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
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
IT may surprise some people, but confidence in churches and religious organisations is growing in the United Kingdom.
As we report in this week’s War Cry, the latest findings of the World Values Survey – carried out in the UK by King’s College London – found that 42 per cent of people said they had ‘a great deal’ or ‘quite a lot’ of confidence in religious institutions. The figure is up by a third since 2018.
Bobby Duffy, a professor of public policy at King’s College London, also commented on the make-up of the congregations who now attend religious services. ‘Those who feel actively connected to organised religions have moved from a “conscript” army,’ he said, ‘where many more felt it was an automatic part of life, to a more “professional” army, which are fewer in number but more dedicated in practice.’
Dedication to a spiritual cause, though, is not only a modern phenomenon. In the last few decades of the 19th century, thousands of people became soldiers in the newly established Salvation Army. However, confidence and support for the Christian organisation was not universal.
In this week’s issue, theatre director Martin Harris explains why he has written a play about the opposition faced by the early-day Salvationists. Tragically some of them were killed by mobs of people who, because of vested interests, opposed the good work they were doing, while others were imprisoned for the efforts they made to tell people about the good news of Jesus.
Martin is clear as to what motivated him to put the production on. He says: ‘These are people who stuck to their principles and defied the law because they felt they were under the authority and protection of God. Despite the opposition they faced, they saw the needs of people around them and kept going.’
Although some of the challenges faced by The Salvation Army in 2023 are very different from those it faced in the 19th century, people can have confidence that it will continue to tell others about Jesus and help those in need today.