)

1,174,913 Junior soldiers 385,994 Adherent members 169,491 Officers 26,497 Senior soldiers

Active Retired Cadets

17,193 9304

1099 107,918 15,636

Employees Corps

19 Maternity hospitals 26 Hospice care 9 Specialist hospitals and clinics 42 Mobile clinics/health centres 140 Doctors/medics 3539 General hospitals

Health education programmes (HIV/Aids, etc)

89

976 Schools (primary to secondary) 1713 Colleges and universities 11 Schools for blind students 20 Schools for disabled students 26 Kindergarten/pre-primary

SOURCE: The Salvation Army Year Book 2015, statistics as at 01.01.14

Lock’s martyrdom.

At the close of the meeting, an elderly officer, Brigadier James Gilman, told Goffin that in 1928, as a young captain in China, he had been sent to the village to investigate the story of the death of Kim Lock and his friends. Gilman had talked to many Chinese who verified that Kim Lock and his friends had indeed heroically sealed their Christian witness with their blood.

SOURCE: The Salvation Army Heritage Centre and Archives (New Zealand, Fiji & Tonga Territory)

What a strange name! What does it mean? Just what it says: a number of people joined together after the fashion of an army, and therefore it is an army, and an army for the purpose of carrying salvation through the land.

WILLIAM BOOTH, Salvation Soldiery

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BY GENERAL WILLIAM BOOTH

Vision Lost

William Booth’s vision captures his deep concern for those lost without God—and his great passion for Christians to get involved in God’s rescue mission.

On one of my recent journeys, as I gazed from the coach window, I was led into a train of thought concerning the condition of the multitudes around me. They were living carelessly in the most open and shameless rebellion against God, without a thought for their eternal welfare. As I looked out of the window, I seemed to see them all … millions of people all around me given up to their drink and their pleasure, their dancing and their music, their business and their anxieties, their politics and their troubles. Ignorant—wilfully ignorant in many cases—and in other instances knowing all about the truth and not caring at all. But all of them, the whole mass of them, sweeping on and up in their blasphemies and devilries to the Throne of God. While my mind was thus engaged, I had a vision.

I saw a dark and stormy ocean. Over it the black clouds hung heavily; through them every now and then vivid lightening flashed and loud thunder rolled, while the winds moaned, and the waves rose and foamed, towered and broke, only to rise and foam, tower and break again.

In that ocean I thought I saw myriads of poor human beings plunging and floating, shouting and shrieking, cursing and struggling and drowning; and as they cursed and screamed they rose and shrieked again, and then some sank to rise no more.

And I saw out of this dark angry ocean, a mighty rock that rose up with its summit towering high above the black clouds that overhung the stormy sea. And all around the base of this great rock I saw a vast platform. Onto this platform, I saw with delight a number of the poor struggling, drowning wretches continually climbing out of the angry ocean. And I saw that a few of those who were already safe on the platform were helping the poor creatures still in the angry waters to reach the place of safety.

On looking more closely I found a number of those who had been rescued, industriously working and scheming by ladders, ropes, boats and other means more effective, to deliver the poor strugglers out of the sea. Here and there were some who actually jumped into the water, regardless of the consequences in their passion to ‘rescue the perishing’. And I hardly know which gladdened me the most: the sight of the poor drowning people climbing onto the rocks reaching a place of safety, or

the devotion and self-sacrifice of those whose whole being was wrapped up in the effort for their deliverance.

As I looked on, I saw that the occupants of that platform were quite a mixed company. That is, they were divided into different ‘sets’ or classes, and they occupied themselves with different pleasures and employments. But only a very few of them seemed to make it their business to get the people out of the sea.

In that ocean I thought I saw myriads of poor human beings plunging and floating, shouting and shrieking, cursing and struggling and drowning; and as they cursed and screamed they rose and shrieked again, and then some sank to rise no more.

But what puzzled me most was the fact that though all of them had been rescued at one time or another from the ocean, nearly everyone seemed to have forgotten all about it. Anyway, it seemed the memory of its darkness and danger no longer troubled them at all. And what seemed equally strange and perplexing to me was that these people did not even seem to have any care—that is any agonizing care—about the poor perishing ones who were struggling and drowning right before their very eyes … many of whom were their own husbands and wives, brothers and sisters and even their own children.

Now, this astonishing unconcern could not have been the result of ignorance or lack of knowledge, because they lived right there in full sight of it all and even talked about it sometimes.

Many even went regularly to hear lectures and sermons in which the awful state of these poor drowning creatures was described.

I have already said that the occupants of this platform were engaged in different pursuits and pastimes. Some of them were

Commemorative Edition | 13

… these people did not even seem to have any care —that is any agonizing care—

about the poor perishing ones who were struggling and drowning right before their very eyes … absorbed day and night in trading and business in order to make gain, storing up their savings in boxes, safes and the like.

Many spent their time in amusing themselves with growing flowers on the side of the rock, others in painting pieces of cloth or in playing music, or in dressing themselves up in different styles and walking about to be admired. Some occupied themselves chiefly in eating and drinking, others were taken up with arguing about the poor drowning creatures that had already been rescued.

But the thing to me that seemed the most amazing was that those on the platform to whom He called, who heard His voice and felt that they ought to obey it—at least they said they did —those who confessed to love Him much were in full sympathy with Him in the task He had undertaken—who worshipped Him or who professed to do so—were so taken up with their trades and professions, their money saving and pleasures, their families and circles, their religions and arguments about it, and their preparation for going to the mainland, that they did not listen to the cry that came to them from this Wonderful Being who had Himself gone down into the sea. Anyway, if they heard it they did not heed it. They did not care. And so the multitude went on right before them struggling and shrieking and drowning in the darkness.

And then I saw something that seemed to me even more strange than anything that had gone on before in this strange vision. I saw that some of these people on the platform whom this Wonderful Being had called to, wanting them to come and help Him in His difficult task of saving these perishing creatures, were always praying and crying out to Him to come to them!

Some wanted Him to come and stay with them, and spend His time and strength in making them happier. Others wanted Him to come and take away various doubts and misgivings they had concerning the truth of some letters He had written them.

Some wanted Him to come and make them feel more secure on the rock—so secure that they would be quite sure that they should never slip off again into the ocean. Numbers of others wanted Him to make them feel quite certain that they would really get off the rock and onto the mainland someday: because,

as a matter of fact, it was well known that some had walked so carelessly as to lose their footing, and had fallen back again into the stormy waters.

So these people used to meet and get up as high on the rock as they could, and looking towards the mainland (where they thought the Great Being was) they would cry out, ‘Come to us!

Come and help us!’ And all the while He was down (by His Spirit) among the poor struggling, drowning creatures in the angry deep, with His arms around them trying to drag them out, and looking up—oh! so longingly but all in vain—to those on the rock, crying to them with His voice all hoarse from calling, ‘Come to Me! Come, and help Me! And then I understood it all. It was plain enough. The sea was the ocean of life—the sea of real, actual human existence.

That lightening was the gleaming of piercing truth coming from Jehovah’s Throne. That thunder was the distant echoing of the wrath of God. Those multitudes of people shrieking, struggling and agonising in the stormy sea, was the thousands and thousands of poor harlots and harlot-makers, of drunkards and drunkard makers, of thieves, liars, blasphemers and ungodly people of every kindred, tongue and nation.

Oh, what a black sea it was! And oh, what multitudes of rich and poor, ignorant and educated were there. They were all so unalike in their outward circumstances and conditions, yet all alike in one thing—all sinners before God—all held by, and holding onto some iniquity, fascinated by some idol, the slaves of some devilish lust, and ruled by the foul fiend from the bottomless pit!

‘All alike in one thing?’ No, all alike in two things—not only the same in their wickedness but, unless rescued, the same in their sinking, sinking … down, down, down … to the same terrible doom. That great sheltering rock represented Calvary, the place where Jesus had died for them. And the people on it were those who had been rescued. The way they used their energies, gifts and time represented the occupations and amusements of those who professed to be saved from sin and hell—followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. The handful of fierce, determined ones, who were risking their own lives in saving the perishing were true

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My friends in Christ, you are rescued from the waters, you are on the rock, He is in the dark sea calling on you to come to Him and help Him. Will you go? soldiers of the cross of Jesus. That Mighty Being who was calling to them from the midst of the angry waters was the Son of God, ‘the same yesterday, today and forever’, who is still struggling and interceding to save the dying multitudes about us from this terrible doom of damnation, and whose voice can be heard above the music, machinery and noise of life, calling on the rescued to come and help Him save the world.

My friends in Christ, you are rescued from the waters, you are on the rock; He is in the dark sea calling on you to come to Him and help Him. Will you go? Look for yourselves. The surging sea of life, crowded with perishing multitudes rolls up to the very spot on which you stand. Leaving the vision, I now come to speak of the fact—a fact that is as real as the Bible, as real as the Christ who hung upon the cross, as real as the judgment day will be, and as real as the heaven and hell that will follow it.

Look! Don’t be deceived by appearances—men and things are not what they seem. All who are not on the rock are in the sea!

Look at them from the standpoint of the great White Throne, and what a sight you have! Jesus Christ, the Son of God is, through His Spirit, in the midst of this dying multitude, struggling to save them. And He is calling on you to jump into the sea—to go right away to His side and help Him in the holy strife. Will you jump?

That is, will you go to His feet and place yourself absolutely at His disposal?

A young Christian once came to me and told me that for some time she had been giving the Lord her profession and prayers and money, but now she wanted to give Him her life. She wanted to go right into the fight. In other words, she wanted to go to His assistance in the sea. As when a man from the shore, seeing another struggling in the water, takes off those outer garments that would hinder his efforts and leaps to the rescue, so will you who still linger on the bank, thinking and singing and praying about the poor perishing souls, lay aside your shame, your pride, your cares about other people’s opinions, your love of ease and all the selfish loves that have kept you back for so long, and rush to the rescue of this multitude of dying men and women.

Does the surging sea look dark and dangerous? Unquestionably it is so.

There is no doubt that the leap for you, as for everyone who takes it, means difficulty and scorn and suffering. For you it may mean more than this. It may mean death. He who beckons you from the sea, however, knows what it will mean—and knowing, He still calls to you and bids to you to come.

You must do it! You cannot hold back. You have enjoyed yourself in Christianity long enough. You have had pleasant feelings, pleasant songs, pleasant meetings, pleasant prospects.

There has been much of human happiness, much clapping of hands and shouting of praises—very much of heaven on earth.

Now then, go to God and tell Him you are prepared as much as necessary to turn your back upon it all, and that you are willing to spend the rest of your days struggling in the midst of these perishing multitudes, whatever it may cost you.

You must do it. With the light that is now broken in upon your mind and the call that is now sounding in your ears, and the beckoning hands that are now before your eyes, you have no alternative. To go down among the perishing crowds is your duty.

Your happiness from now on will consist in sharing their misery, your ease in sharing their pain, your crown in helping them to bear their cross, and your heaven in going into the very jaws of hell to rescue them.

Now, what will you do?

Illustrations: Martin Wilkinson

Commemorative Edition | 15

The Salvation Army was brought to New Zealand by Captain George Pollard (20) and Lieutenant Edward Wright (21) in 1883.

New Zealand was in the grip of a severe depression, with high rates of unemployment, poverty and crime. Hearing of The Salvation Army’s success combating similar conditions in England, Miss Arabella Valpy, the daughter of one of the city’s richest and most influential pioneers, wrote to ‘Mr Booth’ and asked him to send Salvationists ‘to the rescue of perishing souls in this respectable and highly favoured city’. She sent a £200 bank draft to cover expenses. Her letter reached William Booth at almost the same time as a similar letter from John Brame, an Auckland printer.

Pollard and Wright were given 24 hours to decide whether to pioneer this work. They agreed and were farewelled at a ‘War Demonstration’ in the Exeter Hall, London, on 28 November 1882.

In the same meeting, 101 officers were despatched to other parts of Britain, Sweden, India, South Africa, Canada and the US. ‘Only fighting can make soldiers,’ Booth told his troops. ‘You may make parade men by marching them about at home, but if you want to make veterans, they must learn to fight in the field.’

The 6 January 1883 editorial of The Otago Daily Times warned, ‘Bringing the Salvationists to New Zealand will be another of the many mistakes of acclimatisation. It is the thistles, the sparrows, the rabbits over again. The Army will prove a nuisance as troublesome as these pests and as ineradicable.’ However, a Nelson bishop urged people to treat the Army with respect because ‘it was reaching a class of the community who seemed beyond the reach of church influences’.

On their way to New Zealand, Pollard and Wright stopped in Australia and persuaded three recent converts to join them in the ‘salvation war’: a paperhanger named Burfoot and his wife, and a young labourer named Johnny Bowerman. The invasion force docked in Dunedin on 27 March 1883 and held its first open-air street meeting on 1 April. The Burfoots were commissioned as Salvation Army officers and Wright promoted to captain.

The Salvation Army’s campaign plan was simple. Wright and Bowerman would travel to Auckland to locate John Brame. They were to ‘open fire’ there and work their way south to Wellington, while Pollard and the Burfoots would ‘attack’ Dunedin before

Cornets, drum and flag in an early open-air witness at Milton Corps.

heading north. ‘We’ll work toward Wellington and shake hands when we get there,’ said Pollard to Wright.

An open-air meeting in Dunedin on 1 April was the first ‘shot’ fired. That morning, 15 people, two of them Presbyterian ministers, attended a prayer meeting called a ‘knee-drill’. Pollard told them The Salvation Army had come with a simple mission: ‘to tell sinners the good news of salvation’. That afternoon, the Temperance Hall could not contain those that tried to gain admission, with hundreds turned away. Some came simply to disrupt proceedings and others to get a look at the distinctively-dressed Salvationists who wore badges in the shape of shields emblazoned with the words ‘Blood and Fire’ (the blood of Jesus and the fire of the Holy Spirit). The use of female ministry also caused interest and controversy.

Those at the first Sunday night meeting remained for the ‘after meeting’—or ‘battle for souls’ as the Salvationists described it.

This battle began when Pollard quit the platform, sank to his knees and begged someone to ‘engage’ in prayer. There was an immediate response. Hymn and chorus singing, persuasive and entreating, was provided by other Christians supporting the Salvationists.

Less than a week after the first Army meeting in Auckland, the New Zealand Herald commented on the number of Aucklanders seen wearing The Salvation Army shield. For several months, openair meetings were held on Queen Street Wharf, with Bowerman using a crane as his pulpit to address crowds of 1500.

An early cable sent by Wright to General Booth simply read: Dunedin, Auckland, blazing. Christchurch shortly. Reinforce Sharp. By the end of that first year, The Salvation Army had established over 25 centres in New Zealand, from Auckland to Invercargill. There were 40 officers and the Army had made over 5000 converts. Social work began the following year, with a home for ex-prisoners.

Pollard made an effort to reach people in remote country districts by organising a ‘Flying Brigade’ early in 1885. A two-horse caravan was fitted out with the words ‘The Salvation Army’ on its side. ‘Blood and Fire’, crests and a number of Bible verses were also painted on the caravan.

Within 10 years, the Army was in every town with a population of over 1500 people.

What was the secret of the Army’s success?

The Salvationists were unquestionably in deadly earnest. They believed that souls were perishing and they bent all their energies to the salvation of men. Back in England, the weekly British magazine Punch wrote that ‘Salvationists conducted “war” and “opened fire”—to save souls and make life bearable for the poorest of the poor—with what seemed to the Victorians unseemly gaiety, with music and colour and enormous gusto.’

In New Zealand, this aggressive spirit was seen in the lively reports that featured in The War Cry under such headings as ‘Christchurch Conquerors’, ‘Invercargill Invincibles’, ‘Timaru Tearaways’ and ‘Wellington Warriors’. The Army was changing the lives of drunkards, wife beaters and all kinds, and attracting many reputable people to its ranks.

From New Zealand, The Salvation Army later spread to Fiji and then Tonga. Work commenced in Fiji in November 1973 under the leadership of Captains Brian and Beverley McStay, and in Tonga in January 1986 under Captains Tifare and Rebecca Inia.

PRIMARY SOURCE: Dear Mr Booth,

by John C. Waite

SALVATION ARMY (Rev. W. Booth, General) Just arrived from England on Sunday next Meetings will be held in the Temperance Hall, Moray Place, at 7, 11, 3 and 7 Led by Captain Pollard and Captain and Mrs Burfoot

Image: ‘Salvation’ courtesy Liam Barr (www.liambarr.co.nz)

16 | WarCry 27 June 2015

Ministry with Maori In the early years of The Salvation Army’s work in New Zealand, there were periods of distinct and highly successful ministry among Māori. The most significant was initiated in 1888 with the appointment of Captain Ernest Holdaway to Māori living in the Whanganui River communities. A separate Māori Division was established in 1889, with Holdaway as the Divisional Commander. A ‘Māori Tribute’ was levied on all corps (one penny per soldier and recruit, per month) and a Māori Song Book was published (translated and compiled by Holdaway).

Regrettably, there was a lack of long-term vision among the Army’s leaders. In 1894, the Māori Division was disbanded and its officers deployed elsewhere. The Māori Tribute was also abolished.

Two years later, the Māori Division (again under Holdaway) was reconstituted, with a focus on the East Coast, Bay of Plenty and Ōtaki areas. In 1897, a Māori Officer Training College was established in Gisborne.

Liam Barr’s painting of early Māori Salvationist Maraea Morete (Maria Morris), whose young husband was murdered by Te Kooti’s associates.

Impoverished, she walked into Gisborne and joined The Salvation Army, leading to her own salvation and forgiveness of Te Kooti (signified by the inverted hand gesture). The claddagh broach references Maraea’s Irish father. Her iwi was Ngāti Porou and Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki.

In 1899, the Māori Division was again dissolved, and the Holdaways were appointed to Australia, which had responsibility for oversight of work in New Zealand. The Army’s Māori ministry was much diminished after this, with many early stalwarts resigning to join churches that were still working with Māori.

In 1912, New Zealand became an autonomous territory, separate from Australia.

However, with some notable exceptions, there was still not a solid work among Māori for many years. It is encouraging that the number of Māori serving as leaders, staff and volunteers within The Salvation Army is now on the rise.

FOR MORE INFO: Te Ope Whakaora: The Army that Brings Life, by Harold Hill (ed)

Commemorative Edition | 17

Opposition Forces Dunedin youth formed a ‘Skeleton Army’ that had its own ‘captain’ and a skull and crossbone flag. This army made it their mission to break up outdoor and indoor Salvation Army meetings, yet the Army barracks remained crowded every night. On 24 May 1883, 134 converts joined up as soldiers, and Captain Pollard announced that the skeleton army’s captain had been ‘captured’—one of 33 converts who had knelt to pray the night before.

In Auckland, Captain Wright also faced opposition. After an evening meeting he was struck on the face with a hard missile. The next night he was given a bloodied nose. On the third night, the skeleton army threw gravel and mud through the windows. When Wright went out, he was rushed by 20 men, knocked to the ground and kicked. The Auckland Evening Star complained: ‘When it comes to such an exhibition of savagery as was witnessed last night … every law-abiding member of the community must condemn the outrage as an offence against law and order, and a blot on the reputation of our city.’

As in England, the Army in New Zealand also came into conflict with local authorities over the right to hold open-air meetings and marches in the streets. By-laws were passed to restrict its activities. The Army’s first legal battle over the right to preach, sing, play and march outdoors happened in Waimate in 1885 when Captain Stevens and a soldier, Brother Buckingham, were charged with ‘obstructing the public thoroughfare’ and two women with ‘maliciously disturbing the inhabitants of Waimate by beating tambourines on a Sunday’. The women were discharged, but the men were fined and, when they refused to pay, were imprisoned for seven days.

Other court cases took place over the next few years, with more Salvationists imprisoned.

Those that created the most controversy concerned Lieutenant Joseph Hildreth and a number of Napier soldiers in 1886; Major Lovelock, Captain Wright and several Gisborne soldiers in 1889; and two female officers at Hastings in 1889. Outraged, a number of non-Salvationist Napier citizens organised an ‘indignation meeting’, urging that the by-law be repealed. A petition signed by hundreds of Napier residents was sent to the Governor of New Zealand, Sir William Jervois.

SOURCE: Dear Mr Booth, by John C. Waite

(above) The group of Napier Salvationists who were imprisoned in 1886, circled is Lieut Joseph Hildreth; (below) The Napier group paraded through the streets after being released from prison.

I can imagine some holy being just arrived from another world asking, ‘What is The Salvation Army?’ and being answered in terms according to his own understanding, ‘The Salvation Army is love for souls.’

BRAMWELL BOOTH

While women weep, as they do now, I’ll fight.

While little children go hungry, as they do now, I’ll fight.

While men go to prison, in and out, in and out, as they do now, I’ll fight.

While there is a drunkard left, while there is a poor lost girl upon the streets, while there remains one dark soul without the light of God, I’ll fight—I’ll fight to the very end!

WILLIAM BOOTH

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require of you? To act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.’ Or, in the words of our territorial Mission Statement: caring for people, transforming lives and reforming society.

THANKSGIVING FOR YESTERDAY & HOPES FOR TOMORROW War Cry invited people to share their thoughts about the challenges and opportunities facing The Salvation Army in New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga in 2015.

The privileged opportunity to serve alongside thousands of employees, soldiers and officers.

Remaining relevant to each generation while holding true to our DNA. We are not a conglomerate or corporate business or a church for members only. We are a ‘movement’—a group of followers of Jesus modelled on the first followers, known as the ‘disciples’.

Getting back to the cutting edge of human need. I think that, as our services have evolved into new forms, we have left behind some of the most vulnerable people who are now without adequate care.

Major David Noakes has been a soldier for 42 years, an officer for 35 years and is Divisional Commander in Fiji.

When and how did you become involved in The Salvation Army?

How would you describe what The Salvation Army is all about?

What do you appreciate about being part of The Salvation Army?

What do you think is the biggest challenge facing us today?

Is there anything you’d like to see us doing more of or doing differently in the future?

Why is the Army important to the country where you live?

Commissioner Alistair Herring is National Director of The Salvation Army Addiction, Supportive Accommodation and Reintegration Service. He soldiers at Mt Albert Corps.

I’m from a Salvation Army family of five generations and privileged to have been brought up in a Christian family. First and foremost, I am a follower of Jesus, having made a decision to become his follower at age 18.

The prophet Micah summed it up: ‘And what does the Lord

Katherine Sonntag, Corps Officer at Foxton Corps Young people from around the world (including three from NZ) spent a month doing open airs, indoor meetings, and meeting and greeting people while travelling all over Germany.

Don Postins, Albany Bays Corps The most significant memory for me would be getting Brigadier Joseph Korbel to sign my copy of his book In

My involvement with the Army came about as a lost and searching university student befriended by some young Salvationists who were very intentional about sharing the faith. I could immediately ‘smell the hot bread baking’ and could sense that what these people had was the answer to my questions and the search I was on.

The Salvation Army’s purpose cannot be better expressed than through the Mission Statement of the New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga Territory: caring for people, transforming lives, reforming society.

Its diversity of work and expression across society in response to the gospel imperative. It is this that the public instinctively admire and appreciate—Jesus Christ at work in his world.

There will be a much greater need for flexibility in how leadership is carried out and authenticated within the movement.

The Salvation Army plays a very important role in Fiji, especially in the provision of social services and caring in sectors nobody else is functioning in. This includes women and children in crisis, prison chaplaincy, sewing skills programmes, and family support so children can go to school. Our call to salvation and holiness are very important imperatives within society and the wider church, as is the call to sacramental living and an alcohol/drug/kava-free lifestyle.

My Enemy’s Camp. [This book tells the story of Korbel’s work with The Salvation Army in Czechoslovakia, the takeover of his country and his persecution at the hands of the Communist regime.] Inspirational reading!

Christine Canty, New Lynn Corps This photo was taken November 1970 at Auckland Congress Hall for the dedication of Joanne Canty (now Rive). Big brother Gregory is looking up

admiringly at Flag Sergeant Grandad David Cruickshank.

Commemorative Edition | 19

Wati Seeto is Corps Secretary and Treasurer at Suva Central Corps.

My family attended The Salvation Army when I was born in 1971. My parents were two of the first soldiers of the Army in Fiji.

Our work is about meeting people’s everyday needs first, so they can have the strength and heart to meet our Jesus after meeting us.

We are a family no matter which part of the world we are in.

Being slow to change or recognise when we are no longer staying relevant, especially where our youth are concerned. We spend so much time, energy and resources bringing our children through Sunday school and junior soldiers, but are losing them after that because we are not catering for them and their needs.

I’d like to see the Army focus more on building stronger, powerful, Bible believing, purpose-driven Christians with the same enthusiasm and joy in serving God as the early Salvationists had here in Fiji.

We fill a need and provide services that other churches cannot.

The Salvation Army assists the government by addressing issues and in welfare assistance, rehabilitation, counselling, providing shelters.

Nick Allwright is a soldier and worship leader at Christchurch City Corps. He oversees the collection and distribution of donated food to Christchurch Community Ministries.

My parents were soldiers at Lower Hutt Corps. I’ve been an officers’ kid since 1995.

I love Booth’s vision for the lost—it is the one thing we can never let go as a church/organisation and need to keep striving to achieve: ‘The World for God!’ Our vines that are not producing fruit need to be pruned for us to produce more fruit (reference John 15).

I believe our focus needs to be outside the walls of our churches.

There are people in our communities we’re not reaching because we’re too focused on ‘programme’ in our churches.

Commissioner Grace Bringans, Linwood Corps Fifty years ago, in May 1965, hundreds of Salvationists from New Zealand and Australia travelled to London from Sydney (a journey of four and a half weeks) for the International Centenary Congress. Timbrellists from New Zealand and Australia had a regular practice each week and were able to participate in the ship church service as well as in Army fellowship times.

Some of those pictured are Margaret Limmer and Pamela Jones from Hamilton City Corps, and Dawn Anderson from Wellington City (3rd, 4th and 6th from left). I am on the left—I was then a soldier of Albion Corps in the Australian Eastern Territory, but after marriage to David, moved to New Zealand in 1969 to enter the Training College. Passengers on the ship were fascinated by the timbrels and often stopped to watch our practices.

I’D LIKE TO SEE US EQUIP OUR SOLDIERS MORE TO FIGHT PASSIONATELY AGAINST INJUSTICE SO WE CAN SEE SOCIETY REFORMED. Lieutenant Sammy Millar is a corps officer at Sydenham Corps in Christchurch A family friend started taking me to the corps she attended when I was about three. At the age of 15 I had a dream about being an officer, and felt led by God to serve him in this way.

To seek and save the lost.

Our love for, and commitment to, those that the rest of society ignores, shuns, oppresses.

Comfort and apathy within the ranks.

I’d like to see us equip our soldiers more to fight passionately against injustice so we can see society reformed.

Walter Aranui is a soldier at the Auckland Recovery Church in Auckland.

I started rehab with The Salvation Army in Auckland and attended Recovery Church there.

I completed the programme on 16 February 2009 and became a soldier on 29 July 2012.

I would describe The Salvation Army as being all about fighting the good fight against inhumanity.

Being a role model.

Helping people in countries that oppose Salvation Army beliefs.

Major Heather Rodwell is the Territorial Secretary for Corps Growth and Spiritual Life Development. She has been an officer for 26 years and soldiers at Tawa Corps.

When I was four, Mum was approached by the primary leader of the day and asked if her

20 | WarCry 27 June 2015

children (four of us) would like to go to Sunday school.

The Salvation Army is about the mission of God, seeking to redeem this world and reconcile people to relationship with God. Using diverse ways of engaging with people and meeting needs, the Army’s reach is wide offering the opportunity for people to experience life transformation and a community. It has a profile and influence, which makes it a prophetic movement, a voice for the voiceless and a conscience for society.

I have found a place to fulfil God’s calling on my life as a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Living out God’s purpose for us, by exploring fresh ways of doing things and simplifying the complex systems created over the years.

There are so many expressions of Salvation Army mission and ministry that are largely unconnected to each other. Many Salvationists are not involved instrumentally in the mission, and barely know about all that is occurring. We need to find a way to celebrate and inform about our mission, and create greater integration between its various parts. There is also a case for reducing (sharpening) our mission focus and defining our core business for greater effectiveness. Capturing the heart, mind and will of the next generation is imperative. We need to find a way for the wisdom of the previous generations and the burgeoning hopes, zeal and passions of the younger generation to work together to regenerate who we are.

The Army represents hope to many people; its influence can mediate decisions locally and nationally when its voice is used. We are seen as a credible expression of the Christian Church.

Captain Byoungsun Kim is a corps officer at Auckland City Korean Corps with his wife Yoonhee Park. Serving in New Zealand is their ‘overseas’ ministry, as the Korea Territory is still their ‘home territory’.

My family were members of the Presbyterian Church in Korea. One day, my mother’s friend suggested that my wife and I should become officers in The Salvation Army. She considered this carefully and after two years, when our Presbyterian Minister suggested we become full-time

Graeme Smith, Whangarei Corps Some of the highlights of our centenary year in 1983 were the inaugural centenary event in Dunedin in March; the Centenary Charter inaugurated

by Commissioner Dean Goffin and presented to Captain Graeme McMurdo and the marathon team to deliver to corps and local authorities during their 11-day run from Dunedin to Auckland; the 100day prayer vigil involving 100

ministers in that denomination, my mother told me about what her friend had said. We prayed and decided to become members in The Salvation Army in January 1988. The following year, we entered the Officer Training College in the Korean Territory. It has been the best decision of my life.

The Salvation Army is a gathering of good soldiers of Christ Jesus.

The Church is not the building, but the people. I think the biggest challenge facing The Salvation Army today is how we can grow our human resource in quantity and quality.

The Salvation Army is a symbol of Jesus’ love. Therefore, the fame of and interest in The Salvation Army is a good barometer of love in New Zealand. I am sure The Salvation Army is doing well in New Zealand!

CAPTURING THE HEART, MIND AND WILL OF THE NEXT GENERATION IS IMPERATIVE. Colonel Margaret Hay is a retired officer who soldiers at Dunedin City Corps. She is involved in Nite Church, hospital chaplaincy, social justice and interfaith work.

I was born into the Army in 1942.

I’ve seen the Spirit of the Lord in forebears in New Zealand and in a goodly company of Salvationists worldwide, some ‘out of great tribulation’. I’m glad I joined them.

In the face of enormous social and cultural changes we need a renewed commitment to Christ, and the knowledge, will and skill to enable others to obtain ‘access to this grace in which we stand’.

Larissa Toelupe soldiers at Porirua Corps.

I was introduced to The Salvation Army in 2001 by a young Samoan family who attended Porirua Corps. I left for Samoa in 2003 and returned in 2011 with my youngest son. I rekindled my relationship with the Army that year because of a strong desire for more comfort and support.

corps; the publication of Fight the Good Fight, the story of The Salvation Army in New Zealand,

by Cyril Bradwell; the photo history Darkness Conquered and the booklet A Way Out on the early history of the Work Skills programme (now Education and Employment).

And, of course, the amazing Centenary Congress in Wellington over six days in September.

For me, this represented two years of incredibly

challenging work, and then managing the events over the final six months. But there was great support from the Congress Planning Committee, and later the Congress Organising Committee, with support from Mrs Commissioner Goffin, Hillmon and Lorraine Buckingham, Richard Smith, Rodney Knight, Lance Rive, Barbara Sampson and many others.

One special memory is writing one of the congress

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The Salvation Army is a church that serves, helping people make informed, positive decisions to become resourceful holistically. It is a voice for the marginalised at both community and national levels.

The Army offers an alternative church model, a safe place to belong for people who are spiritually and emotionally lost and seeking to know the truth about God. I would like to see more stories and promotions that reflect Pacific cultures. And an inclusive programme that will assist children with special needs become more involved in children and youth programmes that can lead them to become soldiers. I would also like to see the Army do more to address the housing crisis, through loans or by duplicating a model similar to Habitat for Humanity or Liberty Trust to make the ‘dream’ a reality for families who cannot afford options offered by commercial banks.

The Salvation Army is important for people like me who lived a life spiritually lost. As I was spiritually transformed, my whole being as a mother, daughter, friend and community member reformed, too. The depth of social services Salvation Army offers in New Zealand is astounding. When I am collecting for the Red Shield Appeal, people who are not Salvationists remark on the good work Salvation Army has done for loved ones. ‘The people have spoken’ is a slogan we often associate with elections, but it is a fitting motto to describe the public’s appreciation of the Salvation Army’s work in New Zealand and abroad.

Russell Healey is Corps Sergeant Major and Mission Coordinator at Invercargill Corps.

Through my girlfriend’s family.

Being there for people and sharing Christ with them.

Prayer, mainly corporate prayer at the corps level.

Working together a lot more. In Invercargill, we have a stated integrated approach, but this has to happen across the board. Also, we must keep working with our children’s workers and children.

The Army is important because of its work, and in taking Christ to the people across the Territory.

musicals with Captain Trevor Davis, who arranged the music.

An amazing piece of work!

Also, great contributions from our overseas visitors: General and Mrs Jarl Wahlström, the Melbourne Staff Band, the Territorial Salvation Singers from Sydney, the Cornerstone Company from Brisbane, and the Fiji Regional Band and Timbrel Brigade. They all supported so well our New Zealand officers, bands, music groups, theatre

groups, children’s chorus, and the Congress Players, who presented the Centenary Musical Reach Out. I am amazingly grateful for

THE SALVATION ARMY IS A VOICE FOR THE MARGINALISED AT BOTH COMMUNITY AND NATIONAL LEVELS Captain Sila Siufanga is the Regional Commander in Tonga.

In November 1996, I walked in and attended a Hamilton City Corps meeting.

God’s Army—seeking and saving (fighting) for the salvation of people.

Practical holiness.

Saving souls to become disciples of Christ and not becoming too comfortable in-house.

Get rid of the rank system, we are all soldiers of God’s Army!

Invest more on godly, healthy families, children and youth.

Fulfilling God’s mission to seek and save souls—especially meeting the needs of the least, the lost and underprivileged people (the last).

Lineni Tu’ineau is a soldier at Kolovai Corps Plant in Tonga, a Community Health Assistant and a Young People’s Sergeant Major. She also assists in the kindergarten and at the Army’s Alcohol and Drug Awareness Centre (ADAC).

I grew up in The Salvation Army. I accepted Christ into my life when I was eight and become a soldier in 2002.

The Salvation Army is all about preaching the good news of Jesus Christ to all people of all races, and caring for the poor and loving the unlovable with no discrimination.

Transforming lives, eradicating poverty and reforming society.

The changing of leadership with different leadership style.

To get a domestic violence programme up and running.

the opportunity to organise these events. To see the entire territory come together in such an amazing and spiritually moving way over a full six-

month period was something we can only hope will be reflected in the Boundless 150 celebrations that take place soon in London.

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The Salvation Army is playing an essential part in Tonga, especially for those referred by the Supreme Court to the Alcohol and Drug Awareness Centre programme. This programme is transforming lives and reforming society.

Betty Beatrice Akoteu is a soldier at Vaini Corps in Tonga, a Young People’s Sergeant Major and part of the Alcohol and Drug Awareness Centre (ADAC) team, doing training and counselling.

I have been involved with The Salvation Army since 2006 as a volunteer at ADAC. Then, in 2012, my husband and I were enrolled soldiers and are now working together at the centre.

The Salvation Army is all about reaching everyone with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It’s a place where you are given an opportunity to serve and answer the call God has placed in your heart. That encourages me to keep my relationship with God. Keeping the back door closed. We are good in bringing people in, but not so good at keeping them in.

There is too much restriction in uniforms—I wish this would be considered in future.

Captain Ian Gainsford is Principal at Booth College of Mission.

I was born into an Army family.

I have always appreciated General John Gowans’s line that it is our business to save souls, grow saints and serve suffering humanity.

We are doing incredible work transforming people’s lives throughout the world. Countless people have more hope, purpose and capacity to live a fulfilling and God-touched life because of faithful people trying to model what self-giving love can look like. I love being part of that in my own small way.

The tension between genuinely inspired risk and innovation in

Dorothy McEwen (nee Petterson), Hastings Corps On 31 May 1956, seven young people from corps cadet brigades around New Zealand set sail for the International Corps Cadet Congress in London. The theme was ‘For Christ and Duty’. Six weeks later, we arrived at Tilbury docks. We had glimpsed Salvation Army life in Australia, Ceylon, Italy and France and travelled through the Suez Canal in the final convoy to pass

that way before it was blown up in 1956. Now, we were en route to the International Training College at Denmark Hill, which was our home for the next three weeks, along with several hundred other delegates from various parts of the world.

What excitement on that first day as Commissioner Gilliard opened the congress, taking us into the East End of London, just as William Booth had walked those streets.

Memories include our visit

serving our mission, and the desire to adhere to ‘sound business practices’ and a culture that can restrict us is an ongoing challenge.

More empowerment for people at a local level—officers and others—to actually engage in missional living, not just go through the motions of ‘being church’.

We represent, at our best, a body of people willing to stand for all, work with all, and love all in the interests of embodying the heart of God.

Cadet Karen Below is a second-year cadet at Booth College of Mission with her husband Dave.

I was blessed to be set aside by God for adoption into a home that attended The Salvation Army.

Seeking connectedness with others to share Jesus incarnate.

Being passionate about those matters that break God’s heart: social inequality and injustice.

Being able to connect with people in ways that are comfortable for them and their community.

Being a voice for change that will see those in poverty break generational cycles of hardship and suffering.

Fijian Saimoni (Sai) Gataurua is a secondyear cadet at Booth College of Mission with his wife Gina.

I started attending in 2005 in Fiji, because of a heartfelt desire to be with my wife and children who were actively involved.

Its founder initiated the Army demanding Salvationists to walk the faith—not only by words but by deeds also. That still remains the ‘heartbeat’ for the existence of the Army today.

There seems to be some disconnection between preaching the gospel and meeting human needs, which in a way have become two separate things.

The winning of souls has become an obvious challenge for the

to the East End where it all started, meetings at Clapton Congress Hall, 500 young people singing ‘O Boundless Salvation’ around the Founder’s grave at Abney Park Cemetery, proudly marching down Regent Street to the beat of the International Staff Band and the Regent Hall Band, stopping traffic for miles as we marched to Hyde Park in our Māori costumes for a youth rally, and then youth councils at The Royal Albert Hall. Six thousand

young people praising God! My greatest challenge came as the International Staff Band sang, I walked one day along a country road, and there a stranger journeyed too, bent low beneath the burden of his load. It was a cross, a cross I knew. ‘Take up thy cross and follow me,’ I hear the blessed Saviour call. How could I make a lesser sacrifice, when Jesus gave his all? I responded to that challenge, and am still willing to follow where Jesus leads.

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Army in this late-modernity era. While the Army is generally thriving in aspects such as social justice, Community Ministries and the provision of many other services nationally and internationally, connecting people to God has taken a ‘backstage’ role. It would help if serious consideration was given to empowering and equipping Salvationists to assist people to turn and take steps towards God with the leading of the Holy Spirit.

In Fiji, The Salvation Army is important because it is a vehicle to spread the Word of God to the last, the lost and the least. The use of the word ‘vehicle’ symbolises that the Army is mobile, always on the move in preaching the gospel. The nation of Fiji is undergoing a lot of reform and restructure at political, economic and social levels; thus, there is a need for awareness, training and advocacy. I see the Army well positioned to be able to deliver these needs to assist people to acquire relevant information to make informed decisions Furthermore, the Army in Fiji has the capacity to take the services to the people—this is important because the communities are quite scattered with accessibility often becoming an issue.

THE ARMY IS A PLACE WHERE YOU ARE GIVEN AN OPPORTUNITY TO SERVE AND ANSWER THE CALL GOD HAS PLACED IN YOUR HEART. Olivia Huszak is a soldier at Albany Bays Corps in Auckland, where she is also the Children’s and Youth Ministries Coordinator.

I was born into a Salvation Army family —my Dad (Peter Tong) is a fourth-generation Sallie. So, it’s in my blood.

It’s all about Soup, Soap and Salvation: you can’t lead people to Jesus without them first having a bath to get clean and having food in their belly. That’s why I think it’s so important to to always get a free cuppa when you walk through the doors of any Salvation Army!

is that we are all like one big family. You go to any corps in New Zealand and you are bound to know someone, or at least someone who knows someone you know. It’s the whole ‘One Army’ idea.

Sometimes we think ‘remembering our roots’ means to hold onto the brass band and timbrels, but maybe it’s more about what the brass band and timbrels represents?

I love that The Salvation Army in New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga is leaving officers in corps for longer! Let’s continue that.

Anderri Loveridge is a soldier at the New Plymouth Corps and a mainly music assistant.

I had my first experience of The Salvation Army around the year 2000, when I was referred to the Wellington Bridge Programme after an alcohol-fuelled suicide attempt. After almost completing the programme, I had nothing to do with the Army until about six years later, when I began bringing my young son along to mainly music at New Plymouth Corps.

A worldwide army of Christians actively helping people, making this world a better place, with their main focus on leading people to Jesus Christ.

I really appreciate having a social life with other Christians who are also dedicated to living a sober life.

I would love to see vegetarianism brought into the guidelines for soldiership! Animals are being used and abused like never before in history. I find that disturbing and would like to see more Christians standing up for these creatures. Our planet is suffering greatly because of animal agriculture; we need to preserve the planet for the next generation.

The Salvation Army is important in New Zealand because there are plenty of people who still don’t know how much God loves them.

We still have a lot of work to do here!

I love the connectedness of the Army. My husband comes from the Baptist Church and the thing he loves about The Salvation Army

and piano. Then, after a 60-year gap, I returned in retirement to appreciate its sensitive music by fine musical sections.

BY COLONEL KEN BRIDGE (aged 90), Albany Bays Corps Major changes are never easy, and especially so when it comes to religious practice or belief. We are so certain that ‘Our Way’ is ‘The Biblical Way’ or ‘The Army Way’, and we feel an automatic resistance if we’re suddenly confronted with the idea that what we have always been doing or saying is not the ‘norm’ today.

St. Paul knew all about this when confronting the Jewish people over certain practices they had grown up with (Romans 14:1–6), and Doreen and I faced this in a very real way when we needed to transfer from Auckland Congress Hall to Albany Bays Corps.

As a boy, I had known Auckland Congress Hall—with its splendid, stirring band, songster brigade and talented musicians at organ

But suddenly we were at Albany Bays, with most musical direction led by a ‘Music Team’—vocals with keyboard, guitars, drums, etc.

The change for us both was dramatic and challenging.

A little later, over the ‘After the Meeting Cup of Tea’, we were to meet these new ‘radical’ musicians and noted the depth of their Christian experience. Indeed, the Holy Spirit was alive in them! It appears the Lord is doing something new, alongside the continuation of our band and songster ministry. Thus we, as Christians, respond —which is evidence of the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives.

If we are Spirit-filled, our desire to please God should be stronger than our desire to prove that what we’ve always believed is written in stone.

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150 years since its founding, The Salvation Army is still a mission movement, says COMMISSIONER ROBERT DONALDSON

Committed to God’s Mission The Salvation Army has contributed to God’s rescue plan for 150 years, but our story really goes back to the start of human history.

As we open the early chapters of the Bible, we find God creating the earth and the sky, the land and the sea, the plants and the animals, and people upon whom he could shower his love. Tragically, God’s gracious gift of freedom of choice was abused, damaging people’s intimate relationship with their creator. Sin had entered the world and was soon to spread through all of creation. God outlined the just consequences of sin and then initiated his salvation plan.

In Genesis chapter 12, God called Abraham (then known as ‘Abram’) to follow him. In doing so, God entered into a sacred covenant with Abraham, previously a worshipper of idols rather than of the one true God. God promised Abraham three things that formed the basis of a mission covenant: 1. God would give Abraham and his descendants a place to live.

2. God would make Abraham and his people into a mighty nation.

3. God would assign Abraham and his people the purpose of bringing God’s blessing to the world.

The place God gave Abraham and his descendants is known throughout the Bible as The Promised Land. This land was selected for its geographic placement at the centre of the then known world.

It was a narrow land bridge, sitting between the sea and desert that connected the three continents of Africa, Asia and Europe. This small land bridge was to become the centre of God’s rescue plan. It was strategic because traders, rulers, wise men and armies used it to travel back and forth throughout the world.

Abraham and his descendants became a great people who were to live in the land God had given them. Through Moses, God gave guidelines on how to worship him, how to live as a good person, how to live together in God-honouring community, and how to interact with all those who would travel through the land.

Finally, God gave Abraham and his descendants their purpose for being. They were to share God’s blessing with all the people of the world. If they lived according to the guidelines God had given them, they would stand out to others as people who experienced love, joy, peace and goodness in their lives. By living in good relationship with God and each other, they would display the original intention of God for the people of the earth and ultimately lead others into relationship with the one true God. The remainder of the Old Testament is the story of the success and failure of these people and their descendants to fulfil their mission covenant, as God reached out through them to save his fallen creation.

As a descendant of Abraham, Jesus of Nazareth—the Messiah, became the incarnated Son of God. He lived a sinless life, was crucified, died, rose again and ascended to Heaven to break the power of sin and death, once and for all.

Jesus commanded his people to go to every place in the world for the purpose of telling his story and inviting all people into a forgiven and free relationship with him. Jesus commanded his people to ‘love one another as I have loved you’. Because of this, Jesus said, ‘everyone will know that you are my disciples’ (John 13:34–35). He also promised, ‘You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth’ (Acts 1:8).

Jesus sent his people out with a simple purpose: ‘Go and make disciples of all nations’ (Matthew 28:19). In the East End of London, 150 years ago, William and Catherine Booth responded to this commission, founding The Salvation Army to further God’s rescue plan for the world.

Today, more than a million Salvationists serve in 126 countries around the world—in thousands of communities—through evangelism, education, health, community development, social assistance, emergency services, anti-trafficking, international projects, addiction treatment services, and more.

Our place …

In this territory of New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga, The Salvation Army serves from Invercargill to Kaitaia, Suva to Taveuni Island, and Nulu’alofa to Vava’u. From small groups meeting in the homes of Salvationists to corps and social service centres around the country. From staff working in Education and Employment programmes to volunteers in our Family Stores. From local officers in corps to administration staff in divisional or territorial offices.

From Salvationists in their workplaces, social settings and schools

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to professionals working in our many social services. The Salvation Army is at home in many communities. All of these allow us the privileged opportunity to advance God’s salvation mission.

As well as the geographical locations where The Salvation Army is placed within the three nations that make up our territory, we also want to think of our place in the hearts of the people of these nations. The Salvation Army enjoys high levels of public support and trust. We receive significant government funding, and consistently high levels of donor support. We work well with many large corporate sponsors. We also maintain positive ecumenical relationships, have formal relationships with several community partners and iwi, and enjoy a positive profile in the media.

The Salvation Army is at work in whatever place you are at work.

This privileged place in the hearts of our nations has come as a result of many years of hard work and the consistency of living out our Christian values. This is something to be treasured, carefully protected and nurtured with absolute integrity and authenticity.

We need to recognise that some of our relationships are still in need of attention. Our relationship with Māori was deeply harmed when we did not carry through on the strength of commitment shown in our earliest years. This is taking time to restore and heal.

The abuses inflicted on innocent children in our care, and our alienation and harsh judgement of LGBTI people have left deep scars in our communities. We have done a great deal that is good, but we must also be honest about and repentant for the mistakes we have made and the harm that we have done.

The Salvation Army is at work in whatever place you are at work.

Wherever you are as a Salvationist or an active supporter of the Army, the Army is found! May each of us choose to honour the privilege of being God’s people where he has placed us.

Our people …

In 2009, I knelt and prayed at the ‘bend in the river’ outside of Philippi (see Acts 16). I was intensely aware of the generations of faithful people through whom the gospel came to me. From Abraham, to Joseph, to Moses, to David, to Jesus the Messiah, to Peter, to Paul, and to Lydia at that very spot. Then, from Lydia, the first convert in the Western world, down through history to John and Charles Wesley, to William and Catherine Booth, to Pollard and Wright, and then through generations of faithful corps and local officers in South Dunedin … to me!

That gospel has transformed my life. How grateful I am for faithful people!

He aha te mea nui o te ao? What is the most important thing in the world? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata! It is people, it is people, it is people!

Today, all of us within The Salvation Army stand on the shoulders of those faithful people who have gone before. Salvationists and supporters of the past have gifted us their commitment, prayer, dedication, reputation, faith, good works and sacrifice. Over the years, thousands of committed Salvationists, employees, volunteers and supporters have contributed to the mission of The Salvation Army. They have given us the Army that we have today.

So, how do we—the Salvationists of today—honour their commitment? What legacy will we leave? To answer that question, we must first remember just whose people we are. We must remember that we name Jesus Christ as our Saviour and Lord.

Jesus was simple and direct in his teaching and expectations of his followers. He said: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind. And, love your neighbour as yourself. (Luke 10:27) As followers of Jesus, we each contribute our spirit, heart, abilities, passions and experience for the glory of God alone. We each contribute from our worldly wealth. We are equal, and so each of us wants to treat one another with respect and dignity. Those of us who are senior soldiers will each want to live according to the promises we made when we signed our Soldier’s Covenant. Those of us who are officers will each lay our Officer’s Covenant promises on the altar before God as well.

An organisation with a hierarchical structure has an inherent weakness associated with the abuse of power. And a movement with its roots in the holiness tradition also has the inherent tendency to emphasise judgement and inflexibility over grace.

How careful we all have to be with our use of power, our criticisms, our interactions, the manner in which we disagree, and the way in which we help those who have made mistakes.

The promise of God to the people of The Salvation Army is that if we would show the same amount of love to each other that Jesus has shown to us, then people will see God through us.

Love one another as I have loved you … [and as a result] … everyone will know that you are my disciples. (John 13:34–35) … let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)

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Photography: Bruce Millar

Our purpose …

Crucial to deciding how The Salvation Army will be tomorrow is the way we operate today. Are we still aware of who we are as Salvationists, and of who God calls us to reach?

Much has been written about the mission of The Salvation Army —from long theological dissertations to a variety of short and memorable ‘mission statements’. For instance, in the 1980s, this territory created the following Mission Statement: The Salvation Army is an international movement and an evangelical branch of the Christian Church, which expresses its ministry through a balance of spiritual and social programmes.

In its founding it was mobilised by God, and in its continuance is totally dependent on him for the power to fulfil its calling.

Everything it does is as an offering to the glory of God and for the worship and adoration of his name.

The mission of The Salvation Army is: • Caring for people: Salvationists follow the example of Jesus by identifying with the needy, standing alongside them and caring for people in all situations.

• Transforming lives: Salvationists believe that God can transform people and that the resulting wholeness is experienced through belief in Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit. This transformation is evidenced in discipleship and commitment.

• Reforming society: Salvationists seek to express the love and power of God in the community. This calls for the challenging of manifestations of evil, injustice and oppression, and for steps aimed at their elimination.

A short version of this Mission Statement is: ‘caring for people, transforming lives and reforming society’. Although catchy and motivating, it is important that while using this slogan, we don’t lose sight of the meaning and calls to action in the full statement.

However we might frame and define The Salvation Army’s mission, there are two key components to our purpose: spiritual and social.

This is what we are known for, and in some ways it is also how we are structured. The Salvation Army is not only a church, nor is it only a social services provider. The intersection of these two makes us one Salvation Army—this is the uniqueness of our purpose.

Our current Territorial Strategic Mission Plan states that The Salvation Army will be ‘mission-focused, streamlined and connected’. In a large organisation, we will always battle with being streamlined (although we are making progress), but what we must never compromise on is the connectedness of the spiritual and

social aspects of our mission. Our International Mission Statement reminds us that our mission, which is based on the Bible and motivated by the love of God, is ‘to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in his name without discrimination’.

The spiritual and social aspects of our work are one mission, not two. They should not be separated! William Booth described The Salvation Army as being like a bird with two wings. With one wing it preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ. With the other wing it meets human needs in his name without discrimination. He said that unless both wings are in operation, ‘The Salvation Army bird’ will not fly.

The Salvation Army is not only a church, nor is it only a social services provider. The intersection of these two makes us one Salvation Army—this is the uniqueness of our purpose.

My prayer is that every Salvationist in New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga would be captured by our holistic mission, which has its origins in God’s rescue mission for all creation. That we would make the most of the opportunities presented in each and every location in which we are placed—corporately and individually. That we would be people of integrity and authenticity, true followers of Christ who declare in word and in deed God’s presence in this world and his unending love for all people.

As we do so, we must always be seeking God’s voice, recognising that his divine guidance will not only provide direction and correction, but that his Holy Spirit will spur us toward particular areas of need and response. As it was for William and Catherine Booth and the early Salvation Army pioneers, we know God often plants a burning desire in people’s hearts that compels them to serve and inspires them to innovation and creativity as they do so.

The Salvation Army must always be open to the new things of God as he works in and through his people. This is our heritage. And because it is, I look forward with optimism and excitement to the future that lies before us, covenanting myself afresh to serve God as a true soldier of The Salvation Army.

Commissioner Robert Donaldson is Territorial Commander of The Salvation Army New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga Territory.

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BOLSHEVIK REVOLUTIONARY POEM

Photography: Luke Tearle