The revolution is over

by Amy Reardon

I

n the USA Western Territory, as in some others, an annual theme for Youth Councils and the Territorial Youth Institute is chosen and used by all.  These themes are voted upon by all the divisional youth leaders.  Some of the themes we’ve had over the last few years include “Revolution” and “I’ll Fight!”

I’ve grown increasingly concerned over these themes.  Year after year they’ve prompted us to focus on winning others to the Kingdom, fighting injustice, changing the world.  All good things.  All crucial things.  But it seems that many of the young people who’ve been getting inspired to go out and make a difference are in need of some gospel themselves. I don’t mean that these kids are unsaved. But they’re still too early in the process of understanding the complete healing power of the gospel and applying it to their own lives.

For a few years I did all I could to motivate teens to save the world.  Then one day, I started thinking past my own well-intended agenda and looked into the eyes of some of these kids. I began to think maybe I was moving too fast for them.  So I read their blogs.  I tracked (stalked?) them on Facebook.  I found out how raw and hurting they were, and realized I’d done more to indoctrinate them than I had done to help them.

And I thought, what is the purpose of the gospel, anyway?  Why would I want kids to get out there and sell the gospel if it doesn’t change lives, if it doesn’t begin to fix things?  We tell people they need Jesus, but why do they need him if having him doesn’t make things any better?  Yes, of course there is the promise of being part of his eternal Kingdom and escaping hell.  But that isn’t the entire gospel.  Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).  Here.  Now.

In the Army, we are so eager to see souls saved that we occasionally neglect to let the gospel do its full work.  We are broken people, and we need time for his healing work to take place.  I expect to need that healing, restorative power throughout my life, but there are certain stages at which a person needs a stronger application of that balm.

Salvationists often ignore those critical times, as though we would deny Christians the full benefit of the gospel - especially those who were raised within our ranks.  We want to rush past the healing power of the gospel in the lives of those who know Christ and push each other out the door to go and help someone who is presumably, but perhaps not actually, worse off.

If someone asks a soldier what the S’s on his lapels mean, he has a few choices as to which response he’ll give.  The most common answers are “saved to save” and “saved to serve.”  In such phrases, the preposition “to” would be the linguistic equivalent of “for the purpose of.”  So our little slogans actually mean “saved for the purpose of saving” and “saved for the purpose of serving.”

While it is the business of every soldier - every disciple of Christ, in fact - to serve others and to share the good news, we certainly were not saved chiefly for that purpose.  The incarnation, life, death and resurrection of Christ brought us the restoration for which humanity (and God) had yearned since the fall.  The good news of the gospel is that we may be rejoined in fellowship with our Maker.  Through the gospel of Christ, we are recreated: “The old has gone, the new has come!” (II Cor 5:17)

Some might argue that my interpretation of our slogans is too literal, that they are just slogans and they don’t matter.  But I believe that such rhetoric is damaging.  In both subtle and overt ways, the message is continually driven into the Salvationist’s thinking that the good Christian is always looking to the spiritual welfare of others.  That is always the top priority - perhaps the only priority.  The majority of sermons I hear in an Army meeting wind up with the push to go out and get your neighbor saved.  But why would anyone be enticed by the gospel if the presenter had not been made well by it first?

In his book The Continuing Conversion of the Church, missiologist Darrell Guder recounts the following:

“In one of my classes, we were discussing the implications of incarnational
witness for the local congregation.  One of my students commented on the mission-benefits dichotomy with a statement which caught me up short: ‘I see a lot of people in the church who don’t have any experience of the blessings of the gospel anymore but are still trying to do the mission!’” (p.151)

I understand that well.  I will not retell here all the circumstances of my life when I entered training college.  Suffice it to say that I’d been a bit bloodied by life, partly from my own godless choices and partly from the foolish choices of others that changed my life. While I don’t regret going to training college, I wonder if the timing could have been better. I still needed the stripes of Christ to heal me (Isaiah 53:5). I was being prepared to be the strong one, the leader, the one to administer the balm.  But I was too wounded myself.  I was desperate for someone to minister to me, and for a little time to heal.

I love the fact that our founder inspired us to “go for souls, and go for the worst!”  Our Army has been given a clear mission from God to rescue those in spiritual, physical and emotional need.  But let us not forget that sometimes those needs are found within our own ranks.  Let us not presume that all necessary healing was accomplished at the moment of the initial application of the blood of Jesus to our sinful hearts.

Life hurts. But thank God, the gospel restores.

Writer: Amy Reardon is a Salvation Army officer from the USA Western Territory who was recently appointed editor of YS (Young Salvationist) Magazine.  She has served in both suburban and inner city corps and in divisional youth departments.

16 Comments to The revolution is over

1. Wow, this is a really good post, Amy. Thanks.

   Keeping converts busy used to be a standard part of the discipleship process: if they didn’t have much spare time they couldn’t be off with their old friends. So ‘mission’ was as much for the soldier as it was the unsaved man down the road. Unfortunately, busy-ness came to be seen as a mark of dedication when it was (is?) frequently the sign of a person who has no desire to deal with issues in their lives.

   On another note, one of the things I noticed when I was making the transition from youth to adulthood was that the slogans and the hype seemed so empty. I’d get all excited on Sunday night, but there was no connection between that and what was going on at school on Monday morning. My faith, it turned out, was little more than emotion and awe at the charismatic speaker I’d heard.

   There’s nothing wrong with that, as far as it goes. But discipling our kids will always mean getting involved with their lives and showing them how to grow deep. Slogans can never replace a dedicated teacher.
Cameron Horsburgh on September 18th, 2008

2. it’s a hard thing to figure out really - when the gospel has sunken in deep enough to heal and equip us… when we are ‘ready’ to reach the lost and change the world… who knows?
   All I know is that I never would have been ready - I’m still not really ready if the truth is known and I’ll never be ready… apart from grace, truth and holy spirit help… and that’s maybe the point?
   Perhaps the solution is not stopping the rhetoric but rather admitting that the journey is a celebration of God strength in the midst of our weakness… so, not perfection but submission?
   I know many churches/corps/people who have been waiting to ‘get it together’ for decades so they can be about the ‘mission’ - but is mission something we do once we have it together? or is it the admission that even as we let grace sink in… it’s still enough to share?

   some great thoughts here Amy - love it and love you - ready or not!! peace out.
   Danielle
Danielle Strickland on September 18th, 2008

3. REVOLUTION, FIGHT, HEROES
   is not the way of the Cross something different?

   Isaiah 53:3
   He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

   Revolutions are a flash in the pan. To fight is in danger of being without love. Hero means the strong “I” helps the weak “YOU”.

   REVOLUTION, FIGHT, HEROES These have been marketing slogans directed at our young people. Marginally useful, with a bad theological foundation.

   The re-write should be CLING TO CHRIST, PERSEVERE, RUN THE RACE all of which requires daily discipline, sacrifice and the body of Christ to uphold each other, surrounded by believers together on this journey, when one falls down there are many to pick you up.

   So who’s going to print the first youth council flyer or mission advert with these words of self sacrifice?

   I co-ordinate a mission gap year in Toronto, the website is long overdue a re-write and my predecessors have used such words as “hero”.

   Globally, and across the denominations, it’s time for a long overdue re-write and assessment of how we disciple others.
Zoe Fay on September 18th, 2008

4. Thanks Cameron and Danielle.

   D, I don’t mean to overstate my case. You are correct in what you’re saying. No one is ever truly ready, and we are in the life-long process of “working out our salvation.” My concern is when people are just too raw, too hurting, too much in need of having someone minister to them to go out and minister to others. Sometimes they don’t even realize their own state, especially if they are young. Leaders must be careful not to abuse a person’s zeal if that person is in a place where he needs to pull apart and do some healing.

   Actually you are part of my mental backdrop for this article because you have taught me so much about grace, about the application of Christ to my own self and not just to the people around me.
Amy Reardon on September 18th, 2008

5. Amen, Zoe!
Amy Reardon on September 18th, 2008

6. Zoe, I think Alan Hirsch gets the balance right when he writes about ‘communitas’. We need to develop disciples in mission opportunities which are vibrant, challenging, dangerous adventure - where the only way to survive is to cling to Christ, persevere and run the race. That is not the same thing as turning out young disciples who want to be spectacular.

   For mission to develop that way the environment of the team needs to be right. The disciple needs to not only be finding their own ongoing healing and nourishment, but they need to be finding that sense of community that comes with being on a shared adventure together.

   In contexts like the UK where such a high percentage of young people come from broken and often difficult home backgrounds, many need re-parenting as much as discipleship. Part of that need is not to be given too many challenges too fast, or just as in raising a child, their confidence and faith will collapse.

   Blessings
Eleanor Burne-Jones on September 18th, 2008

7. Good thinking here, Amy.

   Personally I’ve always been uncomfortable with the revolution theme that we evangelicals and salvationists co-opted starting a few years back.

   Quite apart from the embarrassment created by the degree of sheer posturing that sustaining such an image and culture requires, there is the deeper and more disturbing issue of how right it is to appropriate such a metaphor for use to describe our struggle.

   Historically, I can’t really think of any “good” revolution that didn’t descend into violence, oppression and the betrayal of those high ideals they started out to uphold. They all seem to end up eating their young. The French revolution….the Russian revolution….the Chinese (cultural) revolution…any one of the number of Central and South American revolutions… I guess one could make a case for the American revolution (unless you are an Amercian Indian, that is)

   David Sheppard in his classic 1974 book “Built As A City” wrote the following: “Social work bodies, voluntary agencies, settlements and the institutional Church need constantly to be reformed so that they actually serve people, rather than simply maintain their life. Such reform needs the vision of those who have perhaps seen the system’s failures most clearly because they have stepped outside it. Some will find they can serve within such institutions; others can bring pressure to bear upon them. What they cannot afford to do, if they really want the well being of the big city, is to write off the institutions, or to believe that a revolution which destroys the whole system will by magic produce a better life. Revolution is only another sort of withdrawal because it refuses to attempt the hard grind of working out, persuading and sustaining, those real policies which help real people.”

   Although written in a specific urban context, Sheppard was onto something, I think.
Geoff Ryan on September 18th, 2008

8. Great thoughts, everybody. We tend to have events that focus on one or the other - one being the fighting and the other being going deeper in our relationship with God. I heard a great illustration today of the church as a bird in the sky. As long as both wings are flapping she’s going somewhere, but if only one wing is going - doesn’t matter which one - then we fall or just go in circles. I think we need to make sure our young people know that spending time with Christ and getting into His Word is what empowers us to do the good works. We need practice both veins of discipline together in order to fly.
Chris Welch on September 19th, 2008

9. At the risk of using a line that may border on being overused, I believe what is essentially being talked about here is living by the Gowans trifecta - “Save Souls, Grow Saints & Serve Suffering Humanity.” General Gowans boiled down the Army’s mission statement to those three legs on which the Army must stand.

   It is unfortunate and frustrating to watch young people who have been saved through Army ministries eventually leave for other churches because we do not have the discipling piece in place (this argument could be made for anyone who is saved at the Army and then goes elsewhere for the nurturing process). I’ve even had conversations with some Salvationists who don’t mind at all that we lose these people to other churches.

   Another phrase that gets used excessively is “holistic ministry.” If we are to say with confidence that the Army engages in holistic ministry, then we must ramp up our discipleship efforts.
Rob Reardon on September 19th, 2008

10. It was the Anglican, David Watson who wrote in the preface to his book, “One in the Spirit”

    Like a mighty tortoise moves the church of God
    Brother’s we are treading where we’ve always trod.
    We are all divided, many bodies we.
    Very strong on doctrine, weak on charity.

    His 1970’s book tried to redefine what it meant to be One. I simply ask is holistic ministry another way of talking about this Spirit led holiness expressed through the whole church?

    I acknowledge and have sympathy with Rob’s frustration on what appears to be the ’soul drain’ from Army ranks, but is this more to do with a segmented view of the church rather than the Oneness that Jesus spoke about in the great prayer of John’s Gospel?

    I recall two responses I got to a research question I posed regarding how different members view of the church. I simply asked, ‘what animal describes your view of the church?’ The first reply was “A mother hen with her chicks in a line behind her, all going in the same direction, (not necessarily the right direction!!)”. The second was, ‘A furry armadillo’; furry - symbolizing it was comfortable and cosy, armadillo-like symbolizing that one part did not know what the next section was doing.’ I simply ask, is it too narrow to hold a denominational view of holistic ministry?

    Many will be familiar with the Prof Fowler’s stages of faith. Using this as a basis, Alan Jamieson has researched the reason for those who have found it necessary to leave churches of a more evangelical emphasis. The results of which can be found in his books, ‘The Post Evangelical’ and ‘A Churchless Faith’.

    These may be uncomfortable reads for leaders within such churches but perhaps spread light on the reason for such an Exodus.

    My second point is to ask the question, is such an exodus necessarily negative? Whilst I was born into an SA family covering four generations, I am now a Methodist minister in the UK. Three other members of my family are also ministers within different church traditions. I simply ask, is it possible for one section of the church to have an inclusive holistic ministry without acknowledging its part within the greater whole?

    How about defining holistic ministry as “Reaching a community with the whole gospel for the whole person through the whole church”?
Paul Collings on September 20th, 2008

11. Thanks for this, Amy. And I did read it on Thursday when I woke up but decided to wait until now to comment as I’ve been enjoying traveling too much. Here goes:

    We can’t deny that we’re weak on that central leg of General Gowan’s slogan (growing saints), which Rob refers to. We’ve caused our own downfall. For example, what Bible study material (of Salvationist origin) is available in the UK? Very little. We don’t do Corps Cadets anymore. Even something as important as our soldiership material was written in the 80s and last revised over ten years ago. In terms of teaching literature, there’s more that should be done.

    All we have to do is look at the Handbook of Doctrine and compare it to the ‘Catechism of the Catholic Church’! In terms of depth and academic rigour, both formal and informal, there’s more that should be done.

    I think when we were chatting at your home it was brought up that most of the money in the US comes from outside the corps, leading to significant demands on an officer, this then reducing the time available for them to train, equip and empower the local soldiery. So we need to tithe up. And leaders (whether officer or not) need to manage time. So in terms of leaders teaching, there’s more that should be done.

    And on the slogans: Its funny how the people that I see propagating those slogans also seem to be the one’s saying the most about holiness, love, submission, sacrifice, clinging to Christ, and all that good stuff. They also seem to be pretty hot on the training and dissemination of information too. As a young man, I lean more towards the ‘aggressive’ and decisive rhetoric rather than the ’sensitive’ and reflective. Even something like ‘running the race’ leaves me a bit flat, and I have a BSc in Sport and Exercise Science! Mais chaqun a son goût, n’est-ce pas?

    Its interesting that Zoe and Geoff talk about the temporary nature of some revolutions… Che Guevara, in Guerrilla Warfare, wrote that revolutions are played out continually in the little things people do - in the mundane and simple things, such as washing a child’s clothes, or brushing one’s teeth. I understand that he saw revolution as an attitude and experience played out continually, perhaps like salvation and one’s relationship with Christ. And for sure, it requires blood - that of Christ.

    The take I have on it is this: if we, as a people, have a reduced experience of Christ, then we will also be proclaiming a reduced experience. In essence, we underestimate the power of our own personal holiness as a witness. We can take some insight on this from our friend Che, who said that the revolutionist increases their conviction as they increase their understanding of the potency of their weapon. I suppose we could equate that to the Holy Spirit. The more understanding and the more we have experienced it, the more powerful the effect!

    Your final few paragraphs are very challenging indeed, especially to a young chap like me who enjoys rushing into things!

    Grace.
John Clifton on September 20th, 2008

12. I’m afraid I’ve been a contributor to the “revolution” lingo at these youth events many times. You’ve hit the nail on the head, Amy. My friend A.W. Tozer thinks so as well. In an essay called, “To Be or To Do” he writes:

    “The message ‘Christ in you, the hope of glory,’ needs to be restored to the Church. We must show a new generation if nervous, almost frantic, Christians that power lies at the center of life. Speed and noise are evidences of weakness, not strength. Eternity is silent; time is noisy. Our preoccupation with time is sad evidence of our basic want of faith. The desire to be dramatically active is proof of our religious infantilism; it is a type of exhibitionism common to the kindergarten.”
Phil on September 20th, 2008

13. Thanks, Phil.

    There’s one thing I want to be sure I’d made clear. I’m not really speaking of the holiness experience here, but the healing process. The two are certainly linked - perhaps healing is a byproduct, even, of one’s quest for holiness. But I don’t think they are the same thing. Holiness is one’s willful submission to God through the grace of God which “teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions” (Titus 2:12), and healing is the power of God applied to emotional and (dare I say it?) physical wounds. In the case of healing, the individual can do little more than request it and give it time. Also, in the case of healing, the ministry of a third party may be crucial.

    Of course, many won’t agree with my description of personal holiness, and some even say there is no such thing as personal holiness, only social /corporate holiness. But I really don’t want to get into that discussion here. I just wanted to be clear that the article I wrote is not about holiness. Watching your child die, getting left by your wife, being beaten by your father - these things require healing but are not typically part of the conversation of holiness per se.
Amy Reardon on September 22nd, 2008

14. Things that get popular fast also quickly become the whipping boy.
    My feeling is that the tension in these words is not so much about the words themselves as it is about the divergence between optimism and cynicism. Disappointed Romantics will not like the term Revolution, and those who lean to uncritical optimism will be frustrated by the cynicism.

    It doesn’t seem to me as if we have to have one extreme at the expense of the other (and we have to realise that all of us tend to think that we are in the middle, while others think we’re at the edges). I talk (and write) about Revolution because it is a word that connects and it is a word that describes the world-changing reality of Jesus, both as he lived and as he has manifested himself by his Spirit through his Body. But all of that talk and writing is couched in the reality of the day to day discipleship grind with people (churched and non) who struggle to overcome their own issues, myself included.

    When I think and talk about Revolution, it is not mindless aggression and hype, as the charge seems to be. It is in fact a good spring board to talk about the revolutionary “way” of Jesus - self-sacrifice, intimacy with the Father, union with God, radical obedience, non-violence, compassion and grace. In other words, discipleship. It is a way to promote a greater knowledge - biblical, prayerful, and experiential - of the living and risen Christ. This leads to both healing and service.

    Most of the teens I work with, Churched and non-churched, respond initially to the call to fight, because oppression is obvious, and because they respond to a cause. But most have also learned to respond to the long struggle, the daily need for discipleship. And yes, it is much harder to promote the long haul than to promote the quick fight.

    I don’t think there is too much wrong with a dose of romanticism (which is ultimately what Revolution, and in some ways The Salvation Army’s whole metaphor, is), so long as it is embedded in the reality of the world, and in particular in the daily embrace of community. That to me seems to be the safe-guard against falling into unthinking and unrealistic optimism. The safe-guard against destructive cynicism might be the embrace of the biblical image of Christus Victor, that image which shows up so frequently in the Revolution talk.

    I tend to use the term less now because it has become faddish, and thus less effective, not because it has “bad theology” - I deny that, as do many theologians throughout Church history.

    Thanks for the article Amy,

    Grace,

    Aaron
aaron on September 22nd, 2008

15. When I first joined the Salvation Army I was disappointed that the Army had numerous programs for everyone “outside” the Army, but no resources for those “inside” the Army, at least in my neck of the woods. In the early ekklesia the pastor and elders of each congregation were instructed to nourish and equip the saints, not run a worldwide social services marathon. It seems that we do send soldiers (as well as officers) out into the field with insufficient training and spiritual depth, and then we keep much too busy to address a soldier’s serious emotional and spiritual needs.

    Cyndi
Cyndi Mettler on December 1st, 2008

16. When I first joined the Salvation Army I was disappointed that the Army had numerous programs for everyone “outside” the Army, but no resources for those “inside” the Army, at least in my neck of the woods. In the early ekklesia the pastor and elders of each congregation were instructed to nourish and equip the saints, not run a worldwide social services marathon. It seems that we do send soldiers (as well as officers) out into the field with insufficient training and spiritual depth, and then we keep much too busy to address a soldier’s serious emotional and spiritual needs.

    Cyndi
Cyndi Mettler on December 1st, 2008

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