What is The Salvation Army?
The Salvation Army is a Christian church and registered charity seeking to share the good news of Jesus and nurture committed followers of him. We also serve people without discrimination, care for creation and seek justice and reconciliation. We offer practical support and services in more than 700 centres throughout the UK. Go to salvationarmy.org.uk/find-a-church to find your nearest centre.
What is the War Cry?
The Salvation Army first published a newspaper called the War Cry in London in December 1879, and we have continued to appear every week since then. Our name refers to our battle for people’s hearts and souls as we promote the positive impact of the Christian faith and The Salvation Army’s fight for greater social justice.
WAR CRY
Issue No 7634
Editor: Andrew Stone, Major
Deputy Editor: Philip Halcrow
Production Editor: Ivan Radford
Assistant Editor: Sarah Olowofoyeku
Staff Writer: Emily Bright
Staff Writer: Claire Brine
Editorial Assistant: Linda McTurk
Graphic Designer: Rodney Kingston
Graphic Designer: Mark Knight
Email: warcry@salvationarmy.org.uk
The Salvation Army United Kingdom and Ireland Territory 101 Newington Causeway London
SE1 6BN
Tel: 0845 634 0101
Subscriptions: 01933 445445 (option 1, option 1) or email: subscriptions@satcol.org
Founder: William Booth
General: Brian Peddle
Territorial Commander: Commissioner Anthony Cotterill
Editor-in-Chief: Major Julian Watchorn
FOR people whose background does not include any experience of churches, the Christian faith is not always easy to understand. Anyone trying to discover more about it may sometimes encounter phrases and terms that don’t crop up in conversational English.
This is nothing new. Throughout the centuries, effective ways have had to be found to tell people about the good news of God’s love. In the 14th century, when church services were conducted in Latin, monks staged what were known as mystery plays, which acted out stories from the Bible.
These plays were performed for some 200 years before coming to an end. However, in Chester, the tradition was re-established 72 years ago, and in this week’s War Cry we speak with the director of this year’s production and one of its cast members.
Also in this issue, we take a look at an exhibition at the National Gallery in London which, almost 800 years after his death, displays artistic images of the prominent Christian Francis of Assisi. The exhibition includes art about Francis that was produced in the same century in which he died.
Explaining that many of the depictions of Francis were produced to show the type of person that Francis was, co-curator Joost Joustra tells us: ‘I think that what attracted people to him was that he was relatable. He looked after the poor, he was kind to animals and he cared a lot about the natural world.’
Use of the arts to help people better understand Christians and their faith has proved effective through the years. Another way for people to discover more is by seeing the positive difference Christians make in the societies they live in.
This week we carry a feature on the employment services that The Salvation Army runs to help people find paid work. The church and charity’s motivation to do this is its belief that all people are of value and worth to God. And that’s true whatever a person’s background may be.