Primitive Christianity

Catherine Booth and many of the people who first joined The Salvation Army called the movement of the Holy Spirit in their work “Primitive Christianity.” They compared the power of God working through them with how the Holy Spirit worked through the early church.

Catherine said this in one of her messages entitled Aggressive Christianity: “If we could blot out from our minds the knowledge of the history of Christianity…” (From this point until the next quotation, my paraphrase) what took place since the days recorded in the Acts of the Apostles... Sit down and calculate what was likely to happen in this world. What different results might have happened? What a different world would have been the outcome if our humanity, politics and tendency to organize had not gotten in the way of the Holy Spirit!

“We Christians profess to possess in the Gospel of Christ, a mighty lever, rightly and universally applied, would lift the entire burden of sin and misery from the shoulders, (the souls), of our fellowmen…” It is a cure for “all of the moral and spiritual woes of humanity. In curing their spiritual plagues we should go far to cure their physical plagues as well. We profess to believe this…Yet look at the world…” Even look at the so called “Christian” world.

She goes on to say, “Now, I ask, how is this? I do not for a moment believe that this is in accordance with the purpose of God.” “I believe that the old arch-enemy has done in this dispensation what he did in former ones – so far circumvented the purposes of God that he has succeeded in brining about this state of things – in retarding the accomplishment of God’s purposes and keeping the world under his own power and influence. I believe he has succeeded in doing this, as he has succeeded before, by deceiving God’s own people.” “He has always got up a caricature of God’s real thing, and the nearer he can get it to be like the original the more successful he is, he has succeeded in deceiving God’s people.”

WOW! Think about that for a moment. Doesn’t it sound like she is speaking to us today rather than in the 1890s? One hundred plus years ago God inspired Catherine Booth with words we still need to hear today!

Early Salvationists recognized that they were involved in spiritual warfare and were ready to fight and die. As years progressed, we have lost some of that fire and dedication. Have we been blinded by the arch-enemy to the purposes of God and the power at our command? Are we living as spiritual paupers? Why are we so apathetic to the needs of our sick and rotting world? Overwhelmed by the needs of suffering humanity we do what we can do in our human strength. It is time to tap into the supernatural strength of God?

Prayer: God as we contemplate what you want to do through this Salvation Army of yours and more to the point through us, place your shield of protection around us and our loved ones so that the enemy cannot use people, property or possessions to distract us from seeking Your will. Open our eyes and help us to see the truth. Prepare us for the battle and help us to engage in the spiritual battle.

Many faceted promotion

WOW is a multi - part promotion. The first part is the WOW Initiative. The work done on the field in this next year and beyond. The second is a Territorial WOW Celebration Luncheon planned for June 9, 2007. A third part will include the divisionally planned Celebrations. Corps and ARC Units can also have their own celebrations.

What will we celebrate? Women and their family and friends who come to Christ. Women who grow in their commitment to the King of Kings. We will celebrate new members of Women's ministries programs, increase in attendance and new programs began.

To do this at the June 9, 2007 event we will use the months of October to March to monitor the activity, but divisions and corps should wait until at least a year has passed to see the greater outcomes and progress.

Salvation Army Women’s Ministries programs are outcome based. Measuring the outcome of our work will help indicate the effectiveness of those programs. Therefore we will continue to emphasize, measure, and celebrate the success of the following:

Fundamental Purposes:

Seekers added

Soldiers and Adherents added

Families Linked to Corps

New Members added to Home League

New Participants added to Outreach Groups

Attendance Increase

Forty-four and more meetings held

44 Home League Meetings (Required in WM Guidelines)

Outreach Group Meetings (Expected of every corps)

We are not giving any new reports for the corps, we will expect them to use the planning and report tools they have been given. There will be a new report for DHQ - The report asking for which people and programs they want to highlight at the Territorial Celebration.

Perhaps the women of a corps will realize how many lost opportunities pass through their doors at Christmas. In October, the will meet weekly to plan and pray. They will pray and ask God which women they should target. Shall they have a ministry to the grandmothers and aunts raising grandchildren and nieces? Shall they reach out to the single moms?

They will plan how to invite the target group of women, they will plan the events and what kinds of things they will do to interest the women to come. They will plan follow up events to invite the women to return. Will the events be monthly or weekly?

Then the women will pray some more. Pray and ask God to bless their efforts with success. The women will pray some more and ask God to help them grow in their own spiritual lives. They will take leadership positions and help the corps advance in the Salvation War.

Perhaps one woman will get the vision about winning women for Christ and her efforts will change a community. WOW!

What is WOW supposed to accomplish?

WOW! So what is the thinking behind the WOW Initiative? In the spring of 2006 Commissioner Pat Swyers met with Lt. Colonel Debi Bell and Major Rose-Marie Leslie to share her heart and thoughts about Women’s Ministries in the Western Territory. We all sense that there is a great opportunity on the horizon for advancement of the Kingdom of God. We share the same belief that the women of The Salvation Army will be mightily used by God to bring about the salvation of souls and a movement of holiness not yet experienced in our history. Our statistics tell us that we have been in a fifteen year recession through out most of the territory. That in itself is a great concern to us. We prayed and talked about the challenges facing the women’s ministries programs.

Commissioner Pat Swyers shared her thoughts about some kind of WM promotion that she would like to see developed and that she would like us to name it WOW. She explained that WOW could stand for Win One Woman. As we talked about the ways to develop this idea for the territory, the three of us became very enthusiastic about the possibilities of this endeavor.

Tasked with filling in the blanks, Major Rose-Marie and I left the office to begin to piece together a plan that would be “user friendly” for the corps and ARC units of our territory and still have the desired effect of winning souls for the Kingdom of God and building the ranks of The Salvation Army. That is how the WOW Initiative was born. We decided that it would be called an Initiative instead of a campaign, contest or endeavor.

Why use the word “Initiative” instead of something else? The word initiative means “plan, proposal, scheme, idea, enterprise, program, project, or inventiveness.” We hope that our officers and soldiers will catch the vision and get excited about what they can do for the Kingdom of God, The Salvation Army and for women.

There is nothing new here. We want the field to recognize the value of what is expected from a balanced ministry approach.

Women’s Ministries Programs can provide one of the best outreach opportunities we have in The Salvation Army. The women who “enter” The Salvation Army through the door of Home League or other women’s ministries groups often become your stable leaders and hope for the corps. It is time to take back the dignity of women’s programs and work. We can no longer allow it to be marginalized. As leaders in The Salvation Army, it is up to you to create a culture where women’s ministries and women are valued. (By what you say and do.)

Our dream is to see creative, exciting programs reach out to women and their families to bring them to a right relationship with Jesus. Then to establish them as leaders and soldiers in the Salvation War!

Pursuing God

Win One Woman and Win Our World...lofty goals but first let us make sure that we are right with God. Kay Arthur writes, "I am convinced beyond a shadow of any doubt that the most valuable pursuit we can embark upon is to know God."

How can we "know God" in a real way? Stop and listen. God tries to reveal Himself to us in so many ways. Through nature - Psalm 19 tells us that the Heavens declare the Glory of God.

When I was a child, I would spend a couple of weeks during the summer with my maternal grandmother and grandfather. Grandma Honey and Papa made simple things come alive for us. We learned how to hunt for arrowheads, buried gold, and berries from bushes that nobody else knew were edible. Papa had a second grade education and worked for the city park department mowing grass, repairing sprinklers, and other types of labor. Sometimes we would meet him for a picnic at lunch and play in the park he was working on that day. Everyday was a new adventure and every day ended the same way: we would go outside of the four room adobe house where they lived and sit in the front yard to enjoy the cool of the evening. Grandma and Papa would tell us stories about the "olden days" and we would enjoy the night sky. I am 50 and have not done much night sky gazing lately, but last night I went out to sit on the patio in a chair to cool off because our air-conditioner was broken. It reminded me about beautiful New Mexico, summer nights, and about singing "What A Friend We Have in Jesus" which was Papa's favorite song.

When was the last time you left the comforts of technology and stepped out into nature so that God could reveal something about Himself to you?

Psalm 19 goes on to tell us that Scripture, specifically God's laws, reveal God. We can know God through His written Word.

Here is a plan: Find a nice quiet spot in nature - a park, a beach, the desert, a backyard, somewhere to get alone with God. Take your Bible and read Psalm 19 then read John 1:1-14. Pray and ask God to reveal something new about Himself to you. Then listen.

As we seek to win our world for Christ and for the Kingdom of God, let us start with a love and passion for God.

Words from the Marechale

The oldest daughter of Catherine and William Booth, Kate, began the work of The Salvation Army in France. The culture of France at the time was not only anti-religious it was aggressively against Christ. In 1881 TSA sent its first soldiers into France: Captain Kate Booth, 21 years old and her two Lieutenants. None of them spoke French.

They carried the first Army flag. "Carry it to the slums and alleys. Preach under it's shadow wherever there are lost and perishing souls. Charge the hosts of hell and see whether they will not turn and flee" were the words of challenge Catherine gave to the young women.

Within a week they were ridiculed, sworn at and pelted with stones and mud. Later she was put in gaol (jail). Kate and her lieutenants rented the only rooms they could afford in Paris. It was on the seventh floor of a tenement building in the slums of the Rue parmentier. It was occupied by prostitutes and rats. They lived on boiled potatoes and beans.

"When I went to France, I said to Jesus, 'I will suffer anything if you give me the keys.' If I am asked what the secret of our power in France, I will answer: 'First it is love; second, love; third, love.' And if you ask how to get it, I will answer first, by sacrifice; second, by sacrifice; third, by sacrifice.' Hours and hours we spend on our knees: you don't know the value of prayer until you are driven to bay."

As I read these words, I wonder if our efforts for the cause of Christ would compare? What would I give for the salvation of the lost?

WOW Beginning

In the beginning...
I am learning to post a BLOG. These are my baby steps toward communicating the WOW Initiative, a Women's Ministries promotion. The Salvation Army of the Western Territory will spend the months of August and September praying about and planning for what they will do to Win Our World for Christ. Each corps will help their women Win One Woman for Christ, the Kingdom of God, The Salvation Army and for Women's Ministries.

That is the "How" phase.

The "NOW" phase begins in October 2006 when corps and ARC units through out the territory will put their plans into action. The months of October 2006 through March 2007 will me monitored and measured. We will have a territorial celebration June 9, 2007 for what has been accomplished.

You may be able to tell, that I am excited about this Initiative and praying that God will use it and us for His Glory.

We will circulate "Prayer Pots" through out the divisions and the ARC command. This is to insure prayer coverage for this fantastic opportunity. We also hope it will build interest in the WOW Initiative. Everyone will bring their prayer pots to the June Celebration.

During the June 9, 2007 celebration we will have a time when we BOW before the Lord God to give Him our offerings of what was accomplished to date through this Initiative.