Words Have Power

Stephen Court writes on Armybarmy Blog:
Greetings in Jesus' name, friends.
He is risen!

How's your soul?
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Are the roots of bitterness gone?
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Have you been to Boston Common?
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The kingdom of God is at hand.
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We admit that it maybe comes up too often for everyone's comfort, but it has been a few days since we went on a rant, so, here goes:

Words have power. Yes, that is usually used in the context of either speaking life instead of death (classic verse - Ephesians 4:29 - Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen) or of the prophetic (see the creation account of God speaking things into being).

But it also goes for semantics - the meanings of words.

When we use certain words we imply and apply certain meanings. When these words enter the general vocabulary they shape the meaning of the things they describe. Words have power.

We (The Salvation Army) have been using some words and terms far too carelessly. Here are some examples:

lay (as in 'lay people'): this refers to people who are not ordained and otherwise qualified to participate in Christian service. It is carelessly applied to everyone who is not an officer. This is poor theology and terrible history. Despite the mistake of the late 1970s and the 'ordination' of officers at commissioning, there is not some mystical abracadabra 'ordination' that accompanies commissioning (follow the ongoing fight on the exact words that have to be said during this exercise to catch the heated disagreement on this non-salvationist perspective of ordination). None of our generals and the vast majority of our commissioners (in all of history) have not been 'ordained' in the mistaken sense that the relatively recent commissioning exercise has appended. By the loose use of the term 'lay' that means Booth, Railton, Booth-Tucker, Higgins, Carptenter, Orsborn, Kitching, Coutts, Wickberg, Wiseman, Brown, Wahlstrom, Burrows, Tillsley, Rader, Gowans, Larsson, Clifton, and Bond were/are ALL 'LAY PEOPLE'. The term is ridiculous in a Salvationist context. There are no 'lay people' in The Salvation Army. There are converts, recruits, soldiers, and officers. That's it. Please stop using this term -this goes for official SA publications, generals and commissioners - everyone who has picked up this incorrect and inaccurate language.
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