Called to be Intentional - In Holiness, Prayer, Discipleship, Mission
This year I want to encourage all of us to focus upon being all that Gog has called us to be as His Salvation Army in this territory. Not just to think about, not just to believe in, but to be intentional in living out our calling and commitment. This can only happen when together we make these priorities in our personal lives, in our corps and in our centres. I believe we must be 'Intentional' if we want to move forward and allow God, through His Holy Spirit to renew and refresh us.
In the August War Cry, I identified a number of priorities which I believed God had laid on my heart as I was entrusted with the leadership of the territory. Our theme for 2011 provides us with a focus for those priorities and seeks to make them personal.
Intentional in Holiness
God has called The Salvation Army to be a holiness movement and this is key to our identity. The International Spiritual Life Commission called all Salvationists to live out the doctrine of holiness in all its dimensions: personal, relational, social and political. We are called to be like Jesus in every aspect of our lives but holiness is not automatic, we need to purposefully seek it. May we each live our lives in such a way that we honour God and shine for Jesus.
Intentional in Prayer
This year I ask that we commit ourselves to pray specifically and consistently for our territory. I believe in the power of united prayer and would like to invite you to covenant with me to pray every Monday morning whenever we are at 6:30am. As we prioritize this time of prayer, individually yet united in spirit for our Army, God will strengthen us and leads us forward in His grace and power.
Intentional in Discipleship
The territorial theme for the last 2 years has been Go and Make Disciples - NOW! and we praise God for souls won and the commitment to discipleship. The territory has just reached significant milestones in our history: 75 years in Singapore and 72 years in Malaysia and 95 years in Myanmar. We praise God for His faithfulness but in some parts of the territory we are seeing decline and not growth. We rejoice in souls saved and soldiers enrolled, but if we are to grow and have the opportunity of moving into new areas, emphasis on discipleship and great commitment to soldership needs to be continued priority.
Intentional in Mission
In defining our mission, General John Gowans (retired) very succinctly called The Salvation Army to save souls, grow saints and server humanity. If we are to be all that God has called us to be we need to ensure there are our priorities in all aspect of Salvation Army ministry. Every Salvationists has a part to play in fulfilling our mission. It will involved personal sacrifice and stepping out of our comfort zones, but with out willingness, dedication and commitment we will have the privilege of sharing in building God's Kingdom.
Every blessing,
Colonel Gillian Downer
Territorial Commander (Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar)
Showing posts with label Statement/Dedication. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Statement/Dedication. Show all posts
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Breaking open the sacraments
Many Salvationsists are unclear about the status of the sacraments
in the church. Major DEAN SMITH (Australia Territory) brings the topic to the table in a theological reflection on the subject.
Is it any wonder that we Salvationists are at times confused about our stance on the acraments? On the one hand it is claimed that we are non-sacramental in our observance yet on the other that we are a sacramental community. What are we to make of such a seeming contradiction?
Perhaps the problem lies in our use of the terms. The word sacrament can be used to refer to historical rites or practices of the church like baptism and the Lord’s Supper. In this sense it is acknowledged that we are non-sacramental because we do not observe these rites or practices.
The word sacrament may also refer to a theological principle. In this sense we are indeed sacramental because we do embrace a sacramental theology. Or, to put it in the language of our doctrine book, we are a sacramental people because we are in communion with Jesus Christ the one true sacrament. As I will argue, not observing particular sacraments is perfectly compatible with being a sacramental people.
Now the debates within Salvation Army circles over the sacraments have traditionally centred not on the use of the term sacrament as a theological principle, but rather on the use of sacrament as it refers to the historical rites or practices of the Church. More specifically I am referring to the practice that has come to be known as the Lord’s Supper or Communion.
Much heat has been generated over the years as Salvationists worldwide have sought to understand their position on ‘non-sacramental’ observance as a legitimate response to the Biblical revelation. More often than not the justification for non-sacramental observance has focused on the Scriptural warrant for such a stance. The problem here is that the great majority of Christians throughout the world believe there is strong Scriptural warrant for that same sacramental observance.
If history has taught us anything it is that there are no winners in a debate that is dependent on Scriptural proof-texting to settle a matter. Combatants in such a debate simply end up talking past each other and there is nothing gained on either side. I don’t think in any case that arguing over different church practices really gets us to the heart of the matter.
Incarnation of Christ
I believe that there is more to be gained, both in our own understanding of our position, and for our contribution to the church universal, if we take as our starting point for reflection on the sacraments the Incarnation of Christ. By beginning here we will find ourselves on ground shared by orthodox Christians everywhere. Here we move away from debating Church practices and instead focus on the theological principles underpinning such practices. If we can find common ground here then we might be surprised to find that we have been arguing against a straw man all along.
The traditional definition of a sacrament is ‘an outward and visible sign
of inward grace’. Jesus Christ is himself the sacramental reality par excellence. It is in the humanity of Christ that we have the outward and visible sign of inward divine grace. In Christ we have the most profound sacramental reality. As Salvation Story affirms our life centres on Christ ‘the one true sacrament’.
Now the Church has always been careful to protect the real connection between the humanity and the divinity of Christ, between the outward and visible sign and the inner divine reality. The technical term for this connection is the hypostatic union. What this means in the case of Christ is that the outward and visible sign (the humanity of Christ) not only stands for or points beyond itself to another (divine) reality, but it is ‘tied’ to that reality in such a way that it actually is the mediator of grace to the world.
Signs of love
The Catholic theologian Karl Rahner provides a beautiful analogy from everyday experience to explain the importance of a real connection between a sign (the outward manifestation) and that which is signified (the inward reality). Rahner offers the kiss or the handshake as examples of the outward signs of love. It would make very little sense for us to think of love without its physical or ‘outward’ manifestations or signs. We show love (an inner disposition) by way of physical signs (outer manifestation).
Psychologists have conclusively shown that without human touch infants simply do not develop properly and may even die. It would be no defence for a parent up on a charge of neglect to say that although they offered no physical signs to their child they nevertheless really loved them. It would also be a most unsatisfactory situation if one of the partners in a marriage were to suggest to their spouse that henceforth the marriage would be conducted on a purely ‘platonic’ or ‘spiritual’ plain without the diversions of physical signs. I am not just referring here either to the sexual union of husband and wife, but rather the entire range of physical signs of love and affection.
Nobody would seriously consider this as a legitimate course of action, yet it is sometimes imagined that when it comes to divine reality the outward sign or mediation of this reality is somehow unnecessary. It is only when we lose sight of the Incarnation as our model for sacramentality that we can fall into the trap of thinking that a real connection between the outward and visible sign of inward divine grace is not important. To do so, however, is to sever the connection between the human and divine in Christ and to call into question the very act of Incarnation itself.
Sacramental debate
In the debate over the sacraments there are those who do reject the notion of a real connection between the outward and visible sign and the inner grace that is ignified in the Lord’s Supper. This in fact was the position of the Reformer Huldrych Zwingli who believed that sacraments were nothing more than memorials and so no real means of grace.
The other Reformers, it must be pointed out, rejected this view and retained the more traditional understanding of Christ being in some sense present in the act of communion. We come close to the view of Zwingli whenever we make the claim that outward signs are no more than pointers to grace. Indeed this distinction has sometimes been emphasised to the point where one is encouraged to focus on the purely ‘inward’ experience of grace without the outward sign or symbol being necessary.
But Christians of an orthodox stripe simply cannot make such a claim without falling into the not so uncommon dualistic heresy of docetism. Docetism was an early belief that Jesus was purely spiritual in his manifestation and only appeared to be a real human being. Some Christians, and dare I here include Salvationists, come terribly close to this view when they imagine that spirituality is some reality divorced from its historical and physical instantiation. This has for some become the rationale for not practicing the traditional sacramental rites. We can experience the inner grace, so the logic goes, without the outward sign. Again, to reach such a conclusion is to lose sight of the Incarnation as the basis of our deep sacramental view. If we accept the truth of the Incarnation then we cannot but be a sacramental people in the very deep sense. That is, grace is experienced through its outward manifestations or signs.
God’s grace
The difference between ourselves and other Christians then is not that we reject their signs or sacramental rites, only that like Oliver Twist we dare ask for more, more signs of divine grace in a grace-starved world. We differ not in our deep sacramental theology, but rather in the way in which we have interpreted our ractice in light of that theology. In this we are closer in our position to the Catholics and the mainstream Reformers. As Salvationists we believe that our entire reality can be the site or locus of God’s grace. Paul refers to believers as being ‘in Christ’ and Peter speaks of our participation in the divine life. Our life ‘in Christ’ is the sign of God’s grace because of our union with Christ the one true original sacrament. Here we share much with the Quakers. Consider the following profound passage by the pen of Quaker Thomas R Kelly.
I believe that the group mysticism of the gathered meeting rests upon the Real Presence of God in our midst. Quakers generally hold to a belief in Real Presence, as firm and solid as the belief of Roman Catholics in the Real Presence in the host, the bread and wine of the Mass. In the host the Roman Catholic is convinced that the literal, substantial Body of Christ is present. For him the Mass is not a mere symbol, a dramatizing of some figurative relationship of man to God. It rests upon the persuasion that an Existence, a Life, the Body of Christ, is really present and entering into the body of man. Here the Quaker is very near the Roman Catholic. For the Real Presence of the gathered meeting is an existential fact. To use philosophical language, it is an ontological matter, not merely a psychological matter. The bond of union in divine fellowship is existential and real, not figurative. It is the life of God himself, within whose life we live and move and have our being. And the gathered meeting is a special case of holy fellowship of
the blessed community.
Salvationists everywhere could say amen to this. We would want to add, however, that not just the gathered meeting, but also the sent or scattered community is the Real Presence of Christ in the world. As believers incorporated in spiritual union with Christ the one true sacrament, the body of Christ the Church, is God’s sign of atoning grace in the world. We are the Real Presence of Christ in the world.
Divine reality
This profound sacramental reality could be easily referred to as Life with a capital ‘L’. This is indeed the life of Christ. But let us be clear here, while we might recognise a real (ontological) connection between the divine Christ and his continued embodied existence in the world (the Church) there needs to be an actualising of the divine reality at the psychological level as well.
As the Wesleyan scholar Randy Maddox has made clear, our relationship with God is to be thought of in terms of both grace and responsibility. In our ongoing experience of redemption there is God’s part and there is our part. Our part is to consciously actualise the grace that in reality informs our life. Without psychological intention on our part the sacramental remains only a possibility for us and we live life with a small ‘l’.
It is intention that is the key to living the truly sacramental Life. And it is
discipline that helps us to train our vision so that we can learn to ‘see’ the reality before us as God’s redeemed people. Our Life, our activities our multifarious being in the world can be truly sacramental but only to the degree that we learn to ‘see’ things in a sacramental way.
The sharing of a meal at the family table can be a true sacrament, a true ‘breaking of bread’ or it can be simply individuals meeting their basest needs. Our work can be a sacrament if it is seen in the right way or it can simply be an encumbrance. It is important to realise that there is nothing automatic about living a sacramental life. Without intention there can only be for us an unrealised or impoverished existence.
Let us then not squabble over why we don’t observe the traditional sacraments of the Church. Rather, let us train our vision so that we will ourselves become the sign of divine grace in the world. Then we will not be focused on two or seven sacramental rites but rather on our entire being in the world. As Salvation Story puts it:
We observe the sacraments, not by limiting them to two or three or seven, but by inviting Christ to suppers, love feasts, birth celebrations, parties, dedications, sick beds, weddings, anniversaries, commissionings, ordinations retirements and a host of other significant events – and where he is truly received, watching him give a grace beyond our understanding. We can see, smell, touch and taste it. We joyfully affirm that in our presence is the one, true, original Sacrament. And we know that what we have experienced is reality.
Major Dean Smith PhD is the Dean of Higher Education at Booth College in Sydney
in the church. Major DEAN SMITH (Australia Territory) brings the topic to the table in a theological reflection on the subject.
Is it any wonder that we Salvationists are at times confused about our stance on the acraments? On the one hand it is claimed that we are non-sacramental in our observance yet on the other that we are a sacramental community. What are we to make of such a seeming contradiction?
Perhaps the problem lies in our use of the terms. The word sacrament can be used to refer to historical rites or practices of the church like baptism and the Lord’s Supper. In this sense it is acknowledged that we are non-sacramental because we do not observe these rites or practices.
The word sacrament may also refer to a theological principle. In this sense we are indeed sacramental because we do embrace a sacramental theology. Or, to put it in the language of our doctrine book, we are a sacramental people because we are in communion with Jesus Christ the one true sacrament. As I will argue, not observing particular sacraments is perfectly compatible with being a sacramental people.
Now the debates within Salvation Army circles over the sacraments have traditionally centred not on the use of the term sacrament as a theological principle, but rather on the use of sacrament as it refers to the historical rites or practices of the Church. More specifically I am referring to the practice that has come to be known as the Lord’s Supper or Communion.
Much heat has been generated over the years as Salvationists worldwide have sought to understand their position on ‘non-sacramental’ observance as a legitimate response to the Biblical revelation. More often than not the justification for non-sacramental observance has focused on the Scriptural warrant for such a stance. The problem here is that the great majority of Christians throughout the world believe there is strong Scriptural warrant for that same sacramental observance.
If history has taught us anything it is that there are no winners in a debate that is dependent on Scriptural proof-texting to settle a matter. Combatants in such a debate simply end up talking past each other and there is nothing gained on either side. I don’t think in any case that arguing over different church practices really gets us to the heart of the matter.
Incarnation of Christ
I believe that there is more to be gained, both in our own understanding of our position, and for our contribution to the church universal, if we take as our starting point for reflection on the sacraments the Incarnation of Christ. By beginning here we will find ourselves on ground shared by orthodox Christians everywhere. Here we move away from debating Church practices and instead focus on the theological principles underpinning such practices. If we can find common ground here then we might be surprised to find that we have been arguing against a straw man all along.
The traditional definition of a sacrament is ‘an outward and visible sign
of inward grace’. Jesus Christ is himself the sacramental reality par excellence. It is in the humanity of Christ that we have the outward and visible sign of inward divine grace. In Christ we have the most profound sacramental reality. As Salvation Story affirms our life centres on Christ ‘the one true sacrament’.
Now the Church has always been careful to protect the real connection between the humanity and the divinity of Christ, between the outward and visible sign and the inner divine reality. The technical term for this connection is the hypostatic union. What this means in the case of Christ is that the outward and visible sign (the humanity of Christ) not only stands for or points beyond itself to another (divine) reality, but it is ‘tied’ to that reality in such a way that it actually is the mediator of grace to the world.
Signs of love
The Catholic theologian Karl Rahner provides a beautiful analogy from everyday experience to explain the importance of a real connection between a sign (the outward manifestation) and that which is signified (the inward reality). Rahner offers the kiss or the handshake as examples of the outward signs of love. It would make very little sense for us to think of love without its physical or ‘outward’ manifestations or signs. We show love (an inner disposition) by way of physical signs (outer manifestation).
Psychologists have conclusively shown that without human touch infants simply do not develop properly and may even die. It would be no defence for a parent up on a charge of neglect to say that although they offered no physical signs to their child they nevertheless really loved them. It would also be a most unsatisfactory situation if one of the partners in a marriage were to suggest to their spouse that henceforth the marriage would be conducted on a purely ‘platonic’ or ‘spiritual’ plain without the diversions of physical signs. I am not just referring here either to the sexual union of husband and wife, but rather the entire range of physical signs of love and affection.
Nobody would seriously consider this as a legitimate course of action, yet it is sometimes imagined that when it comes to divine reality the outward sign or mediation of this reality is somehow unnecessary. It is only when we lose sight of the Incarnation as our model for sacramentality that we can fall into the trap of thinking that a real connection between the outward and visible sign of inward divine grace is not important. To do so, however, is to sever the connection between the human and divine in Christ and to call into question the very act of Incarnation itself.
Sacramental debate
In the debate over the sacraments there are those who do reject the notion of a real connection between the outward and visible sign and the inner grace that is ignified in the Lord’s Supper. This in fact was the position of the Reformer Huldrych Zwingli who believed that sacraments were nothing more than memorials and so no real means of grace.
The other Reformers, it must be pointed out, rejected this view and retained the more traditional understanding of Christ being in some sense present in the act of communion. We come close to the view of Zwingli whenever we make the claim that outward signs are no more than pointers to grace. Indeed this distinction has sometimes been emphasised to the point where one is encouraged to focus on the purely ‘inward’ experience of grace without the outward sign or symbol being necessary.
But Christians of an orthodox stripe simply cannot make such a claim without falling into the not so uncommon dualistic heresy of docetism. Docetism was an early belief that Jesus was purely spiritual in his manifestation and only appeared to be a real human being. Some Christians, and dare I here include Salvationists, come terribly close to this view when they imagine that spirituality is some reality divorced from its historical and physical instantiation. This has for some become the rationale for not practicing the traditional sacramental rites. We can experience the inner grace, so the logic goes, without the outward sign. Again, to reach such a conclusion is to lose sight of the Incarnation as the basis of our deep sacramental view. If we accept the truth of the Incarnation then we cannot but be a sacramental people in the very deep sense. That is, grace is experienced through its outward manifestations or signs.
God’s grace
The difference between ourselves and other Christians then is not that we reject their signs or sacramental rites, only that like Oliver Twist we dare ask for more, more signs of divine grace in a grace-starved world. We differ not in our deep sacramental theology, but rather in the way in which we have interpreted our ractice in light of that theology. In this we are closer in our position to the Catholics and the mainstream Reformers. As Salvationists we believe that our entire reality can be the site or locus of God’s grace. Paul refers to believers as being ‘in Christ’ and Peter speaks of our participation in the divine life. Our life ‘in Christ’ is the sign of God’s grace because of our union with Christ the one true original sacrament. Here we share much with the Quakers. Consider the following profound passage by the pen of Quaker Thomas R Kelly.
I believe that the group mysticism of the gathered meeting rests upon the Real Presence of God in our midst. Quakers generally hold to a belief in Real Presence, as firm and solid as the belief of Roman Catholics in the Real Presence in the host, the bread and wine of the Mass. In the host the Roman Catholic is convinced that the literal, substantial Body of Christ is present. For him the Mass is not a mere symbol, a dramatizing of some figurative relationship of man to God. It rests upon the persuasion that an Existence, a Life, the Body of Christ, is really present and entering into the body of man. Here the Quaker is very near the Roman Catholic. For the Real Presence of the gathered meeting is an existential fact. To use philosophical language, it is an ontological matter, not merely a psychological matter. The bond of union in divine fellowship is existential and real, not figurative. It is the life of God himself, within whose life we live and move and have our being. And the gathered meeting is a special case of holy fellowship of
the blessed community.
Salvationists everywhere could say amen to this. We would want to add, however, that not just the gathered meeting, but also the sent or scattered community is the Real Presence of Christ in the world. As believers incorporated in spiritual union with Christ the one true sacrament, the body of Christ the Church, is God’s sign of atoning grace in the world. We are the Real Presence of Christ in the world.
Divine reality
This profound sacramental reality could be easily referred to as Life with a capital ‘L’. This is indeed the life of Christ. But let us be clear here, while we might recognise a real (ontological) connection between the divine Christ and his continued embodied existence in the world (the Church) there needs to be an actualising of the divine reality at the psychological level as well.
As the Wesleyan scholar Randy Maddox has made clear, our relationship with God is to be thought of in terms of both grace and responsibility. In our ongoing experience of redemption there is God’s part and there is our part. Our part is to consciously actualise the grace that in reality informs our life. Without psychological intention on our part the sacramental remains only a possibility for us and we live life with a small ‘l’.
It is intention that is the key to living the truly sacramental Life. And it is
discipline that helps us to train our vision so that we can learn to ‘see’ the reality before us as God’s redeemed people. Our Life, our activities our multifarious being in the world can be truly sacramental but only to the degree that we learn to ‘see’ things in a sacramental way.
The sharing of a meal at the family table can be a true sacrament, a true ‘breaking of bread’ or it can be simply individuals meeting their basest needs. Our work can be a sacrament if it is seen in the right way or it can simply be an encumbrance. It is important to realise that there is nothing automatic about living a sacramental life. Without intention there can only be for us an unrealised or impoverished existence.
Let us then not squabble over why we don’t observe the traditional sacraments of the Church. Rather, let us train our vision so that we will ourselves become the sign of divine grace in the world. Then we will not be focused on two or seven sacramental rites but rather on our entire being in the world. As Salvation Story puts it:
We observe the sacraments, not by limiting them to two or three or seven, but by inviting Christ to suppers, love feasts, birth celebrations, parties, dedications, sick beds, weddings, anniversaries, commissionings, ordinations retirements and a host of other significant events – and where he is truly received, watching him give a grace beyond our understanding. We can see, smell, touch and taste it. We joyfully affirm that in our presence is the one, true, original Sacrament. And we know that what we have experienced is reality.
Major Dean Smith PhD is the Dean of Higher Education at Booth College in Sydney
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
A Spiritual Statement to All Salvationists
A Spiritual Statement to All Salvationists
The recent International Conference of Leaders, held in London, culminated in every member of the conference being invited to consider prayerfully the following Spiritual Statement.
On the final full day of the conference, a Sunday, those present signed the personal recommitment and rededication in the presence of one another, many doing so at the Mercy Seat.
A Spiritual Statement to Salvationists everywhere from the International Conference of Leaders gathered at Heathrow, London, England, 7-13 July 2009
Conference theme: 'Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever' (Hebrews 13:8, New International Version)
A Spiritual Statement to the Salvationists of the world from the General, the World President of Women’s Ministries, the Chief of the Staff, all officers holding the active rank of commissioner, and the territorial and command leaders of The Salvation Army gathered in the name of Jesus Christ and by the grace of God in conference in London, England, on 7-13 July 2009.
STATEMENT
WE have gathered in the sacred name of Jesus from every corner of the world. In a spirit of humility we have given time to waiting upon God for his guidance for our own individual and personal lives and also for our sacred responsibilities as Salvation Army leaders under God. We have spent time seeking the will of God in plenary sessions together, in small groups focused upon the Scriptures, and in solitary prayer and meditation. Our subject matter has included the following large themes and topical issues for the whole Army:
- a reaffirmation of the role of the Army, of all Salvationists, and not least of Salvation Army officership, in the building of God’s Kingdom here on earth;
- the building up of God’s Kingdom through an ever-deepening commitment to Christ and personal confidence in the power of the gospel;
- working for Kingdom growth through the Army’s numerical growth and through the establishing of Army work and witness in new lands;
the Army’s God-given role in working for social relief, social justice and human rights on every continent;
- the challenges of financing the Army’s global mission at a time of global recession;
- the challenge of working in Muslim cultures today;
- understanding current societal trends in relation to postmodernism, issues of gender, the younger generation, and our relations with other Christian bodies;
- the ever-urgent need to win and disciple children and whole families for Christ;
- the constant need to prepare the future leaders of the Army on every continent.
Most importantly of all, we have prayed together with earnest and seeking hearts, asking God to reveal to us with new clarity all he is willing to accomplish through us despite our failings, both personal and organisational. We have pleaded for a renewed spirit of humility, surrender and submission to the divine will for us and for the Army.
We have pondered again before the Lord, who is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8), a vision of the worldwide Salvation Army kneeling in repentance, prayer and rededication at the Mercy Seat. We have spoken together of all that this might mean for the Army, seeking new grace, new spiritual power, new divine prompting, and asking for and receiving afresh God’s mercy.
As we keep this vision before us, we give heartfelt thanks to God for his blessing upon his Army. We thank and honour him for souls redeemed, lives transformed, and a growing Army of Salvationists offering selfless service across the world. We praise God for the growing number of countries into which he is leading us. We pray for heavenly resources of wisdom and ability in order to meet the many new challenges and opportunities he is giving. We thank him for his constant provision and sustaining grace.
Also we affirm our conviction that, to be truly useful to God, the Army needs to be pure and free from sin, and that senior leaders must, by grace, be effective role models in this. We feel the urging of the Holy Spirit to examine our own hearts afresh to see if there be any wicked way within us. We want to yield again to the demands of divine love, to return to first things, to cast aside distractions unpleasing to God, and to be in a relation of entire obedience to the Father. We acknowledge our constant need of grace.
We renew our sacred vows and covenants as both soldiers and officers of the Army, thanking God from our hearts for the privilege of the calling he has placed upon us. We declare again our availability and our readiness, as senior officers, to go anywhere to do anything at any time under God and within the structures of the Army, seeking only the advancement of his Kingdom.
We acknowledge our humanity and weakness, seeking the unique strength that God provides when we are weak and he is strong. We confess our limitedness, knowing that God is all sufficient. We abandon explicitly any desire that has sprung up in our hearts to place self first.
We ask for the prayers of our fellow Salvationists to help us in this renewal of our covenants as soldiers and as officers, and in so doing we recognise our vulnerability and our personal need of divine help.
In sharing this Spiritual Statement with Salvationists everywhere, it is our hope and prayer that it will be received with humble and understanding hearts, and that by the abundant grace of God it will be used to inspire and prompt others to seek with us repentance, with renewed purity and holiness in Christ.
My Personal Recommitment and Rededication
By adding my signature to this Statement, I wish to identify personally with the spirit of repentance, humility and availability shown by my comrade Salvationist leaders gathered in conference with me in London. With renewed confidence in God, I pledge myself afresh to these shared goals of personal holiness and of seeking to do only his will in all things.
The recent International Conference of Leaders, held in London, culminated in every member of the conference being invited to consider prayerfully the following Spiritual Statement.
On the final full day of the conference, a Sunday, those present signed the personal recommitment and rededication in the presence of one another, many doing so at the Mercy Seat.
A Spiritual Statement to Salvationists everywhere from the International Conference of Leaders gathered at Heathrow, London, England, 7-13 July 2009
Conference theme: 'Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever' (Hebrews 13:8, New International Version)
A Spiritual Statement to the Salvationists of the world from the General, the World President of Women’s Ministries, the Chief of the Staff, all officers holding the active rank of commissioner, and the territorial and command leaders of The Salvation Army gathered in the name of Jesus Christ and by the grace of God in conference in London, England, on 7-13 July 2009.
STATEMENT
WE have gathered in the sacred name of Jesus from every corner of the world. In a spirit of humility we have given time to waiting upon God for his guidance for our own individual and personal lives and also for our sacred responsibilities as Salvation Army leaders under God. We have spent time seeking the will of God in plenary sessions together, in small groups focused upon the Scriptures, and in solitary prayer and meditation. Our subject matter has included the following large themes and topical issues for the whole Army:
- a reaffirmation of the role of the Army, of all Salvationists, and not least of Salvation Army officership, in the building of God’s Kingdom here on earth;
- the building up of God’s Kingdom through an ever-deepening commitment to Christ and personal confidence in the power of the gospel;
- working for Kingdom growth through the Army’s numerical growth and through the establishing of Army work and witness in new lands;
the Army’s God-given role in working for social relief, social justice and human rights on every continent;
- the challenges of financing the Army’s global mission at a time of global recession;
- the challenge of working in Muslim cultures today;
- understanding current societal trends in relation to postmodernism, issues of gender, the younger generation, and our relations with other Christian bodies;
- the ever-urgent need to win and disciple children and whole families for Christ;
- the constant need to prepare the future leaders of the Army on every continent.
Most importantly of all, we have prayed together with earnest and seeking hearts, asking God to reveal to us with new clarity all he is willing to accomplish through us despite our failings, both personal and organisational. We have pleaded for a renewed spirit of humility, surrender and submission to the divine will for us and for the Army.
We have pondered again before the Lord, who is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8), a vision of the worldwide Salvation Army kneeling in repentance, prayer and rededication at the Mercy Seat. We have spoken together of all that this might mean for the Army, seeking new grace, new spiritual power, new divine prompting, and asking for and receiving afresh God’s mercy.
As we keep this vision before us, we give heartfelt thanks to God for his blessing upon his Army. We thank and honour him for souls redeemed, lives transformed, and a growing Army of Salvationists offering selfless service across the world. We praise God for the growing number of countries into which he is leading us. We pray for heavenly resources of wisdom and ability in order to meet the many new challenges and opportunities he is giving. We thank him for his constant provision and sustaining grace.
Also we affirm our conviction that, to be truly useful to God, the Army needs to be pure and free from sin, and that senior leaders must, by grace, be effective role models in this. We feel the urging of the Holy Spirit to examine our own hearts afresh to see if there be any wicked way within us. We want to yield again to the demands of divine love, to return to first things, to cast aside distractions unpleasing to God, and to be in a relation of entire obedience to the Father. We acknowledge our constant need of grace.
We renew our sacred vows and covenants as both soldiers and officers of the Army, thanking God from our hearts for the privilege of the calling he has placed upon us. We declare again our availability and our readiness, as senior officers, to go anywhere to do anything at any time under God and within the structures of the Army, seeking only the advancement of his Kingdom.
We acknowledge our humanity and weakness, seeking the unique strength that God provides when we are weak and he is strong. We confess our limitedness, knowing that God is all sufficient. We abandon explicitly any desire that has sprung up in our hearts to place self first.
We ask for the prayers of our fellow Salvationists to help us in this renewal of our covenants as soldiers and as officers, and in so doing we recognise our vulnerability and our personal need of divine help.
In sharing this Spiritual Statement with Salvationists everywhere, it is our hope and prayer that it will be received with humble and understanding hearts, and that by the abundant grace of God it will be used to inspire and prompt others to seek with us repentance, with renewed purity and holiness in Christ.
My Personal Recommitment and Rededication
By adding my signature to this Statement, I wish to identify personally with the spirit of repentance, humility and availability shown by my comrade Salvationist leaders gathered in conference with me in London. With renewed confidence in God, I pledge myself afresh to these shared goals of personal holiness and of seeking to do only his will in all things.
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