The great escape

Get out of church says Graeme Smith

Stay and invite people from your local area to take part in activities inside your unattractive buildings, making them members of your denomination in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and pick and choose what you teach them from the things that I commanded you. And lo I am with only you always, even to the ends of the age! Matthew 28:19 & 20 (MCV)

O

k you got me; the Modern Church Version of the Bible is a complete work of fiction, yet the verses above are pretty much how much of today’s Church interprets the Great Commission. The Salvation Army is not exempt from this interpretation, and in many corps is stuck rigidly into the mindset.

I notice the focus of many corps is program. There is hat-tip towards relationship, but the reality is that the only way most people are connecting with the Church in any way is through the formal program. Therein lies the root of the problem.

First, we are trying to get people to connect with the Church, thinking that this will lead them to become interested in the Jesus who is preached within our walls on Sunday. Second, despite everything that has been heard in recent years, most churchgoers still see the Church as the building they attend for worship. This means that we ensure that the program is run either by professionals or by volunteers who are gifted in certain areas.

One area of particular concern is that in some places program is still the driving force behind methods of evaluating the mission effectiveness of corps. Consequently, large corps with diverse programs reaching many people each week, though who see only one or two people getting saved each year, are counted as being of more “value for money” than small congregations with little formal program who are seeing 20% plus growth yearly. Surely such commercialisation of mission funding is counter to the gospel!

The situation was summed up eloquently by Gerard W Hughes in In Search of a Way:

“What a marvellous Church that would be! … [but] it is as though the pilgrim [Church has] … accumulated too many possessions on the way, found the weight too heavy to carry and so settled down to look after and protect the overloaded rucksack. The pilgrim Church became the settled Church, the static Church. The pilgrim people, unable to cope with marauding bands, settled down to protect themselves, threw up stockades, then high walls. The pilgrim Church became the parade ground Church, the beleaguered garrison of Christ the King. Within its high walls the loyal troops performed their outmoded arms drill and manoeuvres in the parade ground, assured that as long as they kept up the drill and obeyed orders without question, they could be sure of ultimate victory.”

I believe a complete turnaround is needed. We need to throw off the shackles of the mindset that sees Church as a specific place, towards a mindset that sees the Church as a community of believers. We must turn aside from evaluating our missional effectiveness in terms of numbers through the doors of our buildings, and instead look at the way lives are being touched. Most important, we must begin to see that each of us who claims to be a Christian is part of the Church, and we must start acting like it.

How do we do this? Well the worst thing would be to introduce a new program into the local congregation in order to facilitate this. Reality is much simpler. We simply need to look at the model of the early Church. In his book The Church at the End of the Twentieth Century Francis Schaeffer said:

“There is no biblical norm as to where, and where not, the church should meet. The central fact is that the early concept of the church had no connection with a church building. The church was something else: a group of Christians drawn together by the Holy Spirit in a place where they worked together in a certain form….”

We shouldn’t stop meeting together in our church buildings, but our understanding of Church needs to be deeper than this. We need to be aware that we can only truly be the Church when we are outside, meeting people where they are. We need to follow the Holy Spirit’s leading and open the doors of our churches/halls/meeting places; yes, to give non-Christians an entry point, but most importantly to make a way out for ourselves.

Writer: Graeme Smith is a 37-year-old, 5th generation Salvationist who is currently serving as Lay Reinforcement in Latvia. He is married to Zoe, and they have two wonderful daughters, Sian (3) and Abigail (1 month). In August 2007 they will return to the UK to prepare for Graeme’s planned entry into Training in September 2008.

9 Comments to The great escape

1. I really liked what you had to say. The truth though in the USA is that program rules.
   I have been a corps officer for 3 years and have had many issues with program verses ministry. The major issue is that program dictates our so called God vision. It seems that if you define your communities mission and it does not include the TSA standard programs than it can’t be of God and is not something that will make a difference.
   I hope in your country you will have better luck with your DHQ.
Alex Norton on June 4th, 2007

2. Alex

   I think the reality is that program rules almost across the western world. In fact The Salvation Army is possibly one of the culprits wherever this is the case. Having had a quick glimpse at your website it looks like you are managing to break the mould a little.

   God bless,

   Graeme
Graeme Smith on June 6th, 2007

3. I have found it quite difficult even to find out what the army’s attitude is here in UK to incarnational etc forms of ministry. For example there are nine neos, and a number of ALOVE projects (but I couldn’t find out on the website how many - perhaps just missed the right link.) But nobody could tell me how many corps in the UK have some form of fresh expression of church linked to them, either formally or informally.

   I gather about 45% of Anglican parishes now have a fresh expression of church, most or many will be reaching missionally further out than M0 or M1. But how many corps do? Of the handful of officers I asked informally in discussion groups etc, only one had heard of fresh expressions. One expressed the view that incarnational ministry meant moving the corps or the officer’s quarters into a poor neighbourhood.

   I asked around if soldiers need permission to do outreach or experiment with forming fresh expressions locally and the generally feeling was no, because this is what we are supposed to be doing - going out and leading people to Christ, making disciples and transforming our communities. But if the corps don’t understand the need or purpose, obviously there is not going to be a lot of support.

   On the Fresh Expressions web site there are three TSA fresh expressions listed in the UK, but I have so far got no response on contacting them, or been unable to trace them, to see how they are going or what is happening.

   I asked if TSA have run any courses for soldiers in fresh expressions, incarnational mission or in any form of mission really, and apparently not, though there was one on urban church planting course run in Manchester a couple of years ago. I attended that and it was very good.

   So what next? Obviously the attractional churches that are on the downward part of their lifecycle need leadership and pastoral care, but turning around aging churches into effective missional stance is famously difficult. Some attractional corps are thriving, as you’ve pointed out already elsewhere Graeme.

   Should there be resources up on the net for soldiers on how to do mission and how to go out and create fresh expressions? I say soldiers, because presumably the officers are already fully occupied with running programmed established churches? If so who puts them together and how?

   Blessings and thanks for a good article.
   Eleanor
   Sister under private vows
   Penzance
Eleanor Burne-Jones on June 6th, 2007

4. Thanks Graeme - this needs raising continually.
   Just to add following the comments that ‘program’ is unhelpfully in danger of becoming a slightly dirty word. Programs serve mission provided they are incarnational and relational, as they can be. We should not drive a wedge between program and relationship.
   There are many ministries in the UK Territory which are incarnational without being ‘fresh expressions’ or ‘neo’ - the reason you don’t hear about them is that they are not branded and not advertised nationally.
   Incarnational mission (and indeed discipleship) was a core component in my officer training and is essential to Salvation Army missiology.
   Blessings,
   Matt
Matt Clifton on June 7th, 2007

5. Eleanor, the ‘Church on the Edge’ conference in the UK Territory is one attempt to help resource those outside the ‘norm’. I agree though that access to more resources through the Army would be a good thing.

   Matt, I agree fully. Without doubt there are some great incarnational ministry programs going on throughout the UKT. You only have to read the Salvationist to see that.

   Unfortunately though a full program of activities still seems to be of more value than missional activities, even if the program doesn’t move people forward in their faith. Whilst program orientated towards either Salvation or Discipleship is essential to our missiology, in some places this type of activity doesn’t happen or is happening in one or two areas, despite the corps having a full program.
Graeme Smith on June 8th, 2007

6. Thanks - I agree - problem often seems to be that leaders with budgets to apportion need to quantify things, and programs are highly measurable. Our DHQ is very intentional about seeing beyond the obviously measurable so as to resource genuine mission, which is empowering for us, but one can appreciate the difficulties involved.

   I would be interested to know if you see programs/ministries that deliver compassionate care without evangelism as being legitimate for The Salvation Army.
Matt Clifton on June 8th, 2007

7. Good question Matt. My personal opinion is that any program that is compassionate in nature and is run by committed Christians, in the power of the Spirit is by its very nature evangelistic. The evidence of whether they are or not is in the fruit of the ministry. If it doesn’t see people come through to a deeper faith then we need to at the very least evaluate what we are doing.

   We too often fall into the trap of separating the ’social’ and the ’spiritual’, something Gordon Cotterill calls the False Dichotomy of Mission. Once we understand that our mission is not simply about ’salvation of the soul’ we begin to see beyond what many people deem to be the sum of evangelism; the verbal pronouncement of the Gospel.

   However, at the same time we should not use ‘compassionate care ministries’ to avoid talking about our faith. It is this area that is one of the deepest issues we face today as, I would say that, many of our soldiers and adherents are unable to convincingly explain the Gospel they claim to believe.
Graeme Smith on June 8th, 2007

8. Matt,you say, ‘There are many ministries in the UK Territory which are incarnational without being ‘fresh expressions’ or ‘neo’.’ That is encouraging, I hope to see them one day, and being able to hear about them would be helpful as it isn’t alway easy to imagine what would work in a Salvation Army context.

   Graeme, I’ve read the book, but haven’t been able to get to any conferences or seminars since leaving Manchester, partly because of being located where I am and partly through having two children still at home. I can basically access what is on line, thank G-d there is an abundance of material available!

   I agree there can be blends of programme and incarnational, but I just haven’t seen it in practice in an army setting, unless I’m not understanding what I’ve seen, and I’ve only seen half a dozen corps and probably not particularly forward thinking ones.

   We are in an incredibly exciting mission field, and going out into the community I can see G-d at work. I find that if any practical work in the community involves good relationships forming in an incarnational sense the gospel is spread. I’ve no real experience of the army’s social service side so I can’t comment on that. I agree with Graeme that many soldiers and adherents have a difficulty articulating their faith and where G-d is working in their lives- the whole aspect of articulating our spirituality is a problem area. Discipleship/formation groups (or the experience of having a spiritual director) create a context in which people develop the language with which to describe their faith and communicate it in a way that isn’t trite or formulaic. I am seeing this happen here with some young people. It is simply a matter of giving people time, and a safe context, in which to share their personal journey of faith. By exploring it with a mentor or companion they find ways to describe it in a fresh and authentic way to others. But this doesn’t seem to fit with army culture, and ‘the way things are done’. I’m not pessimistic though, I think there is huge scope for progress if soldiers start taking responsibility for getting themselves trained, mentored and out involved in mission.
Eleanor Burne-Jones on June 8th, 2007

9. Our family home church is located in a community that is home to a Peace Garden which commemorates young people who have lost their lives to violence or accidents. It was founded and is tended by a group of mothers of those who died.

   Given good weather, it has the proven capacity to be a wonderful place to worship, contemplate, socialize. Two of the most beautiful events have been teas held in late afternoons in the fall of 06 and this spring. It’s natural outreach, a wonderful way to bring people in together in fabulous civility. Key ingredients for success are 1) prayer, 2) good will, 3) hard work 4) friendship

   My point is that setting is vital to ministry and cannot be overvalued. I don’t know if this is a program or even part of a program, but it is led by individuals who feel accountable to Christ. As well, I don’t know if this is fresh expression, but certainly given that it’s a garden means that it’s subject to seasonal renewal.
Andrea614Regent on June 19th, 2007

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