Dear Friends,
In explaining the International Vision, I have often alluded to the fact that this vision did not come to me in a dream, or in a supernatural visitation. It came as a result of an officer asking what I saw if mission priorities were actioned. I answered that I saw what I have always seen, an army on the move. Capturing that imagery is of course not rocket science. Not one of us thinks of any army as fulfilling its mission by staying in the barracks or marching in precision on the parade square. Whether it is a peacekeeping assignment or fighting force or emergency deployment, strategy and action are identifiable marks.
Since writing to you last December, I have seen our Army on the move in the territories of India Western, India Central, Japan and Sri Lanka as well as our new work in Nepal. In the farewell of Commissioners Barry and Sue Swanson (Chief of the Staff and World President of Women’s Ministries) and the welcoming of their successors, Commissioners André and Silvia Cox, along with the moves of so many leaders around the world, the Army was literally also on the move. Hopefully you have caught up with all of these visits and special occasions through our International News Releases (www.salvationarmy.org/ihq/news).
Do you ever wonder what the Lord sees when he watches us? He surely has his eyes wide open to the great things that are happening through the dedicated, compassionate action of Salvationists. He sees the crowds of people in India as they meet together for worship, and their spontaneous and reverent kneeling at the mercy seat. He sees the faithful Salvationists in Japan, who meet the needs of suffering humanity in their numerous social centres. I even think he smiles when he sees three elephants in an Army march in Sri Lanka, bearing on their foreheads the One Army, One Mission, One Message logo. But even more significantly, he smiles when he sees this vision actioned in Salvationist’s wonderful work among orphaned children and youth. He was watching the officer couple and their two daughters on the streets of Kathmandu, Nepal, as they courageously carried the Army flag and their tambourines to celebrate an Easter sunrise service. And when we meet to honour leaders who are prepared to move around the world and take on challenging assignments for his sake, he is there, watching, listening.
The Lord not only sees what is happening but he also sees the path ahead, the way we should take as his Army. A very special Scripture verse for many of us is ‘I will instruct you. I will teach you the way that you should go. I will advise you as my eyes watch over you’ (Psalm 32:8 GOD’S WORD ® Translation). Yes, we can strategise, envision and even move forward, but in truth, not one of us knows the future, knows what lies ahead. All the imagining in the world cannot guarantee effectiveness in mission or fruitfulness in service. But the One who sees, knows. It may sound like a slick slogan or even a paradox, but an Army on the march must be an Army on its knees. The vision can only be actualised as we have his guidance and commit to it.
It is true for The Salvation Army but it is also true for you, for me. Personal plans or dreams or the best of intentions still belong to an uncertain future. Though it is uncertain to us, it is not to him. The One who sees your life, my life, today is the One who delights to give us a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11).
Moving forward, therefore, need not be a matter of thoughtless action or hesitancy. Let’s claim his promise: ‘I will advise you as my eyes watch over you.’
Sincerely,
Linda Bond
General
Showing posts with label Pastoral Letter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pastoral Letter. Show all posts
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Friday, March 25, 2011
FAREWELL
PASTORAL LETTER TWENTY-FOUR
FAREWELL
Dear Fellow Salvationists,
Greetings in the strong and sacred name of Jesus Christ!
You will understand me when I say that I write this final and farewell Pastoral Letter with something of a heavy heart. It has been a very great privilege to be free to reach out to you all through these letters in recent years. Many of you have written to me from time to time to express encouragement and appreciation for these simple but heartfelt communications. I have valued deeply your responses.
I want to record my profound sense of holy pride arising from the manner in which my fellow Salvationists remain loyal to the Lord Jesus Christ and faithful to the sacred calling he has placed upon us to grow the Kingdom, to witness, and to serve in his name. By the grace of God we are doing this now in 123 countries. I salute and thank you each one. So too does Commissioner Helen Clifton, who continues to be in need of your prayers.
How gracious God has been in these five demanding years in which he has called me to serve as the General. He has helped and guided unfailingly and in keeping with the holy promises we find in the Scriptures. I know that he will also bless and guard the General-Elect, Commissioner Linda Bond, as she succeeds me. Thank you for your prayers for her at this time.
Let me turn now to the Scriptures.
In the Acts of the Apostles in Chapter 20 we read of the Apostle Paul bidding farewell to the Christian believers in the city of Ephesus. In verse 20 he tells them, 'You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you.' I want to adopt this verse for my own use in this farewell letter. I thank God for the wonderful privilege of being called to preach as an officer of The Salvation Army.
In verse 22 Paul says to them, 'Now I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there.' Let me also take this verse for myself. My 'Jerusalem' is in fact my retirement, for I do not know what will happen to me there! In many ways the future appears very uncertain. However, like Paul, we step into the unknown without fear because we know God is there too. He never fails.
Finally, in verse 32 Paul says to his hearers, 'Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among those who are sanctified.' I take these words and offer them to you all on this occasion. I commit you to God. I commit you to God's word of grace and to the One who is the Word, the full incarnate expression of the Godhead, the Lord Jesus Christ. I commit you to the One who alone can sanctify you. You and I are called to be pure for God, to be sacred vessels for him, sanctified and made holy by his blood poured out so freely at Calvary. The One who calls you can do it. He is able.
Thank you again for being my fellow Salvationists and my comrades. Thank you for your trust in Almighty God. Thank you for your holy obedience to Christ. Thank you for the sacred service that you give unstintingly for his cause.
Commissioner Helen and I will not cease to lift you up in prayer. We are bound together with you each one in our shared and sacred callings to witness and to serve in God's great Army of Salvation.
Hallelujah! God bless you all!
Yours in Christ,
Shaw Clifton
General
FAREWELL
Dear Fellow Salvationists,
Greetings in the strong and sacred name of Jesus Christ!
You will understand me when I say that I write this final and farewell Pastoral Letter with something of a heavy heart. It has been a very great privilege to be free to reach out to you all through these letters in recent years. Many of you have written to me from time to time to express encouragement and appreciation for these simple but heartfelt communications. I have valued deeply your responses.
I want to record my profound sense of holy pride arising from the manner in which my fellow Salvationists remain loyal to the Lord Jesus Christ and faithful to the sacred calling he has placed upon us to grow the Kingdom, to witness, and to serve in his name. By the grace of God we are doing this now in 123 countries. I salute and thank you each one. So too does Commissioner Helen Clifton, who continues to be in need of your prayers.
How gracious God has been in these five demanding years in which he has called me to serve as the General. He has helped and guided unfailingly and in keeping with the holy promises we find in the Scriptures. I know that he will also bless and guard the General-Elect, Commissioner Linda Bond, as she succeeds me. Thank you for your prayers for her at this time.
Let me turn now to the Scriptures.
In the Acts of the Apostles in Chapter 20 we read of the Apostle Paul bidding farewell to the Christian believers in the city of Ephesus. In verse 20 he tells them, 'You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you.' I want to adopt this verse for my own use in this farewell letter. I thank God for the wonderful privilege of being called to preach as an officer of The Salvation Army.
In verse 22 Paul says to them, 'Now I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there.' Let me also take this verse for myself. My 'Jerusalem' is in fact my retirement, for I do not know what will happen to me there! In many ways the future appears very uncertain. However, like Paul, we step into the unknown without fear because we know God is there too. He never fails.
Finally, in verse 32 Paul says to his hearers, 'Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among those who are sanctified.' I take these words and offer them to you all on this occasion. I commit you to God. I commit you to God's word of grace and to the One who is the Word, the full incarnate expression of the Godhead, the Lord Jesus Christ. I commit you to the One who alone can sanctify you. You and I are called to be pure for God, to be sacred vessels for him, sanctified and made holy by his blood poured out so freely at Calvary. The One who calls you can do it. He is able.
Thank you again for being my fellow Salvationists and my comrades. Thank you for your trust in Almighty God. Thank you for your holy obedience to Christ. Thank you for the sacred service that you give unstintingly for his cause.
Commissioner Helen and I will not cease to lift you up in prayer. We are bound together with you each one in our shared and sacred callings to witness and to serve in God's great Army of Salvation.
Hallelujah! God bless you all!
Yours in Christ,
Shaw Clifton
General
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Pastoral Letter - CHOICES
Dear Fellow Salvationists,
This is my penultimate Pastoral Letter and it is sent to you together with my esteem in Christ and my constant prayers for you. Commissioner Helen Clifton joins me in thanking you for your many and faithful prayers for us. We are richer in grace because of your prayers.
The theme of my Letter is 'Choices'.
As I compile this message to you the 2011 High Council has recently concluded its sacred business of choosing, by election, my successor. Gathered at Sunbury Court near London, the 109 officer-members of the High Council (57 women and 52 men) have chosen Commissioner Linda Bond to be the 19th General of The Salvation Army. She will take office on 2 April 2011. We surround her with our love in Christ and our prayers.
I know you will intercede for her constantly, as you have for me. God bless the General-Elect! She has been chosen in an atmosphere of prayerfulness and of waiting upon God. Yes, she has been chosen by human election, but we believe she has also been called by God to serve faithfully and to lead us all into a future that will be victorious for the cause of Christ and the Kingdom of God.
Now this prompts me to say that we who follow Jesus have all been called and chosen to be his instruments. The Bible tells us so. We have been chosen by a loving Saviour. In John 15:19 (I am using the Contemporary English Version - CEV - in this Letter) Jesus tells his disciples: 'You don't belong to the world. I have chosen you to leave the world behind.' Being chosen by Christ, because first we have chosen to follow him as our Saviour, means that the world no longer has any hold on us.
No longer do we take heed of the worldly voices that surround us so constantly. This is because we have chosen to listen to the Lord. He speaks, and we are helped and guided. Sometimes, however, we seem to be so busy that the voice of the Lord gets crowded out. I think of Martha and Mary in Bethany. Martha was active and busy, doing the many things that indeed needed to be done, but Mary took time to sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to him speaking. 'Mary has chosen what is best,' said Jesus (Luke 10:42).
What is your habit in choosing how to use your time? Are you constantly busy? Does it seem as though the things you need to do never come to an end? I urge you not to crowd out your personal time with the Lord. Take time to slow down and to sit at his feet like Mary did, to listen, and to take in what he has for you. In doing so, you will grow to be like him more and more.
In Psalm 65:4 David prays to the Lord and says: 'You bless your chosen ones, and you invite them to live near you.' Here again we see the clear connection between being chosen by God and being close to him.
I pray that you will grow nearer and nearer to the One who has chosen you to be his own. May you sense his love surrounding and filling you. May others grow aware that you are close to him, making them want that closeness too.
I pray also that the peace of Christ will fill you day by day, moment by moment.
I pray that the whole Army will experience a fresh infilling of heavenly grace. I know you will seek that for yourself, and I rely on you to ask Almighty God to grant the same in glorious abundance to the General-Elect.
God be with you each one.
Sincerely in him,
Shaw Clifton
General
This is my penultimate Pastoral Letter and it is sent to you together with my esteem in Christ and my constant prayers for you. Commissioner Helen Clifton joins me in thanking you for your many and faithful prayers for us. We are richer in grace because of your prayers.
The theme of my Letter is 'Choices'.
As I compile this message to you the 2011 High Council has recently concluded its sacred business of choosing, by election, my successor. Gathered at Sunbury Court near London, the 109 officer-members of the High Council (57 women and 52 men) have chosen Commissioner Linda Bond to be the 19th General of The Salvation Army. She will take office on 2 April 2011. We surround her with our love in Christ and our prayers.
I know you will intercede for her constantly, as you have for me. God bless the General-Elect! She has been chosen in an atmosphere of prayerfulness and of waiting upon God. Yes, she has been chosen by human election, but we believe she has also been called by God to serve faithfully and to lead us all into a future that will be victorious for the cause of Christ and the Kingdom of God.
Now this prompts me to say that we who follow Jesus have all been called and chosen to be his instruments. The Bible tells us so. We have been chosen by a loving Saviour. In John 15:19 (I am using the Contemporary English Version - CEV - in this Letter) Jesus tells his disciples: 'You don't belong to the world. I have chosen you to leave the world behind.' Being chosen by Christ, because first we have chosen to follow him as our Saviour, means that the world no longer has any hold on us.
No longer do we take heed of the worldly voices that surround us so constantly. This is because we have chosen to listen to the Lord. He speaks, and we are helped and guided. Sometimes, however, we seem to be so busy that the voice of the Lord gets crowded out. I think of Martha and Mary in Bethany. Martha was active and busy, doing the many things that indeed needed to be done, but Mary took time to sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to him speaking. 'Mary has chosen what is best,' said Jesus (Luke 10:42).
What is your habit in choosing how to use your time? Are you constantly busy? Does it seem as though the things you need to do never come to an end? I urge you not to crowd out your personal time with the Lord. Take time to slow down and to sit at his feet like Mary did, to listen, and to take in what he has for you. In doing so, you will grow to be like him more and more.
In Psalm 65:4 David prays to the Lord and says: 'You bless your chosen ones, and you invite them to live near you.' Here again we see the clear connection between being chosen by God and being close to him.
I pray that you will grow nearer and nearer to the One who has chosen you to be his own. May you sense his love surrounding and filling you. May others grow aware that you are close to him, making them want that closeness too.
I pray also that the peace of Christ will fill you day by day, moment by moment.
I pray that the whole Army will experience a fresh infilling of heavenly grace. I know you will seek that for yourself, and I rely on you to ask Almighty God to grant the same in glorious abundance to the General-Elect.
God be with you each one.
Sincerely in him,
Shaw Clifton
General
Monday, December 13, 2010
Pastoral Letter - Hope
HOPE
Dear Fellow Salvationists,
I write in the Name of Jesus to greet and encourage you.
Here in London we are in the late weeks of the Autumn season, but the weather is unusually mild just now and we can venture out of doors, without the need for heavy clothing, to enjoy the falling leaves as the trees turn golden brown. The children walk and skip to school with a carpet of fallen leaves beneath their feet. As they kick happily at the gathered gold, a sudden gust of wind will propel the fallen foliage once again into the air. It is an enchanting season. In the southern hemisphere you are in Spring-time, with promise and hope bursting outward and upward from the earth to remind you of new life.
Like all Christian believers, Salvationists are a people of hope. In mentioning hope I do not mean that shallow, facile optimism that says, 'Things will probably turn out alright in the end.' Christian hope proclaims the certainty that in Christ Jesus all is well now, regardless of our outward circumstances, and that we have the gift of hope from God not only for this life but for all eternity too. In 1 Corinthians 15:19 we are reminded that we have hope in Christ not only for this earthly life. Were this untrue then we are to be pitied above all others.
Titus 3:7 describes true believers as 'heirs having the hope of eternal life'. In this promise, and in many more found in Scripture, we sense the certainty of God's provision and the sureness of His promises. He does not toy with us. He offers us the gift of hope. We are free to accept or to reject His offer. My heart is filled with praise to God for each one of you reading this who has gladly and wholeheartedly accepted the Heavenly Father's infinitely gracious offer of hope - hope for today and for all our tomorrows.
I am very aware that as I write to you there remain only a few months of my term as the General of The Salvation Army. I will hand over to another, technically at midnight at the close of Friday April 1, 2011. The theme of hope is therefore very close to my heart in these days. I am full of hope for the future of the Army. I am full of certainty that God will bless and use to His glory the person, as yet unknown, who will become the General after me.
I urge every one of you to be filled with that same hope at this time. The 109 members of the High Council will gather at Sunbury-on-Thames near London in January 2011. They will come together from every corner of the earth on January 16th for a few days under my leadership as the General's Consultative Council. Then on January 21st the formal High Council proceedings begin, with the Chief of the Staff presiding over the opening session before a President is elected. The President then guides the Council in the election of the next General.
The High Council members will travel to London filled with holy hope. They will believe that God will guide them in their task. They will be open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. The Army world will cover them with prayer. These will be sacred days, days brimming with holy hope.
I close this Pastoral Letter by thanking you again for your fidelity to Christ and for your sanctified obedience to the divine leadings of God in your life and in your Army service.
Thank you too for your prayers for Commissioner Helen and for me. I am fully fit and well again. Commissioner Helen awaits the results of further scans to find out the full effect of recent radiotherapy. With me, she commits you all to the matchless love of Christ.
Together we say to you, with the Psalmist: 'Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord' (Psalm 31:24).
God be with you and make you a blessing to others.
Yours in Christ,
Shaw Clifton
General
Dear Fellow Salvationists,
I write in the Name of Jesus to greet and encourage you.
Here in London we are in the late weeks of the Autumn season, but the weather is unusually mild just now and we can venture out of doors, without the need for heavy clothing, to enjoy the falling leaves as the trees turn golden brown. The children walk and skip to school with a carpet of fallen leaves beneath their feet. As they kick happily at the gathered gold, a sudden gust of wind will propel the fallen foliage once again into the air. It is an enchanting season. In the southern hemisphere you are in Spring-time, with promise and hope bursting outward and upward from the earth to remind you of new life.
Like all Christian believers, Salvationists are a people of hope. In mentioning hope I do not mean that shallow, facile optimism that says, 'Things will probably turn out alright in the end.' Christian hope proclaims the certainty that in Christ Jesus all is well now, regardless of our outward circumstances, and that we have the gift of hope from God not only for this life but for all eternity too. In 1 Corinthians 15:19 we are reminded that we have hope in Christ not only for this earthly life. Were this untrue then we are to be pitied above all others.
Titus 3:7 describes true believers as 'heirs having the hope of eternal life'. In this promise, and in many more found in Scripture, we sense the certainty of God's provision and the sureness of His promises. He does not toy with us. He offers us the gift of hope. We are free to accept or to reject His offer. My heart is filled with praise to God for each one of you reading this who has gladly and wholeheartedly accepted the Heavenly Father's infinitely gracious offer of hope - hope for today and for all our tomorrows.
I am very aware that as I write to you there remain only a few months of my term as the General of The Salvation Army. I will hand over to another, technically at midnight at the close of Friday April 1, 2011. The theme of hope is therefore very close to my heart in these days. I am full of hope for the future of the Army. I am full of certainty that God will bless and use to His glory the person, as yet unknown, who will become the General after me.
I urge every one of you to be filled with that same hope at this time. The 109 members of the High Council will gather at Sunbury-on-Thames near London in January 2011. They will come together from every corner of the earth on January 16th for a few days under my leadership as the General's Consultative Council. Then on January 21st the formal High Council proceedings begin, with the Chief of the Staff presiding over the opening session before a President is elected. The President then guides the Council in the election of the next General.
The High Council members will travel to London filled with holy hope. They will believe that God will guide them in their task. They will be open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. The Army world will cover them with prayer. These will be sacred days, days brimming with holy hope.
I close this Pastoral Letter by thanking you again for your fidelity to Christ and for your sanctified obedience to the divine leadings of God in your life and in your Army service.
Thank you too for your prayers for Commissioner Helen and for me. I am fully fit and well again. Commissioner Helen awaits the results of further scans to find out the full effect of recent radiotherapy. With me, she commits you all to the matchless love of Christ.
Together we say to you, with the Psalmist: 'Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord' (Psalm 31:24).
God be with you and make you a blessing to others.
Yours in Christ,
Shaw Clifton
General
Friday, October 1, 2010
GRATITUTE
PASTORAL LETTER TWENTY-ONE
GRATITUDE (2)
Dear Fellow Salvationists,
Once more it is my great honour and privilege to be in touch with you through a Pastoral Letter.
Commissioner Helen Clifton joins me in sending greetings to you just where you are, thanking God for your fidelity to the gospel and for your service in his great Army of Salvation.
I am writing this Letter from my office in our home because recently I have undergone further surgery, this time for a heart bypass procedure. This took place unexpectedly six weeks ago and I thank God that I am making good progress and am able to keep up with all official matters through the kindness of the Chief of the Staff who meets me in our home regularly to discuss key matters of business and policy and also through the great help of my personal staff at International Headquarters.
Commissioner Helen Clifton is taking wonderful care of me but is also facing her own health challenges at this time. So your prayers are very, very precious to us both and to our family.
The theme of this Letter, as with Pastoral Letter 20, is gratitude. It is a theme that can never be exhausted. It is a natural theme for us at this time for we feel indebted to so many for loving support. Many of you have sent messages of prayer and encouragement. These have blessed and helped us so much.
I want to record heartfelt thanks to Almighty God for his unfailing love to us all. You will know of those times when you have experienced the loving closeness of our Heavenly Father. Sometimes he is so near to us that we can almost reach out and touch him. May you each be drawn closer and closer to God in this wonderful way.
We praise and thank God because he is able to save us from our sin and from the overarching rule of self and selfish ambition. Acts 4:12 tells us that there is no other name by which we can be saved. God the Father has given us Jesus, God the Son, to be our only Saviour. Our hearts fill up again with gratitude.
We have still further cause to be glad and grateful to God. He alone can make us holy. He alone can purify us and sanctify us through and through. In the words of the old chorus, not only is he 'able to save', but he is 'able to keep' - to keep us pure and victorious day by day from falling to temptation. Our part is to consecrate ourselves to God without reserve. He then does his part in cleansing us through and through, again and again.
In closing this Letter, I salute you and thank God for you. I commend each of you - just where you live and serve - to the infinite care of the Father, to the safe and loving hands of Jesus, and to the cleansing and enabling power of the Holy Spirit.
Yours in Sacred Service,
Shaw Clifton
General
GRATITUDE (2)
Dear Fellow Salvationists,
Once more it is my great honour and privilege to be in touch with you through a Pastoral Letter.
Commissioner Helen Clifton joins me in sending greetings to you just where you are, thanking God for your fidelity to the gospel and for your service in his great Army of Salvation.
I am writing this Letter from my office in our home because recently I have undergone further surgery, this time for a heart bypass procedure. This took place unexpectedly six weeks ago and I thank God that I am making good progress and am able to keep up with all official matters through the kindness of the Chief of the Staff who meets me in our home regularly to discuss key matters of business and policy and also through the great help of my personal staff at International Headquarters.
Commissioner Helen Clifton is taking wonderful care of me but is also facing her own health challenges at this time. So your prayers are very, very precious to us both and to our family.
The theme of this Letter, as with Pastoral Letter 20, is gratitude. It is a theme that can never be exhausted. It is a natural theme for us at this time for we feel indebted to so many for loving support. Many of you have sent messages of prayer and encouragement. These have blessed and helped us so much.
I want to record heartfelt thanks to Almighty God for his unfailing love to us all. You will know of those times when you have experienced the loving closeness of our Heavenly Father. Sometimes he is so near to us that we can almost reach out and touch him. May you each be drawn closer and closer to God in this wonderful way.
We praise and thank God because he is able to save us from our sin and from the overarching rule of self and selfish ambition. Acts 4:12 tells us that there is no other name by which we can be saved. God the Father has given us Jesus, God the Son, to be our only Saviour. Our hearts fill up again with gratitude.
We have still further cause to be glad and grateful to God. He alone can make us holy. He alone can purify us and sanctify us through and through. In the words of the old chorus, not only is he 'able to save', but he is 'able to keep' - to keep us pure and victorious day by day from falling to temptation. Our part is to consecrate ourselves to God without reserve. He then does his part in cleansing us through and through, again and again.
In closing this Letter, I salute you and thank God for you. I commend each of you - just where you live and serve - to the infinite care of the Father, to the safe and loving hands of Jesus, and to the cleansing and enabling power of the Holy Spirit.
Yours in Sacred Service,
Shaw Clifton
General
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Pastoral Letter - July 2010
Dear Fellow Salvationists,
I greet you each one in the sacred Name of Jesus. His Name is without equal. Only under his Name can salvation for our souls be found. Let our hearts leap upward with gratitude.
As I write to you, London is going through a mid-summer heat-wave - or at least a heat-wave by London standards! We are grateful for every comfort in this sophisticated western city, yet we remain mindful that not every Salvationist has such things. I thank God for the Army world that shares more and more regularly, more and more effectively, as a global family. We remember constantly our Lord's teaching that we should carry one another's burdens. We are partners in a holy mission and must be watchful of each other's needs.
I hear many prayers in all kinds of places and settings. You also hear them where you are. I am moved by the prayers I hear being offered by my fellow Salvationists. God is helping us to be more and more a prayerful Army. At the heart of prayer is thanksgiving. We come before our Heavenly Father in a spirit of humble gratitude. Philippians 4:6 teaches us to come to God in prayer with a grateful heart. As we pray, we must offer thanks more than offering requests. The Holy Spirit helps us as we pray and in this way we can get the balance right.
'Thank you' is a phrase on every Salvationist's lips, many times each day. We affirm one another in this way and at the same time we honour the God we all adore and obey. When we know how to thank God, we will also know how to thank our fellow believers. Similar courtesy can and should be offered to the unbeliever so that others see the courtesy of Christ in us.
Luke's Gospel (in chapter 17) tells us about the ten lepers healed by Jesus. Only one healed leper went back to Jesus to express gratitude for his healing. One in ten! Only a tenth! Just 10%! It is difficult to understand why the other nine offered no gratitude. It costs very little to say 'thank you'. I am asking God to make us more and more a grateful Army, an Army that constantly gives thanks for every help and blessing.
You will know the Old Testament account of Hannah and her longing for a child (see 1 Samuel 1:9-28). She offered a sacrifice of thanksgiving to God for her son, Samuel. He became a great man of God.
In 1 Corinthians 15:57 the Apostle Paul declares gratitude to God for spiritual victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. We join Paul in that burst of thanksgiving. Try to read the words for yourself and perhaps say them aloud as you read. You can say 'me' instead of 'us' and in that way make the verse very personal. It is a verse that you could include in your prayers every day. What a great way to begin and end a prayer.
As I end this Pastoral Letter I offer deep gratitude to God for your faithfulness. I thank God for you! You are my comrade, my sister or my brother in Christ. God bless and keep you in all things.
May you know the Lord's loving touch today.
I commend you to his matchless grace.
Sincerely in him,
Shaw Clifton
General
I greet you each one in the sacred Name of Jesus. His Name is without equal. Only under his Name can salvation for our souls be found. Let our hearts leap upward with gratitude.
As I write to you, London is going through a mid-summer heat-wave - or at least a heat-wave by London standards! We are grateful for every comfort in this sophisticated western city, yet we remain mindful that not every Salvationist has such things. I thank God for the Army world that shares more and more regularly, more and more effectively, as a global family. We remember constantly our Lord's teaching that we should carry one another's burdens. We are partners in a holy mission and must be watchful of each other's needs.
I hear many prayers in all kinds of places and settings. You also hear them where you are. I am moved by the prayers I hear being offered by my fellow Salvationists. God is helping us to be more and more a prayerful Army. At the heart of prayer is thanksgiving. We come before our Heavenly Father in a spirit of humble gratitude. Philippians 4:6 teaches us to come to God in prayer with a grateful heart. As we pray, we must offer thanks more than offering requests. The Holy Spirit helps us as we pray and in this way we can get the balance right.
'Thank you' is a phrase on every Salvationist's lips, many times each day. We affirm one another in this way and at the same time we honour the God we all adore and obey. When we know how to thank God, we will also know how to thank our fellow believers. Similar courtesy can and should be offered to the unbeliever so that others see the courtesy of Christ in us.
Luke's Gospel (in chapter 17) tells us about the ten lepers healed by Jesus. Only one healed leper went back to Jesus to express gratitude for his healing. One in ten! Only a tenth! Just 10%! It is difficult to understand why the other nine offered no gratitude. It costs very little to say 'thank you'. I am asking God to make us more and more a grateful Army, an Army that constantly gives thanks for every help and blessing.
You will know the Old Testament account of Hannah and her longing for a child (see 1 Samuel 1:9-28). She offered a sacrifice of thanksgiving to God for her son, Samuel. He became a great man of God.
In 1 Corinthians 15:57 the Apostle Paul declares gratitude to God for spiritual victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. We join Paul in that burst of thanksgiving. Try to read the words for yourself and perhaps say them aloud as you read. You can say 'me' instead of 'us' and in that way make the verse very personal. It is a verse that you could include in your prayers every day. What a great way to begin and end a prayer.
As I end this Pastoral Letter I offer deep gratitude to God for your faithfulness. I thank God for you! You are my comrade, my sister or my brother in Christ. God bless and keep you in all things.
May you know the Lord's loving touch today.
I commend you to his matchless grace.
Sincerely in him,
Shaw Clifton
General
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Pastoral Letter - COUNTING
Dear Fellow Salvationists,
This 19th Pastoral Letter comes to each of you with warmest good wishes and greetings in the Lord Jesus Christ.
As I prepare this letter in an upstairs room in my home in London, England, I look out to see the green and blossoming evidence of late spring. The trees are suddenly abundant in leaf. The sky is lighter and the days grow longer. We discern the hand of God in nature once again and we are filled with gratitude.
Readers in the southern hemisphere are in autumn, waiting for the darker nights and colder temperatures of winter to arrive. The seasons march on with seemingly inexorable pace. We feel our smallness, our creatureliness, and we sense too the overarching mind of the Creator in it all.
Little wonder then that we can burst into song to declare: 'How great Thou art!' We offer praise amid the awe. We bring to God our smallness, ready for him to help us rise in Christ to all the fullness of what we can be.
It is God's plan that each one of us should be all we can be. You matter, you count. Tell yourself out loud: 'I matter! I count in the eyes of Almighty God!'
Now suddenly my mind is racing off in another direction as I see the word 'count' appear in my script. The Bible tells us that even the number of hairs upon our heads has been counted and is known to God in Heaven. This is a powerful reminder of God's intimate knowledge of us. I find it enormously comforting, but many find the thought menacing. Not everyone wants a Creator God who interacts with us. Instead they seek freedom to wander, licence to please themselves, falsely supposing this to be freedom.
Our God is a counting God. We see this in Jesus who spoke about a flock of sheep numbering 100, but one was lost thus reducing the flock to only 99. The shepherd would not rest until the lost one had been found. That lost one is you. It is also me. We are 'Sheep Number 100'! How good that we have a God who can count and who searches tirelessly for us when we go missing. This divine attribute is ever before us when we do the sacredly routine work of counting how many folk are in a worship meeting, or how many have used the Mercy Seat, or how many names appear on the soldiers' roll and other rolls.
If our Creator is by nature a God who counts, then we in turn must expect also to be like him. We can count our blessings, we can count the days he has allotted to us and give thanks for each one of them.
God stands alongside us as we count. He knows how many Army soldiers and junior soldiers there are in the world, and how many there are in your local corps. He knows the number of Army officers in the world and the number of cadets in our training colleges. He loves to see these numbers grow. He knows too that we are at work now in 121 countries of the world. Best of all he knows personally and in detail every individual soldier, junior soldier, officer and cadet. He knows those who are his.
We bask in this knowledge.
Commissioner Helen Clifton joins me in greeting each of you in the precious Name of Jesus.
Please continue to pray for us.
I commend each one of you to the grace of Christ.
Sincerely in him,
Shaw Clifton
General
This 19th Pastoral Letter comes to each of you with warmest good wishes and greetings in the Lord Jesus Christ.
As I prepare this letter in an upstairs room in my home in London, England, I look out to see the green and blossoming evidence of late spring. The trees are suddenly abundant in leaf. The sky is lighter and the days grow longer. We discern the hand of God in nature once again and we are filled with gratitude.
Readers in the southern hemisphere are in autumn, waiting for the darker nights and colder temperatures of winter to arrive. The seasons march on with seemingly inexorable pace. We feel our smallness, our creatureliness, and we sense too the overarching mind of the Creator in it all.
Little wonder then that we can burst into song to declare: 'How great Thou art!' We offer praise amid the awe. We bring to God our smallness, ready for him to help us rise in Christ to all the fullness of what we can be.
It is God's plan that each one of us should be all we can be. You matter, you count. Tell yourself out loud: 'I matter! I count in the eyes of Almighty God!'
Now suddenly my mind is racing off in another direction as I see the word 'count' appear in my script. The Bible tells us that even the number of hairs upon our heads has been counted and is known to God in Heaven. This is a powerful reminder of God's intimate knowledge of us. I find it enormously comforting, but many find the thought menacing. Not everyone wants a Creator God who interacts with us. Instead they seek freedom to wander, licence to please themselves, falsely supposing this to be freedom.
Our God is a counting God. We see this in Jesus who spoke about a flock of sheep numbering 100, but one was lost thus reducing the flock to only 99. The shepherd would not rest until the lost one had been found. That lost one is you. It is also me. We are 'Sheep Number 100'! How good that we have a God who can count and who searches tirelessly for us when we go missing. This divine attribute is ever before us when we do the sacredly routine work of counting how many folk are in a worship meeting, or how many have used the Mercy Seat, or how many names appear on the soldiers' roll and other rolls.
If our Creator is by nature a God who counts, then we in turn must expect also to be like him. We can count our blessings, we can count the days he has allotted to us and give thanks for each one of them.
God stands alongside us as we count. He knows how many Army soldiers and junior soldiers there are in the world, and how many there are in your local corps. He knows the number of Army officers in the world and the number of cadets in our training colleges. He loves to see these numbers grow. He knows too that we are at work now in 121 countries of the world. Best of all he knows personally and in detail every individual soldier, junior soldier, officer and cadet. He knows those who are his.
We bask in this knowledge.
Commissioner Helen Clifton joins me in greeting each of you in the precious Name of Jesus.
Please continue to pray for us.
I commend each one of you to the grace of Christ.
Sincerely in him,
Shaw Clifton
General
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Pastoral Letter - UNITY
UNITY
Dear Fellow Salvationists,
This eighteenth Letter comes to you with warmest greetings in the Lord Jesus Christ. You are constantly in my prayers. Prayer unites us before the Throne of Grace. We are bonded in prayer. Please continue to pray for me - for wisdom and for constant guidance from Almighty God.
My wife and I, ably supported by my Private Secretary, Major Richard Gaudion, have recently made visits to the Congo (Brazzaville) Territory and to the USA National Headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. What contrasting locations! Yet we met in each place the same spirit of Salvationism and the same ardour for the Gospel that marks the Army in every corner of the globe. These two visits reinforced our awareness of the unity of God's Army.
In Brazzaville I was blessed to enrol 190 new Junior Soldiers, and the next day 185 Senior Soldiers - every child and adult in full uniform. The children and the adults made the same sacred promises and entered into the same holy covenants that are such a strong and unifying factor for Salvationists everywhere. The Territorial Commander, Commissioner Mfon Akpan, invited me to sign personally every single Promise Card and Soldier's Covenant. What a marvellous privilege to see the names appended to these God-blessed commitments. Many thousands attended the meetings to encourage the new Junior and Senior Soldiers.
Endless miles away, just a few weeks later, we encountered the same spirit of Salvationism as we met the officers and employees of National Headquarters in the USA. What a contrast from Brazzaville in terms of affluence, as once more we visited the richest nation on earth. Yet the Army spirit is the same. The goals are the same - the souls and needs of others! The commitment is the same - to serve in the Name of Jesus regardless of self!
How moving it has been, how inspirational, to witness our unity in the Army's global response to the Haiti earthquake and shortly thereafter to the quake in Chile. The instant, godly response has been wonderful, resulting in personnel, money, and equipment from across the globe in answer to the plight of the victims. Again, God is blessing and deepening our unity in Christ and in our callings to be Salvationists in a hurting world.
Unity pleases God. The Scriptures make this clear. In John 17 we read our Lord's passionate prayer that his committed followers would not allow discord to divide them. In Romans 12:5 Paul reminds us that 'in Christ we who are many form one body.' So let us each work for unity, especially in our local corps. A united corps is a growing corps. A united corps is an attractive, and attracting, corps.
Our English language Song Book has words that express our unity in Christ. Song 660 speaks of our hearts being bonded 'in Christian love', of the sharing of 'mutual burdens', and of our being 'joined in heart'. Song 573 offers an eloquent reminder of the role and place of the Mercy Seat in symbolising our oneness. It mentions (verse 3) our being gathered 'around one common Mercy Seat'. We are equal, we are one, we are united in our need of grace as we kneel at the feet of Christ.
Therefore I am praying for strong unity in the Army. I am asking God to deepen still further the bonds that unite us. I am praying that there will be no spirit of strife among us. I am pleading in prayer for unity in every part, and in every place where the Trinitarian flag of God's Army - the yellow, red and blue - flutters in the breeze, whether it be Africa or America, whether it be north or south, east or west.
Thank you for your faithfulness. I thank God for you.
Here today in London, as I write, the sky is overcast, but there glows within our souls the bright sunshine of God's love! May you know and feel that same love today, moment by moment.
I commend you to the grace of Christ.
Sincerely in Him,
Shaw Clifton
General
Dear Fellow Salvationists,
This eighteenth Letter comes to you with warmest greetings in the Lord Jesus Christ. You are constantly in my prayers. Prayer unites us before the Throne of Grace. We are bonded in prayer. Please continue to pray for me - for wisdom and for constant guidance from Almighty God.
My wife and I, ably supported by my Private Secretary, Major Richard Gaudion, have recently made visits to the Congo (Brazzaville) Territory and to the USA National Headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. What contrasting locations! Yet we met in each place the same spirit of Salvationism and the same ardour for the Gospel that marks the Army in every corner of the globe. These two visits reinforced our awareness of the unity of God's Army.
In Brazzaville I was blessed to enrol 190 new Junior Soldiers, and the next day 185 Senior Soldiers - every child and adult in full uniform. The children and the adults made the same sacred promises and entered into the same holy covenants that are such a strong and unifying factor for Salvationists everywhere. The Territorial Commander, Commissioner Mfon Akpan, invited me to sign personally every single Promise Card and Soldier's Covenant. What a marvellous privilege to see the names appended to these God-blessed commitments. Many thousands attended the meetings to encourage the new Junior and Senior Soldiers.
Endless miles away, just a few weeks later, we encountered the same spirit of Salvationism as we met the officers and employees of National Headquarters in the USA. What a contrast from Brazzaville in terms of affluence, as once more we visited the richest nation on earth. Yet the Army spirit is the same. The goals are the same - the souls and needs of others! The commitment is the same - to serve in the Name of Jesus regardless of self!
How moving it has been, how inspirational, to witness our unity in the Army's global response to the Haiti earthquake and shortly thereafter to the quake in Chile. The instant, godly response has been wonderful, resulting in personnel, money, and equipment from across the globe in answer to the plight of the victims. Again, God is blessing and deepening our unity in Christ and in our callings to be Salvationists in a hurting world.
Unity pleases God. The Scriptures make this clear. In John 17 we read our Lord's passionate prayer that his committed followers would not allow discord to divide them. In Romans 12:5 Paul reminds us that 'in Christ we who are many form one body.' So let us each work for unity, especially in our local corps. A united corps is a growing corps. A united corps is an attractive, and attracting, corps.
Our English language Song Book has words that express our unity in Christ. Song 660 speaks of our hearts being bonded 'in Christian love', of the sharing of 'mutual burdens', and of our being 'joined in heart'. Song 573 offers an eloquent reminder of the role and place of the Mercy Seat in symbolising our oneness. It mentions (verse 3) our being gathered 'around one common Mercy Seat'. We are equal, we are one, we are united in our need of grace as we kneel at the feet of Christ.
Therefore I am praying for strong unity in the Army. I am asking God to deepen still further the bonds that unite us. I am praying that there will be no spirit of strife among us. I am pleading in prayer for unity in every part, and in every place where the Trinitarian flag of God's Army - the yellow, red and blue - flutters in the breeze, whether it be Africa or America, whether it be north or south, east or west.
Thank you for your faithfulness. I thank God for you.
Here today in London, as I write, the sky is overcast, but there glows within our souls the bright sunshine of God's love! May you know and feel that same love today, moment by moment.
I commend you to the grace of Christ.
Sincerely in Him,
Shaw Clifton
General
Monday, January 11, 2010
Pastoral Letter - January 2010
BEGINNINGS
Dear Fellow Salvationists,
Through this first Pastoral Letter of 2010 I greet you warmly in the sacred name of Jesus. In these opening weeks of the New Year I lift you up to God in prayer. May the Divine Presence be very real to each one of you at this time of new beginnings. May you sense the Lord's nearness day by day, moment by moment.
The theme of this 17th Pastoral Letter is 'Beginnings'.
Another year is a gift from God to each of us. The very newness of it causes us to pause and take stock of our lives. It is good to do this from time to time.
We can, first of all, cast a backward glance over our shoulders to review the year that has just closed. Can you see the gracious hand of the Lord in it: in the things that have happened in your life, and in the events impacting the lives of your loved ones and friends? It is a time to pause and give thanks to Almighty God for his promised presence with us through all the days of 2009. He has been there in the good and in the bad times. He has seen us through. He has been faithful.
Next we look ahead. It is a very great mercy that the future is veiled. This prompts our hearts to reach out still further to God as consciously we put our trust in him for the unknown days ahead. A time of new beginnings is a time also for new trust.
Let us find a quiet moment in which to tell the Lord that we do indeed love and trust him. It is a very great help to our souls to do this deliberately, with full intentionality. This quiet moment of rededication will become perhaps a source of great strength, of great grace, in the days ahead. Let it be a renewing of your love for God, a renewing of your devotion, a renewing of your willingness to serve him and to be seen and known by all as his disciple.
Then having placed our lives afresh before him in this manner, we can place our loved ones again into his loving care and protection.
For example, how good it is to pray for one's spouse, to speak aloud the name of a husband or a wife in prayer. The best marriages, marriages that endure, are built on such foundations. How helpful it is when a husband and wife can sit quietly together to pray aloud for each other and for the whole family circle. It is especially important to do this at a time of new beginnings and before the gentle, calm blessedness of Christmas has faded.
How good it is also to pray for one's children, naming them aloud before the Throne of Grace. God hears these prayers. They are never wasted. God's ear is inclined toward those who seek his guidance and protection for their children. Christian parents often make such prayers, as do Christian grandparents and Christian aunts and uncles. I say again: these prayers are never wasted.
This season of new beginnings allows us to place before the Lord also the hopes we have in our hearts concerning our daily work. Many of you reading this are Salvation Army officers making plans for the spiritual advancement of those you lead and those you serve in Christ's name. I say to you, 'May God bless those plans, those sacred ambitions for the souls of others.'
Many of you are local officers in the Army, holding sacred hopes that 2010 will see your service more fruitful for God than ever before. I join you in that good hope and I share the Spirit-prompted ambitions for your Kingdom-work.
I know also that many of you have influence over our young people in the Army. God bless you for that! I pray that you will be guided in all things by the Holy Spirit and that you will be given wisdom to lead many a young person into a new beginning with God.
Finally, I request that you continue to pray for me as we enter 2010. I need your prayers. Please pray for wisdom from God to be my portion, and also for physical strength to be granted day by day.
Commissioner Helen Clifton joins me in greeting you as we commend you each one to the matchless love of the Saviour.
God be with you.
Yours in Christ
Shaw Clifton
General
Dear Fellow Salvationists,
Through this first Pastoral Letter of 2010 I greet you warmly in the sacred name of Jesus. In these opening weeks of the New Year I lift you up to God in prayer. May the Divine Presence be very real to each one of you at this time of new beginnings. May you sense the Lord's nearness day by day, moment by moment.
The theme of this 17th Pastoral Letter is 'Beginnings'.
Another year is a gift from God to each of us. The very newness of it causes us to pause and take stock of our lives. It is good to do this from time to time.
We can, first of all, cast a backward glance over our shoulders to review the year that has just closed. Can you see the gracious hand of the Lord in it: in the things that have happened in your life, and in the events impacting the lives of your loved ones and friends? It is a time to pause and give thanks to Almighty God for his promised presence with us through all the days of 2009. He has been there in the good and in the bad times. He has seen us through. He has been faithful.
Next we look ahead. It is a very great mercy that the future is veiled. This prompts our hearts to reach out still further to God as consciously we put our trust in him for the unknown days ahead. A time of new beginnings is a time also for new trust.
Let us find a quiet moment in which to tell the Lord that we do indeed love and trust him. It is a very great help to our souls to do this deliberately, with full intentionality. This quiet moment of rededication will become perhaps a source of great strength, of great grace, in the days ahead. Let it be a renewing of your love for God, a renewing of your devotion, a renewing of your willingness to serve him and to be seen and known by all as his disciple.
Then having placed our lives afresh before him in this manner, we can place our loved ones again into his loving care and protection.
For example, how good it is to pray for one's spouse, to speak aloud the name of a husband or a wife in prayer. The best marriages, marriages that endure, are built on such foundations. How helpful it is when a husband and wife can sit quietly together to pray aloud for each other and for the whole family circle. It is especially important to do this at a time of new beginnings and before the gentle, calm blessedness of Christmas has faded.
How good it is also to pray for one's children, naming them aloud before the Throne of Grace. God hears these prayers. They are never wasted. God's ear is inclined toward those who seek his guidance and protection for their children. Christian parents often make such prayers, as do Christian grandparents and Christian aunts and uncles. I say again: these prayers are never wasted.
This season of new beginnings allows us to place before the Lord also the hopes we have in our hearts concerning our daily work. Many of you reading this are Salvation Army officers making plans for the spiritual advancement of those you lead and those you serve in Christ's name. I say to you, 'May God bless those plans, those sacred ambitions for the souls of others.'
Many of you are local officers in the Army, holding sacred hopes that 2010 will see your service more fruitful for God than ever before. I join you in that good hope and I share the Spirit-prompted ambitions for your Kingdom-work.
I know also that many of you have influence over our young people in the Army. God bless you for that! I pray that you will be guided in all things by the Holy Spirit and that you will be given wisdom to lead many a young person into a new beginning with God.
Finally, I request that you continue to pray for me as we enter 2010. I need your prayers. Please pray for wisdom from God to be my portion, and also for physical strength to be granted day by day.
Commissioner Helen Clifton joins me in greeting you as we commend you each one to the matchless love of the Saviour.
God be with you.
Yours in Christ
Shaw Clifton
General
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Christmas Message 2009 from the General
All My Heart Rejoices
WHAT a night! The night our Saviour was born! A night to rejoice with all our hearts!
Sweet angel voices, sounding far and near, announced his birth: Christ is born! It was as though the entire sky announced this matchless message. Joy filled the air. Joy-bells still ring to hail his coming.
If we listen carefully, our ear attuned, we can still hear the holy baby’s first cry from the manger in Bethlehem. It is as though from birth he has been calling us, entreating, pleading with us to flee from the snares and dangers that await our souls. ‘Come to me,’ he says. ‘Leave all that grieves and burdens you. I can offer freedom. I can give you all you need.’
So let us accept his divine invitation, you and I together. Let us do so without delay. He invites us all. He calls to the lowly and the great alike. We cannot impress him with our education or our income, so whoever we are we approach him together with awe and wonder as equals. He invites us to commit ourselves to him. He wants us to return the love he offers us all. The Christmas star, high and bright in the sky, is a hope-filled sign of divine love.
Coming to the newborn Christ-child is a signal that we have come to our senses. We come to him, deciding to live in obedience to him, and finding our hope of Heaven in him. He offers us the matchless prospect of living with him for ever. Who else promises matchless joy both now and in all eternity?
For all these reasons my heart rejoices. Christ is born!
By General Shaw Cliftonwith acknowledgements to Paulus Gerhardt (1607-76)and 'The Song Book of The Salvation Army', No 73
Sweet angel voices, sounding far and near, announced his birth: Christ is born! It was as though the entire sky announced this matchless message. Joy filled the air. Joy-bells still ring to hail his coming.
If we listen carefully, our ear attuned, we can still hear the holy baby’s first cry from the manger in Bethlehem. It is as though from birth he has been calling us, entreating, pleading with us to flee from the snares and dangers that await our souls. ‘Come to me,’ he says. ‘Leave all that grieves and burdens you. I can offer freedom. I can give you all you need.’
So let us accept his divine invitation, you and I together. Let us do so without delay. He invites us all. He calls to the lowly and the great alike. We cannot impress him with our education or our income, so whoever we are we approach him together with awe and wonder as equals. He invites us to commit ourselves to him. He wants us to return the love he offers us all. The Christmas star, high and bright in the sky, is a hope-filled sign of divine love.
Coming to the newborn Christ-child is a signal that we have come to our senses. We come to him, deciding to live in obedience to him, and finding our hope of Heaven in him. He offers us the matchless prospect of living with him for ever. Who else promises matchless joy both now and in all eternity?
For all these reasons my heart rejoices. Christ is born!
By General Shaw Cliftonwith acknowledgements to Paulus Gerhardt (1607-76)and 'The Song Book of The Salvation Army', No 73
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Pastoral Letter October 2009
HEAVEN
Dear Fellow Salvationists,
I send warmest greetings in Christ to my fellow believers across the globe and especially to my fellow Salvationists in the 118 lands into which God has led us.
Thank you for your fidelity to the cause of the gospel. We remember you daily in prayer. Thank you for your faithful prayers for me and for Commissioner Helen Clifton. We need these prayers. They sustain us powerfully. I request that you intercede on my behalf for ongoing wisdom in all matters touching the worldwide Army.
We are all on our way to Heaven. The theme of this 16th Pastoral Letter is Heaven.
Recently we were privileged to be with our fellow Salvationists in Zambia and Zimbabwe. In both places we witnessed Salvationists marching past in vast numbers. Each and every marcher offered the Army salute, the right index finger pointed Heavenward. How happy we were to return these salutes! It did not seem to matter that our right arms grew tired as the cohorts of Salvationists paraded, for we were comrades together, bonded deeply by sacred ties, and in exchanging salutes we signalled that we were all on our way to Heaven by the grace of God.
The people of Jesus Christ in the Army are marching to Glory. Salvation Army soldiers are said to be 'promoted to Glory' when they take their final breath. We deck our flags with white ribbon for the funeral of a Salvationist, a powerful sign that though we feel keenly the pain of loss we do not wallow in despair for we know about Heaven.
Since taking office as the General in April 2006 my father, Major Albert Clifton, has been promoted to Glory and so too have Commissioner Helen's parents, my father-in-law Bandmaster Donald Ashman and my mother-in-law Betty Ashman. We know our parents are safe in Heaven. How do we know? The answer to that question is simple: Jesus has told us so. Just turn in your Bible to John 14. See there the rock-solid promises of Jesus about the life to come.
The Lord Jesus Christ offers deep and lasting assurance. He knows the natural fears and uncertainties of the human heart when the end of life is contemplated. That is why he offers special words of emphasis and comfort: '... if it were not so, I would have told you.'
He has made ready. All things are planned and prepared. He has told us all we can take in for now. There remains only the need to trust him for our loved ones and one day for ourselves. He is trustworthy.
In Romans 6:4 we are taught that 'just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.' Paul goes on to say in verse 5 that we 'will certainly also be united with him (Christ) in his resurrection.' This is another reliable promise from God.
So let us each live in a way that testifies to our sure hope of Heaven.
As I pen these few words, I see in my imagination the Army saints who have gone on before us to Heaven. I picture them gathered from time to time and leaning over the battlements of Heaven as the Lord affords them a glimpse of what the Army is doing today. They are cheering us on!
I thank God for each of you as we travel to Glory together. Until the Lord calls us Home let us journey with a real consciousness of Heaven as our final destination. Our journey thus has profound meaning and purpose.
I commit you each to the perfect love of Christ.
Yours in Jesus,
Shaw Clifton
General
Dear Fellow Salvationists,
I send warmest greetings in Christ to my fellow believers across the globe and especially to my fellow Salvationists in the 118 lands into which God has led us.
Thank you for your fidelity to the cause of the gospel. We remember you daily in prayer. Thank you for your faithful prayers for me and for Commissioner Helen Clifton. We need these prayers. They sustain us powerfully. I request that you intercede on my behalf for ongoing wisdom in all matters touching the worldwide Army.
We are all on our way to Heaven. The theme of this 16th Pastoral Letter is Heaven.
Recently we were privileged to be with our fellow Salvationists in Zambia and Zimbabwe. In both places we witnessed Salvationists marching past in vast numbers. Each and every marcher offered the Army salute, the right index finger pointed Heavenward. How happy we were to return these salutes! It did not seem to matter that our right arms grew tired as the cohorts of Salvationists paraded, for we were comrades together, bonded deeply by sacred ties, and in exchanging salutes we signalled that we were all on our way to Heaven by the grace of God.
The people of Jesus Christ in the Army are marching to Glory. Salvation Army soldiers are said to be 'promoted to Glory' when they take their final breath. We deck our flags with white ribbon for the funeral of a Salvationist, a powerful sign that though we feel keenly the pain of loss we do not wallow in despair for we know about Heaven.
Since taking office as the General in April 2006 my father, Major Albert Clifton, has been promoted to Glory and so too have Commissioner Helen's parents, my father-in-law Bandmaster Donald Ashman and my mother-in-law Betty Ashman. We know our parents are safe in Heaven. How do we know? The answer to that question is simple: Jesus has told us so. Just turn in your Bible to John 14. See there the rock-solid promises of Jesus about the life to come.
The Lord Jesus Christ offers deep and lasting assurance. He knows the natural fears and uncertainties of the human heart when the end of life is contemplated. That is why he offers special words of emphasis and comfort: '... if it were not so, I would have told you.'
He has made ready. All things are planned and prepared. He has told us all we can take in for now. There remains only the need to trust him for our loved ones and one day for ourselves. He is trustworthy.
In Romans 6:4 we are taught that 'just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.' Paul goes on to say in verse 5 that we 'will certainly also be united with him (Christ) in his resurrection.' This is another reliable promise from God.
So let us each live in a way that testifies to our sure hope of Heaven.
As I pen these few words, I see in my imagination the Army saints who have gone on before us to Heaven. I picture them gathered from time to time and leaning over the battlements of Heaven as the Lord affords them a glimpse of what the Army is doing today. They are cheering us on!
I thank God for each of you as we travel to Glory together. Until the Lord calls us Home let us journey with a real consciousness of Heaven as our final destination. Our journey thus has profound meaning and purpose.
I commit you each to the perfect love of Christ.
Yours in Jesus,
Shaw Clifton
General
Friday, August 28, 2009
Pastoral Letter - August 2009
FAMILY
Dear Fellow Salvationists,
You are lifted to the Throne of Grace in prayer daily. Prayer is a recurring miracle that gives us direct access to our Maker and which bonds together those who trust in Jesus as their Saviour.
In my last Pastoral Letter (Letter Fourteen) I requested your prayers for the International Conference of Leaders. Now I record my deepest thanks to you for supporting this historic gathering in prayerful intercession. In the days leading up to the conference I received many written assurances of prayers and more have reached me since the gathering ended, making intercession for the ongoing impact of the deliberations. Those present certainly experienced a deep sense of being held and sustained by the prayers of many around the globe. We had a wonderful sense of unity right from the very beginning of our time together. Please note the 'Spiritual Statement to the Army' that has recently been issued on behalf of all who attended the conference. It is my hope that this Statement will be met with a tender and sensitive response by all who read and ponder it.
The Lord granted the International Conference of Leaders a true sense of being members together of the family of God.
The theme of this Pastoral Letter is Family.
Family is God's idea. He has planned the created world in such a way that we thrive best when family life is strong, protected and promoted by those in government. Serious social research shows that children do best, for example in health and in education, when they are raised by two parents, one male and one female, who through marriage are publicly committed to one another for life.
Marriage and family are inevitably interlinked. Alternative models of family life can be found on every hand these days, some arising out of marital breakdown, others the result of a deliberate choice to bring a child into the world out of wedlock. Statistical evidence tells us that these children face an uphill struggle to do well compared with children born within the sacred bond of traditional marriage.
When family life is strong, a nation is strong. Stable families are a pre-requisite of a stable social order. Secure family life results in lower crime rates, in fewer people serving time in prison, and in improved mental and emotional health. Family lies at the very heart of a stable social order.
In turn, stable family life delivers for most of us reliable love and personal security. The reliable love of parents, experienced by the child, opens up that child to experiencing and knowing the ultimate reliable love - that of the Creator. Recently we celebrated the birth of our fifth grandchild, Amos Paul Clifton. We are thankful that he will be raised in a secure family setting, giving him the best possible start in life and an opportunity to know and sense from his earliest days parental love modelled on the love of God.
Closely interwoven with strong family life are key areas of social policy that all governments should promote and protect. We need to pray for political leaders to be raised up who will have respect for life, who will work for decent housing for all, who will promote family-friendly practices in the workplace, and who will favour families and marriage in the shaping of taxation and other fiscal policies.
Families are the bedrock of our society, the setting within which we discover the essential human qualities of love, commitment, compassion and generosity.
Let us pray therefore that every family will be modelled on God's creation plan. Let us pray that Christian families will know daily the grace of God as the key ingredient in living and growing together. We can also pray that those seeking to undermine family life will be frustrated. We can pray that marriages will flourish and succeed even in the face of much modern pressure to the contrary.
We must pray too for much divine grace to attend those who presently find their marriages and their family life under strain. May they come through the storms stronger and more deeply committed to each precious relationship.
Finally, let us give thanks for the family of the Body of Christ, the family of believers within which we can also know reliable love and spiritual intimacy.
I commit you, yet again, to the perfect love of Christ.
Yours in Jesus,
Shaw Clifton
General
Dear Fellow Salvationists,You are lifted to the Throne of Grace in prayer daily. Prayer is a recurring miracle that gives us direct access to our Maker and which bonds together those who trust in Jesus as their Saviour.
In my last Pastoral Letter (Letter Fourteen) I requested your prayers for the International Conference of Leaders. Now I record my deepest thanks to you for supporting this historic gathering in prayerful intercession. In the days leading up to the conference I received many written assurances of prayers and more have reached me since the gathering ended, making intercession for the ongoing impact of the deliberations. Those present certainly experienced a deep sense of being held and sustained by the prayers of many around the globe. We had a wonderful sense of unity right from the very beginning of our time together. Please note the 'Spiritual Statement to the Army' that has recently been issued on behalf of all who attended the conference. It is my hope that this Statement will be met with a tender and sensitive response by all who read and ponder it.
The Lord granted the International Conference of Leaders a true sense of being members together of the family of God.
The theme of this Pastoral Letter is Family.
Family is God's idea. He has planned the created world in such a way that we thrive best when family life is strong, protected and promoted by those in government. Serious social research shows that children do best, for example in health and in education, when they are raised by two parents, one male and one female, who through marriage are publicly committed to one another for life.
Marriage and family are inevitably interlinked. Alternative models of family life can be found on every hand these days, some arising out of marital breakdown, others the result of a deliberate choice to bring a child into the world out of wedlock. Statistical evidence tells us that these children face an uphill struggle to do well compared with children born within the sacred bond of traditional marriage.
When family life is strong, a nation is strong. Stable families are a pre-requisite of a stable social order. Secure family life results in lower crime rates, in fewer people serving time in prison, and in improved mental and emotional health. Family lies at the very heart of a stable social order.
In turn, stable family life delivers for most of us reliable love and personal security. The reliable love of parents, experienced by the child, opens up that child to experiencing and knowing the ultimate reliable love - that of the Creator. Recently we celebrated the birth of our fifth grandchild, Amos Paul Clifton. We are thankful that he will be raised in a secure family setting, giving him the best possible start in life and an opportunity to know and sense from his earliest days parental love modelled on the love of God.
Closely interwoven with strong family life are key areas of social policy that all governments should promote and protect. We need to pray for political leaders to be raised up who will have respect for life, who will work for decent housing for all, who will promote family-friendly practices in the workplace, and who will favour families and marriage in the shaping of taxation and other fiscal policies.
Families are the bedrock of our society, the setting within which we discover the essential human qualities of love, commitment, compassion and generosity.
Let us pray therefore that every family will be modelled on God's creation plan. Let us pray that Christian families will know daily the grace of God as the key ingredient in living and growing together. We can also pray that those seeking to undermine family life will be frustrated. We can pray that marriages will flourish and succeed even in the face of much modern pressure to the contrary.
We must pray too for much divine grace to attend those who presently find their marriages and their family life under strain. May they come through the storms stronger and more deeply committed to each precious relationship.
Finally, let us give thanks for the family of the Body of Christ, the family of believers within which we can also know reliable love and spiritual intimacy.
I commit you, yet again, to the perfect love of Christ.
Yours in Jesus,
Shaw Clifton
General
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Pastoral Letter - June 2009
Dear Fellow Salvationists,
This Pastoral Letter comes to you with my warmest greetings in the Lord Jesus Christ and with my prayers for each of you. The Lord is using the Army in wonderful ways. We seek to be faithful to the divine impulse to go out into the world representing Jesus Christ to all we meet. My constant prayer for you is that God will use you, just as he uses all who are faithful to him regardless of their denominational affiliation. My Fellow Salvationists, you are key players in a mighty Christian host of believers scattered across the globe. I hold you all before the Lord in prayer as I write to you. God has a part for you to play in his great plan of salvation.
The theme of this letter is Leadership.
There is a deep and true sense in which all Christians are leaders. Often we use the word 'leader' to mean a person in high position or with authority over others. This is a legitimate use of the word, but for now let me suggest that we can use it with a wider, more inclusive, meaning.
You are a leader just where God has placed you. You can influence other lives, leading people to consider the things of Christ. You can lead others into the realisation there is more to life than selfishness or the pursuit of pleasure. You can be the sanctified leader when someone suggests that you engage with them in some doubtful activity. You can lead when others do not sense someone's hurt, or another's need. You can take the lead when others stand by idly or are in confusion as to the way forward in a time of crisis.
To be a leader like this does not require a special rank or position, or any kind of formal authorisation. Each believer in Jesus is called to be a leader like this. All Christians are called to be leaders.
The very fact that we are known to be in the Army can sometimes make other people have expectations of us that mean we will often need to show initiative and leadership more than others. Our uniforms can result in expectations like this. There is a deep sense in which the wearing of Salvation Army uniform says to others that the wearer is ready to take responsibility in the unexpected moment, to take the lead in the unlikely situation.
In fact, there is a sense in which we are an Army of leaders. We each have a leadership function to carry out. Let us not minimise this or shrink from it out of shyness or fear. The Lord who calls us is able to accomplish through us everything he wills and wishes. The Holy Spirit is our guide and our helper.
Without diminishing in any way this 'leadership' role of all believers, let me also mention those who hold heavy leadership burdens in the Army because of their rank or appointment as officers. On Tuesday, 7 July 2009 London will host a gathering of the Army's most senior officers. An International Conference of Leaders like this takes place every few years. I seek your prayers for those who will gather with me. They are spiritual leaders like you, in the deep sense I have tried to outline above, but they are also leaders in the organisational sense in terms of the senior responsibilities they carry within the Army.
We shall number about 140 and will be together for seven days. Let me mention the two most important things we will do in that week: we will pray together, especially for you and your fellow Salvationists, and we will study the Scriptures together, waiting upon God for his divine direction and impulse.
We will also take a warm-hearted but hard-headed look at the state of the world, at the readiness of the Army in 118 countries to engage with the modern world, and at the need to see far into the future to discern God's way forward for his Salvation Army.
Please, please pray about this gathering. Let me give you the dates again: 7 - 13 July 2009. Perhaps you can enter these dates into your prayer diary or into your devotional schedule so that you can influence the deliberations through prayer. That would be wonderful! Perhaps you could covenant with the Lord to hold a particular participant, perhaps your own leader, before the Lord each day of the conference. What a difference you could make in that way!
God bless you in your own local leadership, both in your community and in your corps. Every soldier is a leader for God and the gospel. I pray that you will be used to lead others into faith in Jesus as their Saviour. I pray that you will be used to lead others eventually to their eternal reward when we shall see Jesus in Heaven. What a day that will be!
I commend you to the perfect love of Christ.
I pray for you daily.
Sincerely in Jesus,
Shaw Clifton
General
This Pastoral Letter comes to you with my warmest greetings in the Lord Jesus Christ and with my prayers for each of you. The Lord is using the Army in wonderful ways. We seek to be faithful to the divine impulse to go out into the world representing Jesus Christ to all we meet. My constant prayer for you is that God will use you, just as he uses all who are faithful to him regardless of their denominational affiliation. My Fellow Salvationists, you are key players in a mighty Christian host of believers scattered across the globe. I hold you all before the Lord in prayer as I write to you. God has a part for you to play in his great plan of salvation.
The theme of this letter is Leadership.
There is a deep and true sense in which all Christians are leaders. Often we use the word 'leader' to mean a person in high position or with authority over others. This is a legitimate use of the word, but for now let me suggest that we can use it with a wider, more inclusive, meaning.
You are a leader just where God has placed you. You can influence other lives, leading people to consider the things of Christ. You can lead others into the realisation there is more to life than selfishness or the pursuit of pleasure. You can be the sanctified leader when someone suggests that you engage with them in some doubtful activity. You can lead when others do not sense someone's hurt, or another's need. You can take the lead when others stand by idly or are in confusion as to the way forward in a time of crisis.
To be a leader like this does not require a special rank or position, or any kind of formal authorisation. Each believer in Jesus is called to be a leader like this. All Christians are called to be leaders.
The very fact that we are known to be in the Army can sometimes make other people have expectations of us that mean we will often need to show initiative and leadership more than others. Our uniforms can result in expectations like this. There is a deep sense in which the wearing of Salvation Army uniform says to others that the wearer is ready to take responsibility in the unexpected moment, to take the lead in the unlikely situation.
In fact, there is a sense in which we are an Army of leaders. We each have a leadership function to carry out. Let us not minimise this or shrink from it out of shyness or fear. The Lord who calls us is able to accomplish through us everything he wills and wishes. The Holy Spirit is our guide and our helper.
Without diminishing in any way this 'leadership' role of all believers, let me also mention those who hold heavy leadership burdens in the Army because of their rank or appointment as officers. On Tuesday, 7 July 2009 London will host a gathering of the Army's most senior officers. An International Conference of Leaders like this takes place every few years. I seek your prayers for those who will gather with me. They are spiritual leaders like you, in the deep sense I have tried to outline above, but they are also leaders in the organisational sense in terms of the senior responsibilities they carry within the Army.
We shall number about 140 and will be together for seven days. Let me mention the two most important things we will do in that week: we will pray together, especially for you and your fellow Salvationists, and we will study the Scriptures together, waiting upon God for his divine direction and impulse.
We will also take a warm-hearted but hard-headed look at the state of the world, at the readiness of the Army in 118 countries to engage with the modern world, and at the need to see far into the future to discern God's way forward for his Salvation Army.
Please, please pray about this gathering. Let me give you the dates again: 7 - 13 July 2009. Perhaps you can enter these dates into your prayer diary or into your devotional schedule so that you can influence the deliberations through prayer. That would be wonderful! Perhaps you could covenant with the Lord to hold a particular participant, perhaps your own leader, before the Lord each day of the conference. What a difference you could make in that way!
God bless you in your own local leadership, both in your community and in your corps. Every soldier is a leader for God and the gospel. I pray that you will be used to lead others into faith in Jesus as their Saviour. I pray that you will be used to lead others eventually to their eternal reward when we shall see Jesus in Heaven. What a day that will be!
I commend you to the perfect love of Christ.
I pray for you daily.
Sincerely in Jesus,
Shaw Clifton
General
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Pastoral Letter - Feb 2009
MIRACLES
Dear Fellow Salvationists,
Greetings in Christ from London!
As this is the first Pastoral Letter of the New Year, Commissioner Helen Clifton joins me in wishing you all a very happy and blessed 2009. May it be a year when God draws very near to you, and you to him.
Do you believe in miracles? I most definitely do. Miracles take place all the time, but often we miss them or fail to recognise them. Recently I held a new born child. His name was Oscar and he was perfectly formed. He felt soft, tiny, and vulnerable. He was a miracle of new life. Everyone around him grew softer in their spirits and even in their body language - another everyday miracle.
At Christmas we met in person our youngest grandchild, Lincoln, in New Zealand. He had never met us during his 16 months of life. His first smile to us was a miracle of beauty. It communicated things to us no words can convey. It touched us deep within ourselves in ways that cannot be explained - another miracle.
At the other end of life there are miracles too. When my father was promoted to Glory in 2006 we witnessed the miracle of 'dying grace' as the Lord ministered to him in his final hours. Just a week ago a good family friend and fellow Salvationist related to us the evidence of the same 'dying grace' that fell upon her dear husband at the end. Miracles of grace!
We need never wrestle with the accounts in Scripture of miracles. We need never doubt the truth of what is recorded for us about the actions of Jesus. Once we know who Jesus is, instead of doubting the miracles we ought to be positively expecting them! It is just the same today. We know who he is, and we ought to expect miracles as an everyday thing.
Every coming to faith in Jesus Christ is a miracle of grace. Transforming a rebel against God into a prayerful, loving child of God is a miracle beyond compare. Then there are the continuous miracles of growing in grace: letting go of anger and embracing peace; rejecting the temptations of the world and preferring purity; dethroning self and living for others; replacing old, worn out ambitions with the perfect will of God for our lives.
Let me share with you what General Bramwell Booth once wrote about the miracle of a changed life:
The change of nature or character, which we undoubtedly see in some of God's people, is a true miracle. Here is one of the permanent wonders of God's dealing with us. We are not only made correct in outward acts, but changed in tastes, in desire, in preference - that is, in our very nature. When we see those who have from their youth up been accustomed to do and be evil, changed to do and love what is good, we are compelled to exclaim: 'This is none other than the work of the Holy Spirit! Behold, God is here!'
Exactly so - God is here - and therefore miracles are present too.
A prayer we can all use:
'Loving Heavenly Father, you have come among us in the person of Jesus Christ, your Son. Please stay with us. Do not abandon us to the world. Reveal yourself in love among us. Graciously indwell us by your Holy Spirit. Open our eyes to see you constantly at work. Help us to recognise the miraculous amid the everyday. Father God, please go on working your miracles of grace in me, using me more and more to your glory. Let me be one of your miracles of grace, and please do not ever cease to work in me to change me more and more into all you want me to be, so that one day I will be made ready to live with you in Heaven and to hear you say, Well done! Amen.'
I commend you all to the perfect love of Christ.
God bless and keep you.
Shaw Clifton
General
February 2009
Dear Fellow Salvationists,
Greetings in Christ from London!
As this is the first Pastoral Letter of the New Year, Commissioner Helen Clifton joins me in wishing you all a very happy and blessed 2009. May it be a year when God draws very near to you, and you to him.
Do you believe in miracles? I most definitely do. Miracles take place all the time, but often we miss them or fail to recognise them. Recently I held a new born child. His name was Oscar and he was perfectly formed. He felt soft, tiny, and vulnerable. He was a miracle of new life. Everyone around him grew softer in their spirits and even in their body language - another everyday miracle.
At Christmas we met in person our youngest grandchild, Lincoln, in New Zealand. He had never met us during his 16 months of life. His first smile to us was a miracle of beauty. It communicated things to us no words can convey. It touched us deep within ourselves in ways that cannot be explained - another miracle.
At the other end of life there are miracles too. When my father was promoted to Glory in 2006 we witnessed the miracle of 'dying grace' as the Lord ministered to him in his final hours. Just a week ago a good family friend and fellow Salvationist related to us the evidence of the same 'dying grace' that fell upon her dear husband at the end. Miracles of grace!
We need never wrestle with the accounts in Scripture of miracles. We need never doubt the truth of what is recorded for us about the actions of Jesus. Once we know who Jesus is, instead of doubting the miracles we ought to be positively expecting them! It is just the same today. We know who he is, and we ought to expect miracles as an everyday thing.
Every coming to faith in Jesus Christ is a miracle of grace. Transforming a rebel against God into a prayerful, loving child of God is a miracle beyond compare. Then there are the continuous miracles of growing in grace: letting go of anger and embracing peace; rejecting the temptations of the world and preferring purity; dethroning self and living for others; replacing old, worn out ambitions with the perfect will of God for our lives.
Let me share with you what General Bramwell Booth once wrote about the miracle of a changed life:
The change of nature or character, which we undoubtedly see in some of God's people, is a true miracle. Here is one of the permanent wonders of God's dealing with us. We are not only made correct in outward acts, but changed in tastes, in desire, in preference - that is, in our very nature. When we see those who have from their youth up been accustomed to do and be evil, changed to do and love what is good, we are compelled to exclaim: 'This is none other than the work of the Holy Spirit! Behold, God is here!'
Exactly so - God is here - and therefore miracles are present too.
A prayer we can all use:
'Loving Heavenly Father, you have come among us in the person of Jesus Christ, your Son. Please stay with us. Do not abandon us to the world. Reveal yourself in love among us. Graciously indwell us by your Holy Spirit. Open our eyes to see you constantly at work. Help us to recognise the miraculous amid the everyday. Father God, please go on working your miracles of grace in me, using me more and more to your glory. Let me be one of your miracles of grace, and please do not ever cease to work in me to change me more and more into all you want me to be, so that one day I will be made ready to live with you in Heaven and to hear you say, Well done! Amen.'
I commend you all to the perfect love of Christ.
God bless and keep you.
Shaw Clifton
General
February 2009
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