Loving the 'Other': An Update from the Salvation Army by Vicki Adamsvicki adams - 1 Jun 2007

There is a story passed down through the ranks of Salvation Army members, of a time nearing the end of his life, when William Booth, (the founder of the movement) decided to send an encouraging telegram to every leader. He could only afford one word, however, so he picked the word ‘others’. This was his reminder of the core mission of the Salvation Army: to reach out to those who were looked down upon and marginalised, and to love them at all costs.

This year, at our annual ROOTS conference, as well as in different gatherings around the country, we have been thinking about what this means for the Salvation Army in 2007.
How can we still be a movement that seeks to reach out to these people? What does this mean in our increasingly fragmented society? How do we resist the temptation to stay secure in our (increasingly crumbly) citadels, while outside the walls people are struggling and in pain.

And where does prayer fit into this big picture? William Booth once said, "Work as if everything depended upon your work, and pray as if everything depended upon your prayer." How do we continue to link prayer and mission, so that everything we ‘do’ as Christians is underpinned by intimate, growing prayer lives?

About a year ago, I had a vision whilst sitting in a Salvation Army prayer room. I saw a towering wall in front of me, with many closed doors built into it, like an unopened advent calendar. As I watched, a couple of the doors opened, and inside I saw different scenes – a young mother and her baby, a soup run – typical scenes of mission within the Salvation Army. As well as the scene, a piercing ray of light emitted from the open door, piercing the gloom of the room I stood in. As I watched, I became frustrated though. Different doors opened, and I saw some really amazing expressions of mission, but then they would close after a few seconds, leaving me in darkness again. The towering wall seemed to only permit a short viewing of each of the scenes, leaving me wondering what happened behind it when the doors slammed shut.

As I stood there, my sense was that God wanted to pull back this wall, so the light and the vibrancy from each of the scenes could freely flow out, and attract people to them. I saw a loose bit of wall at the bottom right hand corner, and I felt that God wants us to pull back the wall in prayer, to allow that light to spread out and affect more people, to break down the barriers between us, in the relative safety of the ‘Christian world’ and those outside, who feel miles from God and alienated by the church. I think, for me, that this is how prayer and action can work together to impact the lives of others.

In some ways, the ‘others’ that surround us in 2007 are vastly different from those faced by the fervent, early day Salvationists. We wonder how to reach those from ethnic minorities, those excluded from the educational system, those affected by terrorism and war. In other ways, however, the people we are praying and working with are just the same, still facing the same hurts and loneliness, still searching for meaning in a world where there is a startling gap between the rich and the poor. It has been encouraging to see Salvation Army people and churches across the country dreaming up new and imaginative ways to work alongside, support and learn from these differing peoples.

As well as new Salvation Army corps (churches) getting involved with running 24-7 weeks, we have two established Boiler Rooms that are trying to work out how prayer and mission go hand in hand. There are also a number of other centres where prayer and healing are available. We are looking at new ways to engage the younger generations in prayer, and fresh ways of equipping those who have been doing it for years.

In March, nearly 1500 young people around the country were given a small pot of oil and some cards with ideas of places to go and pray, and some scripture verses to pray over the areas they chose. They visited, blessed and anointed schools, shopping centres, churches and hospitals across the country. This was to encourage them to get outside into their communities, and pray for what they saw happening, rather than remaining indoors, guessing at what they should be praying about. We’ve heard many stories of young people and older people who found this a really fun challenge.

At the ROOTS conference in Southport recently, we challenged people to go on a walk and ask random people if they could pray for them in any way. We half-expected to hear that people ran away screaming, but instead we heard some great stories, where people were touched and blessed as Christians dared to get outside their safe four walls.

We have recently revamped our website, so we now have a place to record what is happening in prayer across the country. There is also a place for people to share news, events, questions and prayer requests.

I am encouraged when I think about the different expressions of prayer and community that I see in the Salvation Army in the UK. Five years ago, we finished an unbroken year of 24-7 prayer and it has been great to see how God has led us on from that time into new places and new purposes. He has raised new people up to learn and lead about prayer, he has challenged us to fresh discipline, fresh holiness, fresh commitment to the ‘last, the lost and the least’ that surround us. We have a lot to learn, but God is faithful, and as we walk onwards, as we learn from other movements and other denominations, He is teaching us what it means to be a praying Salvation Army.