Back on October 31st, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the church in Wittenberg, Germany. What followed was the Reformation, that saw a shakeup of the church in the 16th Century onwards.
I don't expect the following words to have that sort of monumental impact, BUT, I'm hoping these words will stir you up, and call you forward. I pray they agitate just enough to keep your heart soft and eyes open to the mission we have in front of us.
As a Salvation Army leader, if I could nail these 95 statements to the wall of The Salvation Army IHQ in London I would:
1. Our mission has not changed. The way we live out our mission must.
2. We should still be deeply passionate
about reaching the lost.
3. The power of the gospel hasn’t diminished
over the years. But our understanding of it has.
4. We must preach the gospel of Jesus
and run the risk of being labelled a right-wing fundamentalist.
5. We must serve suffering humanity
with deep compassion and run the risk of being labelled a left-wing socialist.
6. We’re an evangelical branch of the
Universal Christian Church. We’re not a country club.
7. We need to get better at leading
people to Jesus.
8. Our social service is a pivotal
outworking of our relationship with a loving God.
9. The societal need for the professionalization
of our social services has sometimes meant we have compromised who we are and
what we stand for.
10. We are afraid to publicly defend our
mission to the world.
11. Where are the visionaries? Rise up.
God is calling you.
12. Without vision the people perish.
And some have perished in our movement. Forgive us, Lord.
13. The call is to pull people out from drowning
in their hurt and pain.
14. Sometimes we have seen so much redemptive
lift, and rebuilt our lives, we’ve forgotten what the front-line really looks
like.
15. Catherine Booth said The Salvation
Army would help usher in the second coming of Jesus.
16. Have we lost the big, bold visionary
leaders in our movement? If you’re one of them, then it’s time to step up.
17. The cry of our heart is to be a
salvation people. I fear at times we’ve become a comfortable people.
18. The early Army had such grandiose,
Spirit-filled vision that people signed up to the cause. It was radical. The
fire of God was moving. There was a revolution taking place.
19. I wonder whether we have just become
a bit boring. A bit predicable. A bit same-same. Where’s the vision my friends?
20. We are not called to build
ecclesiastical structures to please God. We’re called to be an army of
salvation to a world who desperately needs Jesus.
21. We value each and person. They are
made in the image of God.
22. We acknowledge that sin has caused
that image to be tarnished.
23. We believe Jesus is the one who
comes to take away the sins of the world.
24. We believe that sin is taken away
and the slate is wiped clean when one chooses to have faith in what Christ has
done for them on the cross.
25. The deep value of compassion for
others runs through our whole movement.
26. Salvation is available for the whosoever;
whatever their background, status or ideological viewpoint.
27. Sometimes our values have been aspirational
rather than lived out.
28. We value the church universal. We’re
not competing. We’re in this together. We follow Christ in unity.
29. We value kingdom-building alongside
other brothers and sisters in Christ.
30. We don’t have to be experts at
everything.
31. We need to be open to learn from
other believers.
32. There are theological ideas that
some now label as ‘controversial’ but are actually just theological ideas that
have held the Army in good stead over many years.
33. We believe there is only one proper
object of religious worship: God Almighty.
34. We still believe there is only one
way to heaven. And that’s through Jesus Christ.
35. We believe in the virgin birth.
Jesus was born sinless, and lived a sinless life.
36. Jesus took on our sins on the cross.
37. We believe the whosoever can come.
They are welcome. But the whosoever still need Jesus. We all do.
38. We do believe in entire sanctification.
That is, you can be fully holy this side of heaven.
39. We believe in the resurrection of
Jesus. He didn’t stay on the cross. On the third day he rose again.
40. And yes, we are a holiness movement.
We may not act like it all the time. We have our moments. But this is who we
are called to be. And this is what we should aspire to be.
41. We believe in the second blessing.
You receive the Holy Spirit at salvation, but you can be filled with the Holy
Spirit (again and again).
42. I posit that the reason we don’t see
more people saved, is because we don’t preach the gospel much anymore.
43. I posit that we don’t see many
people healed of sickness because we don’t really pray for the sick much
anymore.
44. I posit that we don’t see as many people
stepping into the calling of Officership, because we haven’t given people a big
enough vision to lay their life down for.
45. I posit that if we had more
Salvation Army officers absolutely filled with a deep, deep fire of the Holy
Spirit then we’d see more spiritual breakthroughs.
46. We don’t cast out the demonic much,
because we’re not always spiritually discerning enough to even know when
something is from the enemy realm.
47. We then theologically justify the
non-existence of the demonic realm to appease the guilt from our lack of
discernment.
48. Passionate, faith-filled, consistent
prayer preceded any revival. When we don’t see revival, can we not question
whether we’re actually praying with much passion, faith or consistency?
49. The mercy seat needs to become part
of our ministry regularly.
50. I hope for the days to arrive where
we remember who we are as The Salvation Army and the incredible rich heritage
we have of being a mobilized people of God.
51. We have spiritual amnesia. We have
forgotten the bold, ambitious, risk-taking people that characterized this
movement in years gone by.
52. We are currently re-digging the
wells that the enemy has covered over. Those wells contain our gutsy, spirit-led
DNA, that underpins who we are.
53. The very people we celebrate as heroes
of the faith, from the past, in our movement, are possibly the same people who
we would be very uncomfortable around today.
54. We were known for adaptation. Now we’re
known for being a ‘nice group of people’.
55. We were known for trying new things.
Now we tend to say, “No.”
56. When a great idea comes our way, let’s
say, “Tell me more…” before we even consider knocking back an idea.
57. Innovation needs to come back into
our vocabulary. The issue is… we’re scared.
58. We’re scared of changing the
uniform, because there will be an outcry.
59. We’re scared of updating the music,
because someone loves the music that they ‘got saved’ to (and they still
believe it’s the music most conducive for everyone to relate to).
60. We’re scared of adapting our
ecclesiastical structures because someone has strong opinions on how they perceive
the ‘Army used to do it’. We’re scared of those soldiership transfers, and
those late-night emails.
61. Bold leaders call for new wine in
new skins. Most of us are happy with new wine in old wineskins.
62. Some of us want God to do a new
thing, as long as it looks like it always used to look.
63. We’re afraid of stepping into the
new thing God wants to do, because we don’t want to lose the essence of who we
are.
64. To step into the river Jordan, you
have to leave Egypt.
65. Innovation isn’t always about incremental
changes to our mission. Sometimes innovation takes the courage to try something
completely new.
66. What if we cheered on courageous
Salvationists, rather than tell them to settle down and keep quiet?
67. What if we were a little more critical
at the things we do, and realise, some of what we do isn’t being all that
effective?
68. What if the apostolic among us felt
free to pioneer new ministry?
69. What if the prophetic among us felt
empowered to speak a word in season?
70. What if the evangelist felt courageous
enough to preach the gospel and share their faith with many, many people?
71. What if the teachers among us, felt
compelled enough to open the Scriptures and really help us delve deep into
truth?
72. What if the pastors among us were
able to raise up a whole new generation who lived and breathed the values of
Jesus in the world?
73. I wonder what The Salvation Army
could be doing in the years ahead to bring freedom and hope to the world?
74. Could we use our internationalism to
free 100,000 young children from being trafficked illegally?
75. Could we open hospitals and schools in
hard-to-reach places?
76. Could we translate the Scriptures into
new languages?
77. Could we learn how to plant corps in
culturally-diverse areas?
78. Could we further help alleviate extreme
poverty around the world?
79. Could we somehow mobilise a movement
to ‘win the world for Jesus’?
80. Do we care enough for the disadvantaged
in our communities? Are we the Priest in the Good Samaritan story that walks on
by and does nothing?
81. Our bureaucratic structures, at
times, hurt people.
82. The structure is so big and complex
we all just blame, ‘The Army’ and therefore no one is held accountable to the
hurt one might experience.
83. We need to deregulate our system. Why
do something in 10 steps, when someone has figured out how to do it in 5?
84. Our hierarchical structure can be
the cause of very slow decision-making. We need to stop theologizing things
away. Instead of saying, ‘Well, maybe God didn’t want that to happen.’ We should
say, ‘Actually, maybe God did want that to happen, and our ridiculous
system meant we missed a good opportunity.’
85. Fix the system. Bureaucratic systems
mixed with risk-averse middle managers can stifle effective mission and cause unnecessary
burnout to many.
86. We’re not doing enough to simplify
complexity.
87. We spend more time learning systems
than we do learning to be a disciple, and then we question why we’re not seeing
the results we want.
88. We must be led by the Spirit, not by
the opinions of man.
89. Our systems should be like a
skeleton. If you can see the skeleton and you’re always talking about the
skeleton, you know you’re sick.
90. We must raise up the next generation.
91. We must let go of the religiosity
that we hold on to, that is causing a younger generation to leave in droves, while
we continue to prop up old ways of doing things, that no longer appeal to a new
generation.
92. We could become a young movement
again. A movement where 18-year-olds are sold out to a worldwide mission. A
movement where 30-year-olds become Commissioners. Where 13-year-olds are
preaching the gospel.
93. Let’s pass the baton on and give
them a go. Raise them up. Pray for that young person. Empower them. Their
favourite song doesn’t have to be, ‘Shine, Jesus, shine.’
94. Remember, we must once again become
deeply passionate about the lost.
95. Our mission is still as relevant
today as it has ever been. Let’s go!
