Daily devotions
Friday
New prayer letter
A new prayer letter has just been sent out. Do you also want to join in praying for Latvia? Write a mail to info@rupeba.se and ask for our prayer letter.
Monday
Christianity and McLarenism
From Justin Taylor at The Gospel Coalition, commenting Kevin DeYoungs review of MacLarens latest book:
Again, let me strongly encourage you to read Kevin’s entire review. Here is his conclusion:
"The message of McLarenism is pretty simple: God is love and wants everyone to be kind and inclusive and care for the poor and the environment. This is what Jesus was like, and we should be like Jesus. This is, of course, not wrong in so far as it goes. The Liberal/McLaren emphasis on the kingdom is right, their concern for the “other” is right, much of their ethics is right. But McLarenism, like liberalism, cannot be right. It has its emphases all out of proportion, its right statements thrown out of whack by all that is missing. In McLarenism there is no original sin, no wrath, no hell, no creation-fall-redemption, no definite future, no second coming that I can see, no clear statement on the deity of Christ, no mention of vicarious substitution or God’s holiness or divine sovereignty, no ethical demands except as they relate to being kind to others, no God-offendedness, no doctrine of justification, no unchanging apostolic deposit of truth, no absolute submission to the word of God, nary a mention of faith and worship, no doctrine of regeneration, no evangelistic impulse to save the lost, and nothing about God’s passion for his glory. This is surely a lot to leave out.
McLaren’s Christianity is not new and certainly not improved. I don’t believe you can even call it Christianity. It is liberalism dressed up for the 21st century. We can only hope this wave of liberalism fades as dramatically as did the last."
Read more>>
Again, let me strongly encourage you to read Kevin’s entire review. Here is his conclusion:
"The message of McLarenism is pretty simple: God is love and wants everyone to be kind and inclusive and care for the poor and the environment. This is what Jesus was like, and we should be like Jesus. This is, of course, not wrong in so far as it goes. The Liberal/McLaren emphasis on the kingdom is right, their concern for the “other” is right, much of their ethics is right. But McLarenism, like liberalism, cannot be right. It has its emphases all out of proportion, its right statements thrown out of whack by all that is missing. In McLarenism there is no original sin, no wrath, no hell, no creation-fall-redemption, no definite future, no second coming that I can see, no clear statement on the deity of Christ, no mention of vicarious substitution or God’s holiness or divine sovereignty, no ethical demands except as they relate to being kind to others, no God-offendedness, no doctrine of justification, no unchanging apostolic deposit of truth, no absolute submission to the word of God, nary a mention of faith and worship, no doctrine of regeneration, no evangelistic impulse to save the lost, and nothing about God’s passion for his glory. This is surely a lot to leave out.
McLaren’s Christianity is not new and certainly not improved. I don’t believe you can even call it Christianity. It is liberalism dressed up for the 21st century. We can only hope this wave of liberalism fades as dramatically as did the last."
Read more>>
Sunday
Silence is not always golden
Read more>>
Evangelicals Band Together to Keep Gospel Alive in PC(USA)
From The Christian Post:
"Evangelicals in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) have banded together and committed themselves to hold to the biblical faith as their denomination continues to "stumble," as they put it.
With the PC(USA) losing churches and conservatives beginning to feel like they have no voice or reason to stay in the denomination, remaining evangelicals have decided to support one another with the formation of the Biblical Presbyterian Network.
"[I]t feels as if there is a sense of helplessness within the evangelical community within the PC(USA). The old strategies do not seem to be holding us together and the vision for a renewed Presbyterian Church USA seems more faded than ever," the network states.
"And yet, even our denomination fails, stumbles and so often impedes the work of God’s Spirit, we acknowledge that this reality does not change our calling to be faithful where we are."
In recent years, dozens of churches have left the PC(USA), citing the denomination's liberal direction on scriptural authority and homosexuality. Most recently in 2008, the General Assembly – the denomination's highest governing body – approved a proposal to delete from its constitution a requirement that clergy live in "fidelity within the covenant of marriage between and a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness." The proposal requires a majority approval from the PC(USA)'s 173 presbyteries."
Read more>>
"Evangelicals in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) have banded together and committed themselves to hold to the biblical faith as their denomination continues to "stumble," as they put it.
With the PC(USA) losing churches and conservatives beginning to feel like they have no voice or reason to stay in the denomination, remaining evangelicals have decided to support one another with the formation of the Biblical Presbyterian Network.
"[I]t feels as if there is a sense of helplessness within the evangelical community within the PC(USA). The old strategies do not seem to be holding us together and the vision for a renewed Presbyterian Church USA seems more faded than ever," the network states.
"And yet, even our denomination fails, stumbles and so often impedes the work of God’s Spirit, we acknowledge that this reality does not change our calling to be faithful where we are."
In recent years, dozens of churches have left the PC(USA), citing the denomination's liberal direction on scriptural authority and homosexuality. Most recently in 2008, the General Assembly – the denomination's highest governing body – approved a proposal to delete from its constitution a requirement that clergy live in "fidelity within the covenant of marriage between and a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness." The proposal requires a majority approval from the PC(USA)'s 173 presbyteries."
Read more>>
Monday
The Salvation Army in Haiti
From The Salvation Army international website:FOR more than a week the people of Haiti have been trying to cope with the pain and suffering caused by a devastating earthquake. As often in such circumstances, local Salvation Army personnel were immediately on hand to assist people, despite experiencing agonies, bereavements and losses of their own. The more than 700 Salvation Army workers are now being supported by international team members who have experience of working in disaster relief situations.
The international personnel deployed to the scene are based in the capital, Port-au-Prince, at The Salvation Army compound in St Martin.
Lieut-Colonel Lindsay Rowe (Chief Secretary, Caribbean Territory) says the area The Salvation Army is working in is considered to be one of the most dangerous in Port-au-Prince. For security reasons the press have been warned by local authorities to keep clear but this has meant that The Salvation Army has had little coverage in the international media reports from Haiti.
Captain Jean Laurore Clenat, District Officer for South Haiti, translates as a doctor examines a patient at the clinic in Delmas, Port-au-Prince
The Salvation Army has had a ministry in St Martin for 60 years and the movement is well respected and appreciated. The compound includes administration buildings, worship halls, a school, children’s home, a feeding programme and a medical clinic. Many of the buildings were badly damaged and some rendered completely unusable by the earthquake. Nevertheless, the area is being well used to coordinate the emergency response, food distribution, medical services and general care and support of local people.
Read more>>
Saturday
A MISSIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON THE UNIQUENESS OF TSA -2-
Paul Rader, General (R)- Part 2
Beyond the exchange between existing territories, there is a growing commitment to pioneering mission within formerly assisted and receiving territories. The Korea Territory, for example, has for some time been exploring the possibilities for mission in Outer Mongolia. During the Centenary Congress in Seoul in September 2008, a Korean officer couple was appointed to formally establish the Army's work in Ulan Bator, Mongolia. Earlier, the Korea Territory launched, staffed and fully supported the Army's work in Vladivostok.
There are many strengths in the Army's internationalism: a bracing sense of international camaraderie, of participation in a global movement marching under the same banner of Blood and Fire. Internationalism affords a capacity for rapid mobilization, maintenance of standards, efficiencies in fiscal management, the sharing of resources and expertise, and capacity for strategic response to emerging opportunities for service, to name but a few. The Army's response to the open door for our return to Russia in the wake of the dramatic demise of the Soviet Union is an example. Mobilizing our global response to the devastating 2004 Tsunami in South Asia, is another.
At its best the Army's internationalism models the Body of Christ in both its unity and rich diversity. International Headquarters this year released a revision of the 2002 publication, Servants Together: Salvationist Perspectives on Ministry. Significantly, the cover art features a painting by Salvationist Mikhail Gavrilov, one of the first lay leaders to emerge after the Army's return to Russia in 1991. The image of Christ is made up of figures representing the diversity within the community of believers.
THE ARMY AS CHURCH: COMMUNITY IN MISSION
Facing the immense challenges in mission and the doors of opportunity opening to his expanding work, General William Booth called for a growing Army, "a stupendous force" all under one head, marching under the same flag. Growth was a priority and remains so in bringing the movement to what I have elsewhere called ''full battle strength." The challenge to attain a million marching into the new millennium -- adult 'soldiers,' a covenanted cadre of the committed, was achieved and announced amid great rejoicing at the 2000 International Congress in Atlanta GA. In exploring the Army's church growth potential it became evident that the will to grow would be determined by the Army's self-understanding as an authentic and vital expression of the Church of Jesus Christ. It was necessary therefore to establish the theological and biblical legitimacy of the Army model of churchly life and mission. Institutional advance is one thing. Authentic growth of the Body of Christ, quite another: growing up "into him who is the head, that is Christ, . . . . the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, [growing] and [building] itself up in love, as each part does its work" (Ephesians 4:15-16).
Only a biblically grounded understanding of the churchly being and function of the Army, as a movement, and in its local corps expressions, adequately supports and motivates a commitment to growth. Only when the Army is understood as 'Community in Mission', to borrow Commissioner Philip Needham's phrase, do we adequately:
Ÿ reinforce growth as a priority goal,
Ÿ avoid the primacy of structure and method over mission,
Ÿ access the correction, direction and motive power of the New Testament image of the Church militant over against a formal militariness, and
Ÿ claim the promise of the Spirit's life and the Savior's lordship over and within the Body, which is his Church.
In this way we begin to understand fully the dynamics and necessities of growth in the living organism, which is the Body of Christ, Jesus Christ himself the Head "from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews grows as God causes it to grow" (Colossians 2:19).
Traditionally, the Army has avoided using ecclesiastical terminology as being more hindrance than help. And, incidentally, one notes the emergence of worship centers, temples and tabernacles among seeker-sensitive new church plants, assiduously avoiding the term 'church' at least in their signage. One can appreciate the sensitivities of Booth's early militants who did not want to be identified either with the staid institutionalism of the Anglican Establishment or with the sectarian squabbles of the nonconforming churches and chapels in Victorian England. Their concern was for demonstrating the reality of the Church and fulfilling its mission. They considered themselves above denominationalism, or 'sectarianism' [which the Army Mother, Catherine Booth, was given to denigrating in the most scathing terms!]. They were intent on being the Church rather than talking about it.
Beginning with the publication of Commissioner Needham's Community in Mission: a Salvationist Ecclesiology in 1987, the first book length theological reflection on the Army's relationship to the New Testament ideal of the church, the Army has been ineluctably drawn toward an increased understanding and acceptance of its ecclesial identity and function and their implications for the life and ministry of the movement. This is clearly evident in the new Handbook of Doctrine, Salvation Story, to which reference has been made. Chapter ten, in this volume, for the first time in our history articulates a doctrine of the Church. Earlier editions made reference to the Church Universal but not to the Army as a church embodying the New Testament ideal of the church in community and mission.
All this has led to necessary reflection on the inner life of the movement, and the ways in which we nurture and sustain that life within the Army. This concern provided the occasion for convening an International Spiritual Life Commission which met in London, England during 1996 - 1997 for five meetings, each of five days duration. In my opening address I reviewed the rationale for summoning the Commission and outlined their mandate. In part, I said:
In recent years, and for a variety of reasons, we have begun to come more to terms with our churchly identity -- that is, the accepted and publicly-acknowledged fact that we are the church home for something upwards of two million people in the world. For most of them we are their primary, if not only, point of insertion into the body of Christ. We are the fellowship within which they experience their connectedness with the body of Christ.
It is the Army through its corps life that provides them with essential instruction in Christian doctrine and an understanding of the truth of Scripture. It is the Army that provides the primary setting for worship for most of our people. What they know of personal spiritual discipline, they learned from us. It is through the Army they experience their relationship to the broader Christian community and establish their identity within that community as bona fide Christian believers.
Simply put, it is time for us to take more seriously issues related to our inner life. We owe it to our people. It is essential to maintaining the engine of commitment and passion. Our mission is energized by our spirituality.
We have a responsibility to ensure that we are not denying our people necessary means of grace and that their participation in the life of the Army through their local corps affords them every available advantage in living the Christian life."
Out of the deliberations of the Commission came a series of recommendations for consideration
by the Army's international leadership and a 'Call to Salvationists' worldwide "to recognize that any outward movement of love for the world requires first of all an inward movement from each Christian towards God." The Call declares, "The vitality of our spiritual life as a Movement will be seen and tested in our turning to the world in evangelism and service, but the springs of our spiritual life are to be found in our turning to God in worship, in the disciplines of life in the Spirit, and in the study of God's word." Twelve specific calls were made, supported by complementary affirmations. They covered a broad range of issues relating to the inner life of the Army, including Worship, the Word, the Mercy Seat, the celebration of Christ's Presence, our life together in community, the meaning of soldiership, our life in the world, the call to Holiness and the call to spiritual warfare. In 1999, the chair of the commission, Commissioner Robert Street, produced a valuable guide to implementing the Calls in a volume entitled Called to be God's People: the International Spiritual Life Commission, its report, implications and challenges which is available for down load on-line at www.salvationarmy.org/resources
Paul Rader, General (R)
Beyond the exchange between existing territories, there is a growing commitment to pioneering mission within formerly assisted and receiving territories. The Korea Territory, for example, has for some time been exploring the possibilities for mission in Outer Mongolia. During the Centenary Congress in Seoul in September 2008, a Korean officer couple was appointed to formally establish the Army's work in Ulan Bator, Mongolia. Earlier, the Korea Territory launched, staffed and fully supported the Army's work in Vladivostok.
There are many strengths in the Army's internationalism: a bracing sense of international camaraderie, of participation in a global movement marching under the same banner of Blood and Fire. Internationalism affords a capacity for rapid mobilization, maintenance of standards, efficiencies in fiscal management, the sharing of resources and expertise, and capacity for strategic response to emerging opportunities for service, to name but a few. The Army's response to the open door for our return to Russia in the wake of the dramatic demise of the Soviet Union is an example. Mobilizing our global response to the devastating 2004 Tsunami in South Asia, is another.At its best the Army's internationalism models the Body of Christ in both its unity and rich diversity. International Headquarters this year released a revision of the 2002 publication, Servants Together: Salvationist Perspectives on Ministry. Significantly, the cover art features a painting by Salvationist Mikhail Gavrilov, one of the first lay leaders to emerge after the Army's return to Russia in 1991. The image of Christ is made up of figures representing the diversity within the community of believers.
THE ARMY AS CHURCH: COMMUNITY IN MISSION
Facing the immense challenges in mission and the doors of opportunity opening to his expanding work, General William Booth called for a growing Army, "a stupendous force" all under one head, marching under the same flag. Growth was a priority and remains so in bringing the movement to what I have elsewhere called ''full battle strength." The challenge to attain a million marching into the new millennium -- adult 'soldiers,' a covenanted cadre of the committed, was achieved and announced amid great rejoicing at the 2000 International Congress in Atlanta GA. In exploring the Army's church growth potential it became evident that the will to grow would be determined by the Army's self-understanding as an authentic and vital expression of the Church of Jesus Christ. It was necessary therefore to establish the theological and biblical legitimacy of the Army model of churchly life and mission. Institutional advance is one thing. Authentic growth of the Body of Christ, quite another: growing up "into him who is the head, that is Christ, . . . . the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, [growing] and [building] itself up in love, as each part does its work" (Ephesians 4:15-16).
Only a biblically grounded understanding of the churchly being and function of the Army, as a movement, and in its local corps expressions, adequately supports and motivates a commitment to growth. Only when the Army is understood as 'Community in Mission', to borrow Commissioner Philip Needham's phrase, do we adequately:
Ÿ reinforce growth as a priority goal,
Ÿ avoid the primacy of structure and method over mission,
Ÿ access the correction, direction and motive power of the New Testament image of the Church militant over against a formal militariness, and
Ÿ claim the promise of the Spirit's life and the Savior's lordship over and within the Body, which is his Church.
In this way we begin to understand fully the dynamics and necessities of growth in the living organism, which is the Body of Christ, Jesus Christ himself the Head "from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews grows as God causes it to grow" (Colossians 2:19).
Traditionally, the Army has avoided using ecclesiastical terminology as being more hindrance than help. And, incidentally, one notes the emergence of worship centers, temples and tabernacles among seeker-sensitive new church plants, assiduously avoiding the term 'church' at least in their signage. One can appreciate the sensitivities of Booth's early militants who did not want to be identified either with the staid institutionalism of the Anglican Establishment or with the sectarian squabbles of the nonconforming churches and chapels in Victorian England. Their concern was for demonstrating the reality of the Church and fulfilling its mission. They considered themselves above denominationalism, or 'sectarianism' [which the Army Mother, Catherine Booth, was given to denigrating in the most scathing terms!]. They were intent on being the Church rather than talking about it.
Beginning with the publication of Commissioner Needham's Community in Mission: a Salvationist Ecclesiology in 1987, the first book length theological reflection on the Army's relationship to the New Testament ideal of the church, the Army has been ineluctably drawn toward an increased understanding and acceptance of its ecclesial identity and function and their implications for the life and ministry of the movement. This is clearly evident in the new Handbook of Doctrine, Salvation Story, to which reference has been made. Chapter ten, in this volume, for the first time in our history articulates a doctrine of the Church. Earlier editions made reference to the Church Universal but not to the Army as a church embodying the New Testament ideal of the church in community and mission.
All this has led to necessary reflection on the inner life of the movement, and the ways in which we nurture and sustain that life within the Army. This concern provided the occasion for convening an International Spiritual Life Commission which met in London, England during 1996 - 1997 for five meetings, each of five days duration. In my opening address I reviewed the rationale for summoning the Commission and outlined their mandate. In part, I said:
In recent years, and for a variety of reasons, we have begun to come more to terms with our churchly identity -- that is, the accepted and publicly-acknowledged fact that we are the church home for something upwards of two million people in the world. For most of them we are their primary, if not only, point of insertion into the body of Christ. We are the fellowship within which they experience their connectedness with the body of Christ.
It is the Army through its corps life that provides them with essential instruction in Christian doctrine and an understanding of the truth of Scripture. It is the Army that provides the primary setting for worship for most of our people. What they know of personal spiritual discipline, they learned from us. It is through the Army they experience their relationship to the broader Christian community and establish their identity within that community as bona fide Christian believers.
Simply put, it is time for us to take more seriously issues related to our inner life. We owe it to our people. It is essential to maintaining the engine of commitment and passion. Our mission is energized by our spirituality.
We have a responsibility to ensure that we are not denying our people necessary means of grace and that their participation in the life of the Army through their local corps affords them every available advantage in living the Christian life."
Out of the deliberations of the Commission came a series of recommendations for consideration
by the Army's international leadership and a 'Call to Salvationists' worldwide "to recognize that any outward movement of love for the world requires first of all an inward movement from each Christian towards God." The Call declares, "The vitality of our spiritual life as a Movement will be seen and tested in our turning to the world in evangelism and service, but the springs of our spiritual life are to be found in our turning to God in worship, in the disciplines of life in the Spirit, and in the study of God's word." Twelve specific calls were made, supported by complementary affirmations. They covered a broad range of issues relating to the inner life of the Army, including Worship, the Word, the Mercy Seat, the celebration of Christ's Presence, our life together in community, the meaning of soldiership, our life in the world, the call to Holiness and the call to spiritual warfare. In 1999, the chair of the commission, Commissioner Robert Street, produced a valuable guide to implementing the Calls in a volume entitled Called to be God's People: the International Spiritual Life Commission, its report, implications and challenges which is available for down load on-line at www.salvationarmy.org/resources
Paul Rader, General (R)
MISSIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES; THE UNIQUENESS OF TSA part -1-
Paul Rader, General of the Salvation Army (R)'To grow saints' and 'To serve suffering humanity'.
A TRANSFORMATIVE GOSPEL
The message of the Army wherever it is preached is grounded firmly in Biblical truth and evangelical faith. It is spoken and sung in 175 languages by Salvationists. The modes and metaphors of expression and the idioms and instruments of Army music-making are delightfully diverse, but the message is the same. It is a positive Gospel of possibility, of purity, and power. It is a transformational Gospel grounded in the redemptive work of Christ on the Cross, the reality of the Resurrection and the promised presence and power of the Holy Spirit. We believe in a salvation from sin and from sinning. We believe in a Gospel that can open blinded eyes and turn the most desperate soul from 'darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in [Christ Jesus]' (Acts 26:17-18 TNIV).
Given the founders early immersion in Wesleyan theology, it is not surprising that Army doctrine is Wesleyan in orientation ['There is one God and John Wesley is his prophet!']. A brief statement of eleven salient points was formulated to under gird the evangelical mission of the Army. The 'doctrines' were not intended to be comprehensive. They have been explicated and expanded in subsequent versions of the Army's Handbook of Doctrine, the most recent of which was published in 1998 with the title, Salvation Story: Salvationist Handbook of Doctrine. The current Handbook includes the classical creeds: the Apostles Creed, the Nicene Creed and the Athanasian Creed. It is not a weighty theological tome, but offers a clear and concise guide for an Army on the march, capable of translation into languages around the world. Brief in compass it reflects extensive theological reflection and broad biblical understanding. Commissioner Gudrun Lydholm, M.Th., served with distinction on the International Doctrine Council which produced the fresh rewriting of the Handbook. In 2005 she published a review of the development of the new Handbook in Word & Deed, A Journal of Salvation Army Theology and Ministry. Particularly helpful is her comparison of the 11 doctrines with fresh summaries and rewordings which appeared at the end of each chapter in Salvation Story. These supplied additional emphases that had not been referenced in the traditional doctrines, probably being assumed by the early Army missioners. They included references to the birth and resurrection of Jesus and his return in glory and a separate reference to the person and work of the Holy Spirit. At the heart of the Army's mission is the firm confidence that the Gospel of Christ is still "the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes" (Romans 1:16 TNIV).
CULTURAL ADAPTATION
Cultural adaptation has been a hallmark of the Army from the first. In a remarkable document addressed to his growing force of missioners in India dated 27 August 1886, William Booth urged Tucker's cadre to explore every reasonable means for relating to the culture and communicating the essentials of their message.
You are not bound by any stereotyped or antiquated notions. What is being done in Europe or America, or what has been done in India in the past, or what is being done in the present, need not be any rule to you, unless you can see it is calculated to gain the end you have in view. Go, my comrades, and pray and look about you, and thus acquaint yourselves with Indian modes of thought and feeling and action, and then adapt yourselves to them, so far as such adaptation shall be consistent with the doctrines of the Bible and the principles of the Army (Quoted in Booth-Tucker 1924:xix).
In fairness it must be said that there has always been a tension between the desire to adapt to the uniqueness of a given cultural context and the requirement of loyalty to what Edward Higgins, then Chief of the Staff, called the Army's 'distinctive features of service and method.' Acknowledging that some cultures proved less than receptive of the Army's style of ministry, he took comfort in reporting, "Our pioneer officers have fearlessly and confidently pressed upon the people the Army's aims, principles, and methods, and invariably -- sometimes in a less and sometimes a greater degree -- there has been a most striking response" (1929). That tension is still significant in seeking to relate to changing cultural realities within cultures, in the West as much as other parts of the world. Believing that the Army's identity and principles are transferable to other cultural settings Salvationists seek to maintain what might be regarded as the essentials of Salvationism that have sustained its mission across time and cultures. The task is to discern what those essentials are! To some degree virtually every denomination struggles with these issues. The tension is exacerbated by one of the Army's most highly valued distinctives: its commitment to internationalism.
INTERNATIONALISM
Every expression of the Army in all of the 117 countries where the Army has a legal presence is bound to the international movement and subject to the direction of International Headquarters under the authority of the General. The connection is organic, structural, administrative, cultural, legal, and most importantly, covenantal. Booth called for 'one Salvation Army' -- "one body with the same head, the same government, the same laws, and substantially the same usages and methods . . . . There will not only be the liberty, but the necessity, to adapt its methods, so far as is consistent with truth and righteousness, to the character and habits of the people, the Salvation of whom it is there to bring about (1887:51).
The structural unity of the Army internationally has made it an anomaly to ecumenical bodies. It doesn't fit the model. Membership is usually limited to national church bodies. In the end, the Army has assumed an observer status in the World Council of Churches along with the Roman Catholic observers. However, the Army in certain countries, has maintained membership in national Christian Councils, even though it is not appropriate to regard The Salvation Army functioning in any nation as an autonomous national body, as, for example, the Korean Presbyterian Church. This applies whether or not the Army in that nation is financially independent or has no western international reinforcement officers serving within the 'territory.' India, Korea, Japan and Indonesia, for example, currently have no western expatriate officers resident in these countries. The work is entirely indigenous. Indeed, these territories and others are contributing officer personnel to other parts of the Army world. The exchange of officer and professional personnel between countries East to West, South to North as well as West to East and North to South has greatly strengthened the unity and effective internationalism of the movement. More than ever before, the Army world is 'flat' (Tom Friedman).
Paul Rader, General (R)
Born in 1934, the 15th General was the first American General. Rader's studies at Asbury College, Asbury Theological Seminary and Southern Baptist Seminary resulted in BA, BD and MTh degrees. He later received a Doctor of Missiology degree from Fuller Theological Seminary School of World Mission. He served variously in pastoral, missionary, training and administrative positions in the United States and Korea.
A TRANSFORMATIVE GOSPEL
The message of the Army wherever it is preached is grounded firmly in Biblical truth and evangelical faith. It is spoken and sung in 175 languages by Salvationists. The modes and metaphors of expression and the idioms and instruments of Army music-making are delightfully diverse, but the message is the same. It is a positive Gospel of possibility, of purity, and power. It is a transformational Gospel grounded in the redemptive work of Christ on the Cross, the reality of the Resurrection and the promised presence and power of the Holy Spirit. We believe in a salvation from sin and from sinning. We believe in a Gospel that can open blinded eyes and turn the most desperate soul from 'darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in [Christ Jesus]' (Acts 26:17-18 TNIV).
Given the founders early immersion in Wesleyan theology, it is not surprising that Army doctrine is Wesleyan in orientation ['There is one God and John Wesley is his prophet!']. A brief statement of eleven salient points was formulated to under gird the evangelical mission of the Army. The 'doctrines' were not intended to be comprehensive. They have been explicated and expanded in subsequent versions of the Army's Handbook of Doctrine, the most recent of which was published in 1998 with the title, Salvation Story: Salvationist Handbook of Doctrine. The current Handbook includes the classical creeds: the Apostles Creed, the Nicene Creed and the Athanasian Creed. It is not a weighty theological tome, but offers a clear and concise guide for an Army on the march, capable of translation into languages around the world. Brief in compass it reflects extensive theological reflection and broad biblical understanding. Commissioner Gudrun Lydholm, M.Th., served with distinction on the International Doctrine Council which produced the fresh rewriting of the Handbook. In 2005 she published a review of the development of the new Handbook in Word & Deed, A Journal of Salvation Army Theology and Ministry. Particularly helpful is her comparison of the 11 doctrines with fresh summaries and rewordings which appeared at the end of each chapter in Salvation Story. These supplied additional emphases that had not been referenced in the traditional doctrines, probably being assumed by the early Army missioners. They included references to the birth and resurrection of Jesus and his return in glory and a separate reference to the person and work of the Holy Spirit. At the heart of the Army's mission is the firm confidence that the Gospel of Christ is still "the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes" (Romans 1:16 TNIV).
CULTURAL ADAPTATION
Cultural adaptation has been a hallmark of the Army from the first. In a remarkable document addressed to his growing force of missioners in India dated 27 August 1886, William Booth urged Tucker's cadre to explore every reasonable means for relating to the culture and communicating the essentials of their message.
You are not bound by any stereotyped or antiquated notions. What is being done in Europe or America, or what has been done in India in the past, or what is being done in the present, need not be any rule to you, unless you can see it is calculated to gain the end you have in view. Go, my comrades, and pray and look about you, and thus acquaint yourselves with Indian modes of thought and feeling and action, and then adapt yourselves to them, so far as such adaptation shall be consistent with the doctrines of the Bible and the principles of the Army (Quoted in Booth-Tucker 1924:xix).
In fairness it must be said that there has always been a tension between the desire to adapt to the uniqueness of a given cultural context and the requirement of loyalty to what Edward Higgins, then Chief of the Staff, called the Army's 'distinctive features of service and method.' Acknowledging that some cultures proved less than receptive of the Army's style of ministry, he took comfort in reporting, "Our pioneer officers have fearlessly and confidently pressed upon the people the Army's aims, principles, and methods, and invariably -- sometimes in a less and sometimes a greater degree -- there has been a most striking response" (1929). That tension is still significant in seeking to relate to changing cultural realities within cultures, in the West as much as other parts of the world. Believing that the Army's identity and principles are transferable to other cultural settings Salvationists seek to maintain what might be regarded as the essentials of Salvationism that have sustained its mission across time and cultures. The task is to discern what those essentials are! To some degree virtually every denomination struggles with these issues. The tension is exacerbated by one of the Army's most highly valued distinctives: its commitment to internationalism.
INTERNATIONALISM
Every expression of the Army in all of the 117 countries where the Army has a legal presence is bound to the international movement and subject to the direction of International Headquarters under the authority of the General. The connection is organic, structural, administrative, cultural, legal, and most importantly, covenantal. Booth called for 'one Salvation Army' -- "one body with the same head, the same government, the same laws, and substantially the same usages and methods . . . . There will not only be the liberty, but the necessity, to adapt its methods, so far as is consistent with truth and righteousness, to the character and habits of the people, the Salvation of whom it is there to bring about (1887:51).
The structural unity of the Army internationally has made it an anomaly to ecumenical bodies. It doesn't fit the model. Membership is usually limited to national church bodies. In the end, the Army has assumed an observer status in the World Council of Churches along with the Roman Catholic observers. However, the Army in certain countries, has maintained membership in national Christian Councils, even though it is not appropriate to regard The Salvation Army functioning in any nation as an autonomous national body, as, for example, the Korean Presbyterian Church. This applies whether or not the Army in that nation is financially independent or has no western international reinforcement officers serving within the 'territory.' India, Korea, Japan and Indonesia, for example, currently have no western expatriate officers resident in these countries. The work is entirely indigenous. Indeed, these territories and others are contributing officer personnel to other parts of the Army world. The exchange of officer and professional personnel between countries East to West, South to North as well as West to East and North to South has greatly strengthened the unity and effective internationalism of the movement. More than ever before, the Army world is 'flat' (Tom Friedman).
Paul Rader, General (R)
Born in 1934, the 15th General was the first American General. Rader's studies at Asbury College, Asbury Theological Seminary and Southern Baptist Seminary resulted in BA, BD and MTh degrees. He later received a Doctor of Missiology degree from Fuller Theological Seminary School of World Mission. He served variously in pastoral, missionary, training and administrative positions in the United States and Korea.
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