Returning to radical roots

Genevieve Peterson: turning this Army from a cheerful charity

I

came into the Salvos at 18 and began my very quick journey to faith. I soldiered a few years at a fairly traditional corps and then spent six years as an officer at Reservoir. Reservoir is a poor suburb of Melbourne, Australia struggling with all the usual trappings of the destitute: drugs, alcohol, violence, poor education, single parents, general boredom and hilarious jokes you can’t repeat from the platform!

I love all of God’s children, but I believe strongly that The Salvation Army should be confining its outreach to the poor. To the “real” poor! Having said that, I am tired of being a “caring” Army. An Army that smiles tenderly while wrapping a warm blanket round a homeless person, only to do the same thing again and again night after night. I am tired of being an Army of officers that give out miserly food parcels after the obligatory and humiliating “welfare interview,” only to go home to our beautifully furnished quarters. I am tired of being an Army that is the biggest believer in its own PR. Don’t get me wrong, I think we are great and believe we are still the vehicle God has chosen to do a world-transforming work through. However, we have got to get a few things straight, particularly here in the “developed” world.

We must recognize that we are not working in an 1865 emerging welfare state. We must gain an updated understanding of poverty and understand the power that middle class values and economic systems have on holding the poor in place. We must stop blaming the poor for their own plight. We must gain an intelligent and strategic battle plan of how we intend to “end” poverty, rather than robotically using handouts from the government and big corporate donors to do programs that simply don’t work to emancipate entire generations.

We must realize that as an Army, we are to be counter-cultural. And what does that trendy word mean? I don’t know! But I know it means that our houses, bankbooks, cars, possessions, lifestyles, aspirations… are supposed to look a little different from Mr. Middle Class living in the same street!

So I have an idea… let’s be an Army so radical and effective that we won’t need to find our worth in books written in the 19th century. Let’s usher in an era that Booth (or even Jesus) would be proud of! The question has never been one of capacity or understanding; it is a question of desire. Are we prepared to sacrifice whatever it takes to turn this Army from a cheerful charity to an annoying, prophetic, persecuted, confronting, invasive, commanding and fearful force that brings about real revolution? [insert answer here]

Writer: Genevieve Peterson is an officer of the Australian Southern Territory. She is currently appointed to the Social Programme department as a social policy consultant. She is also helping to start the Collingwood outpost and blogs her justice thoughts. She loves The Salvation Army’s mission too much to be worried about stepping on toes and in turn has reconciled that no appointment is a bad appointment! She is very happily married to Adam who is awesome!

3 Comments to Returning to radical roots

1. Captain,

   A book you may find interesting (BELOW). We read it for our evangelism class, but I think it would be better used for social wor/programme classes. The author shares some very interesting ideas that I think would revolutionize our “Social-Disservices” in the Army.

   Compassion, Justice and the Christian Life: Rethinking Ministry to the Poor by Robert D. Lupton
Aaron Abram on February 4th, 2009

2. Great thoughts!

   I think that you are on to something Captain [unsure of title] Peterson. Without the nasty means-testing that forms the corrosive core of the infamous “welfare interview” I don’t know how the mechanics of “confining outreach to the poor” would work (otherwise we’d have to take people’s word for being in need). But getting rid of that “welfare interview” would be very much to my taste.

   Thanks,

   Andrea
Andrea614Regent on February 4th, 2009

3. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.

   (Matthew 5:42 etc)

   Jesus seems to be addressing the “abundant Christians, poor person” situation here. Notice that there is no means testing (you really do that?). We help people out 3 or 4 times no questions…if its more than that, as well as building relationship along the way we offer more indepth practical help if they want it, but not as a condition of either ‘hand outs’ or keeping the relationship going.

   Too generous? Perhaps. Taken advantage of? Now and again. Make a difference? Sure.

   However, your real point in the article is how do we change public perception and how do we change the ‘charism’ of the Army.

   Came across a quote from Charles Du Bois recently, its one I’ve been asking myself. He says “The important thing is this: to be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.”

   Yeah, by all means lets use that reputation as capital to get real stuff done, lets ask why the poor are poor, storm the forts, save the lost, but lets not forget radical compassion either.
Andrew Clark on February 4th, 2009

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