The Next General!
I wrote this in an e-mail to one of our Salvation Army publications. These are my essentials for the new General-
My name is Joel Boyd. I am a soldier of the Seattle Temple corps in Washington. I've been a soldier in the Army for six years. I've written this article to express one active soldiers opinion on what the next General should be like. Thanks for letting my voice be heard.
The Salvation Army is at a crossroads, and the next General will be the one that decides which direction we will take. That being said, he/she could be the most important General since Booth himself. The Salvation Army in the West is full of officers and soldiers who are dissatisfied with the way things are. Some desire a return to the "good old days" and some seek radical change. The problem is neither group believes we're where we should be as the Army. I and many others believe that the Army is ripe for change, and the next General will be our leader to bring us through that change. We need to take a deep, careful, Spirit-filled look at the Army as it is now and then decide who will lead us to where we should be.
Recently, while reading the parable of the sower and the seeds (Matthew 13), the Lord led me to a new application of the different soils and how they relate to the Western Army of today. The different types of soil relate to the spiritual conditions of the Army's collective 'heart'.
The "path" or "wayside" soil represents, amoung other things, traditionalism, an attitude that says "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." In Commisioner Pil Needham's Salvationist ecclesiology, Community in Mission, he states that "...faithfulness to tradition is not adherence to traditions; it is adherence to the gospel, allegiance to Christ, openness to the Spirit's leading- and letting the chips of traditionalism fall where they will... the Church must courageously maintain flexibility in matters traditional." According to Commisioner Needham, rather than sticking to old traditions, we need to maintain constant flexibility. We need a General who will courageously examine every tradition, even down to the uniform, and prune away every bit that is not useful to the mission. The General needs to be completely open and sensitive to the Holy Spirit, taking His guidance as to what needs to stay, go, or be changed. We need a General who can lead us into breaking through the 'hard path' of traditionalism into soft soil, ready to receive all the the Sower's seeds.
The rocky soil represents a lack of spiritual depth. In the parable, the rocky ground kept the seed from growing deep roots, and as a result the crop failed under pressure. I believe, as an Army, we have lost much of the spiritual depth of our salvationist forefathers. As a result, many of our soldiers have become demobilized. Our mission needs to be spurred on by deep passionate love for our Heavenly Father, but much of that deep, first love has faded. We need a General who can not only be a great spiritual leader of the Army, but one who has a passionate, even prophetic relationship with Christ. Our General needs to love our Shephard and know and follow His voice. Only this kind of leader can help guide our roots into deeper soil, thus strengthening our crop.
The thorny ground represents cares of this world, and for the Army, pride in our name and reliance on money. The Salvation Army is known world wide for it\'s incredible work helping the poor and the helpless. Every good soldier knows that one only needs to show up in uniform and drop the name "The Salvation Army" and people will be glad to donate. Our problem is we pride ourselves too deeply on our name recognition and not on the fact that it\'s God that has gotten us where we are, and it\'s God that will take us where we are going. Also, we\'ve begun to lean on money to drive our minestry and have been lacking in the faith that drove the early Army. One only needs to look at the DHQ\'s to see the departments dedicated to minestry are often understaffed in comparison to those dedicated to finance and business. The burning passion of early salvationism has been choked out by worry about money. We need a General whose faith will vastly outweigh reliance on anything else. Our trust should be in God, who is our Great Provider, not in money or respect from the world. Our General needs to guide us away from the thorns we\'ve embraced and help us to lean on God our Father. He is the one who will sustain our mission and minestry.
The rocky soil represents a lack of spiritual depth. In the parable, the rocky ground kept the seed from growing deep roots, and as a result the crop failed under pressure. I believe, as an Army, we have lost much of the spiritual depth of our salvationist forefathers. As a result, many of our soldiers have become demobilized. Our mission needs to be spurred on by deep passionate love for our Heavenly Father, but much of that deep, first love has faded. We need a General who can not only be a great spiritual leader of the Army, but one who has a passionate, even prophetic relationship with Christ. Our General needs to love our Shephard and know and follow His voice. Only this kind of leader can help guide our roots into deeper soil, thus strengthening our crop.
The thorny ground represents cares of this world, and for the Army, pride in our name and reliance on money. The Salvation Army is known world wide for it's incredible work helping the poor and the helpless. Every good soldier knows that one only needs to show up in uniform and drop the name "The Salvation Army" and people will be glad to donate. Our problem is we pride ourselves too deeply on our name recognition and not on the fact that it's God that has gotten us where we are, and it's God that will take us where we are going. Also, we've begun to lean on money to drive our minestry and have been lacking in the faith that drove the early Army. One only needs to look at the DHQ's to see the departments dedicated to minestry are often understaffed in comparison to those dedicated to finance and business. The burning passion of early salvationism has been choked out by worry about money. We need a General whose faith will vastly outweigh reliance on anything else. Our trust should be in God, who is our Great Provider, not in money or respect from the world. Our General needs to guide us away from the thorns we've embraced and help us to lean on God our Father. He is the one who will sustain our mission and minestry.
When all these soils are dealt with, all that is left is the fourth soil, the good soil. The good soil grows up seeds into a crop that produces fruit, some up to a hundredfold Like I mentioned earlier, our next General will be the one who brings the Salvation Army into a new era of it\'s life. We need to find a General who is ready, willing and able to deal with all the problems, all the bad soils, and bring us into a renewed period of passion and mission. God has great plans in store for the Salvation Army. I believe if we can find the right General, he/she may help lead the Salvatin Army to live out these words our founder Catherine Booth prophesied- "I believe this Movement is to inaugurate the great final conquest of the Lord Jesus Christ."
My name is Joel Boyd. I am a soldier of the Seattle Temple corps in Washington. I've been a soldier in the Army for six years. I've written this article to express one active soldiers opinion on what the next General should be like. Thanks for letting my voice be heard.
The Salvation Army is at a crossroads, and the next General will be the one that decides which direction we will take. That being said, he/she could be the most important General since Booth himself. The Salvation Army in the West is full of officers and soldiers who are dissatisfied with the way things are. Some desire a return to the "good old days" and some seek radical change. The problem is neither group believes we're where we should be as the Army. I and many others believe that the Army is ripe for change, and the next General will be our leader to bring us through that change. We need to take a deep, careful, Spirit-filled look at the Army as it is now and then decide who will lead us to where we should be.
Recently, while reading the parable of the sower and the seeds (Matthew 13), the Lord led me to a new application of the different soils and how they relate to the Western Army of today. The different types of soil relate to the spiritual conditions of the Army's collective 'heart'.
The "path" or "wayside" soil represents, amoung other things, traditionalism, an attitude that says "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." In Commisioner Pil Needham's Salvationist ecclesiology, Community in Mission, he states that "...faithfulness to tradition is not adherence to traditions; it is adherence to the gospel, allegiance to Christ, openness to the Spirit's leading- and letting the chips of traditionalism fall where they will... the Church must courageously maintain flexibility in matters traditional." According to Commisioner Needham, rather than sticking to old traditions, we need to maintain constant flexibility. We need a General who will courageously examine every tradition, even down to the uniform, and prune away every bit that is not useful to the mission. The General needs to be completely open and sensitive to the Holy Spirit, taking His guidance as to what needs to stay, go, or be changed. We need a General who can lead us into breaking through the 'hard path' of traditionalism into soft soil, ready to receive all the the Sower's seeds.
The rocky soil represents a lack of spiritual depth. In the parable, the rocky ground kept the seed from growing deep roots, and as a result the crop failed under pressure. I believe, as an Army, we have lost much of the spiritual depth of our salvationist forefathers. As a result, many of our soldiers have become demobilized. Our mission needs to be spurred on by deep passionate love for our Heavenly Father, but much of that deep, first love has faded. We need a General who can not only be a great spiritual leader of the Army, but one who has a passionate, even prophetic relationship with Christ. Our General needs to love our Shephard and know and follow His voice. Only this kind of leader can help guide our roots into deeper soil, thus strengthening our crop.
The thorny ground represents cares of this world, and for the Army, pride in our name and reliance on money. The Salvation Army is known world wide for it\'s incredible work helping the poor and the helpless. Every good soldier knows that one only needs to show up in uniform and drop the name "The Salvation Army" and people will be glad to donate. Our problem is we pride ourselves too deeply on our name recognition and not on the fact that it\'s God that has gotten us where we are, and it\'s God that will take us where we are going. Also, we\'ve begun to lean on money to drive our minestry and have been lacking in the faith that drove the early Army. One only needs to look at the DHQ\'s to see the departments dedicated to minestry are often understaffed in comparison to those dedicated to finance and business. The burning passion of early salvationism has been choked out by worry about money. We need a General whose faith will vastly outweigh reliance on anything else. Our trust should be in God, who is our Great Provider, not in money or respect from the world. Our General needs to guide us away from the thorns we\'ve embraced and help us to lean on God our Father. He is the one who will sustain our mission and minestry.
The rocky soil represents a lack of spiritual depth. In the parable, the rocky ground kept the seed from growing deep roots, and as a result the crop failed under pressure. I believe, as an Army, we have lost much of the spiritual depth of our salvationist forefathers. As a result, many of our soldiers have become demobilized. Our mission needs to be spurred on by deep passionate love for our Heavenly Father, but much of that deep, first love has faded. We need a General who can not only be a great spiritual leader of the Army, but one who has a passionate, even prophetic relationship with Christ. Our General needs to love our Shephard and know and follow His voice. Only this kind of leader can help guide our roots into deeper soil, thus strengthening our crop.
The thorny ground represents cares of this world, and for the Army, pride in our name and reliance on money. The Salvation Army is known world wide for it's incredible work helping the poor and the helpless. Every good soldier knows that one only needs to show up in uniform and drop the name "The Salvation Army" and people will be glad to donate. Our problem is we pride ourselves too deeply on our name recognition and not on the fact that it's God that has gotten us where we are, and it's God that will take us where we are going. Also, we've begun to lean on money to drive our minestry and have been lacking in the faith that drove the early Army. One only needs to look at the DHQ's to see the departments dedicated to minestry are often understaffed in comparison to those dedicated to finance and business. The burning passion of early salvationism has been choked out by worry about money. We need a General whose faith will vastly outweigh reliance on anything else. Our trust should be in God, who is our Great Provider, not in money or respect from the world. Our General needs to guide us away from the thorns we've embraced and help us to lean on God our Father. He is the one who will sustain our mission and minestry.
When all these soils are dealt with, all that is left is the fourth soil, the good soil. The good soil grows up seeds into a crop that produces fruit, some up to a hundredfold Like I mentioned earlier, our next General will be the one who brings the Salvation Army into a new era of it\'s life. We need to find a General who is ready, willing and able to deal with all the problems, all the bad soils, and bring us into a renewed period of passion and mission. God has great plans in store for the Salvation Army. I believe if we can find the right General, he/she may help lead the Salvatin Army to live out these words our founder Catherine Booth prophesied- "I believe this Movement is to inaugurate the great final conquest of the Lord Jesus Christ."
posted by I Believe We Shall Win at 12:41 AM
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