Uses of scripture in TSA

Paper title: The Uses of Scripture in The Salvation Army
Author/researcher: Craig Campbell
Country of origin: Australia
Publication/completion date: October, 1995
Length: 107 pages
Keywords: scripture, The Salvation Army, hermeneutics, authority
Abstract: Within my experience the scriptures are a key point of entry into Christian life and faith. In various ways the scriptures are honoured and used to mediate a saving and transforming experience of God, within the community of faith and by individuals.

The question of how the scriptures work in this way was raised in me from a young age. Early years of ministry presented the challenge of responsible use of scripture in a more forceful way. To this end I enrolled in BD studies and enjoyed the wider world that opened up for me. I recognise myself as moving from a somewhat dogmatic, authoritarian style to understanding scripture as gracious invitation.

This personal journey occurred and occurs within a particular ministry context, of denomination, colleagues, family, local congregation, friends.

The M.Min programme has proved to be very helpful in identifying many of the threads of my ministry style, and been useful for weaving those threads into a serviceable, fairly comfortable, and even attractive fabric. The processes of the course have created breathing space from the insistent demands of Salvation Army ministry, and allowed matters of substance and passion to surface.

In hindsight I recognise that the questionnaire pushed me in two directions:

• forward beyond a potential preoccupation with biblical method, setting the scene for a more comprehensive study of hermeneutics;
• backwards, reluctantly, to a question never far away - How do I work alongside colleagues and comrades who cling to a more dogmatic, authoritarian style? This question is most clearly formed in use of scripture, but spills over inevitably into all areas of ministry.

A hermeneutics reading course was exciting in pointing to understandings of my own experience. With the benefit of reflection this theoretical underpinning sits well alongside the insights of Denham Grierson for understanding aspects of pragmatic ministry - discovering and using openings for ministry in a local context. These two formal courses have been of enormous value to me.

Two series of Bible Schools conducted within my local congregation became the raw material for qualitative research into the way scripture shapes and resources my ministry. I have become a competent practitioner in many uses of scripture, sometimes with profound results in the lives of others.

The larger questions emerging from this research address my own ministry formation. What does it mean to belong within The Salvation Army, with its particular ethos and its growing diversity, at this almost ‘adolescent’ phase of development. I have always been surprised by frequent comment from staff and student colleagues while doing M.Min studies. I have felt, and still feel, at home in The Salvation Army; focussed in certain areas, but feeling neither odd nor strange. Thoughtful ‘outsiders’ have expressed surprise with my on-going commitment within the Army, as though I should be incompatible with it. Perhaps I have suppressed points of difficulty and discontinuity; I rather suspect that the outsider’s view is anachronistic. However, I do need to enter into more open dialogue with this church that has shaped and sustained me to recognise where it may also suppress.

This project has prompted this for me in new and creative ways.

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Tags: authority, hermeneutics, scripture

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