125 YEARS LATER.... Part -1-

GLASGOW CHURCH CLOSES ITS DOORS; "AFTER 125 YEARS NO PLANS FOR RENEWAL" (1999) ! Any obvious similarities?














ARE WE TOO AT RISK OF BEING PAROCHIAL, INSULAR, OR SETTLED DOWN?

Subsequent to my sharing the ‘State of the Corps’ report in our soldiers’ meeting 10 days ago other relevant statistics have come to light, supplied to us from corps’ records held for safekeeping by CS George Waddell. If you think they tell the story of a corps solidly on a growth path, here they are for thought and a wake-up call.

FROM 2000 – 2010.

Total number of Soldiers Promoted to Glory: 27
Total transferred from Recruit/Y.P. Corps to the Senior Roll: 9

NET GAIN +/-

16 fewer Hamilton SA soldiers since 2000.

Unless the attrition rate is turned around from this most recent decade’s trend, our doors will close by the year 2022.

The CS does share a ray of hope pointing out that we’ve had a steady increase in the number of soldiers transferring in from other corps, with more to follow. But, he correctly points out, “that in itself is not sustainable. Nor does it grow God’s Army.”

God never meant for the Army to be small- rather we are to be a life-changing force for the Kingdom, a disturbance to the status quo, including the church or corps that’s settled down ! In my view, too many, if not the majority of churches (corps) have ‘settled down’.

Major Glad shared this during our morning’s discussion on our joint responsibilities; she the CO and I her spouse:

“Our faith in God who sent his Son to become God-with-us and who, with his Son, sent his Spirit to become God-within-us cannot be real without our faith in the Church (CORPS and TSA). The Church is that unlikely body of people through whom God chooses to reveal God's love for us. Just as it seems unlikely to us that God chose to become human in a young girl living in a small, not very respected town in the Middle East nearly two thousand years ago, it seems unlikely that God chose to continue his work of salvation in a community of people constantly torn apart by arguments, prejudices, authority conflicts, and power games.

Still, believing in Jesus and believing in the Church (CORPS) are two sides of one faith. It is unlikely but divine!” Henri Nouwen

Young adults today are looking for depth. You’ve seen it and Major and I address the issue each Sunday afternoon as we interact with the corps’ future leaders while sharing in a fellowship meal in the corps' quarters..

Why is that young adults who have grown up in the faith are now finding that their heart’s desire for more meaning is so often leading them outside of the local corps?
Why are young adults seeking to join other missional minded groups instead of volunteering to be a corps youth leaders? What is the church missing that they are looking for?

Perhaps the answer is best found in asking them.

(FROM ANOTHER FELLOWSHIP)

“What I WANT (DESPERATELY) is community? REAL community – where we strive to really know each other and really know the Lord, and then take that OUTSIDE of our meetings place and to really know and love the brokenhearted, whoever they are, wherever they are. I want authenticity.” - Elizabeth


“Another thing I see that would help young adults go to church is if they felt like their community was actually making a difference in the world. When a ‘corps’ is totally based on ‘our meeting times’, it takes away from the mission that Christ set us on. Leaders who just try to get numbers into a building are on the wrong track, that’s not the mission. If young adults are apart of a community that is on an adventure that is changing the world, they will be proud to be apart of that.” – Josh

“(In Church) there are many that feel alienated, not because they have a deep lack of faith, or spirituality, or belief in God, but because they tend to look at the people of the church, and see a community, yes, but a community of smiley, well-dressed and polite people, who seem to have the mysteries of life figured out, who seem to have been invited and welcomed into something that they themselves might have to break or fake into. We don't look like a people desperate for our Savior, like a broken people who are still in need, like a band of brothers and sisters who are determined to "suffer with Him that we may also be glorified together," or like a people who are striving to store up for ourselves treasure in heaven, and not here on Earth.” – Trevor

“This generation’s passion to see true transformation in the world cannot be overstated. But the gap between church as we know it and their dreams and visions for the future is wider than perhaps we would like to admit. We would do well to embrace their discontentment.” (From: We Don't Go to Church)

How welcoming are we as an Army, as a corps? Do the café’ regulars discuss the importance of we, the corps, marching on to war? Surely no one knows where our open air circle should line up better than our silver haired saints, those who marched out year after year to build the Hamilton Temple Corps.

Are we truly a corps who is there for the who-so-ever? Should we not be more concerned with the need for a proper sized and functional Mercy Seat in order that when the invitation is made to come forward, we ensure a place offering both physical and spiritual comfort? Instead grumbling continues on the hall’s lay out - is that ultimately more important? It pales in comparison to a Mercy Seat's importance.

It’s impossible to not appear critical, nonetheless, I feel compelled to ask, can a corps, any corps, be called visionary that allows a place of prayer for just 2 seeking souls and a counselor? Less than 10 years ago we would welcome ten times that number, in our old hall. Surely this is more worthy of a debate than all the present arguments. Rumors suggest that the Songster Brigade will not be using the suggested seating arrangement... Sounds like a quadruple blessing to me:

1. More chairs will be made available for congregational use
2. The space allocated to the Brigade can now be reassigned in order to add sections to the present Mercy Seat, with some structural corrections
3. The Songster will have a straight line, front row view of the Platform
4. And perhaps most important, the expanded length Mercy Seat will have its central place under the Cross of Christ

We must become the kind of salvationists who can see the vision, design an effective strategy for reaching it, and then mobilize our soldiers, adherents and friends, including our young adults, to carry out that strategy.

In the KJB is a collection of 66 books, and within them we will find some 32,000 promises of God; some have already been kept, some are being kept as you read this and some will be kept in the future. Yet, all have one thing in common: God has never broken one single promise nor has he ever forgotten one.

”IF WE ACCEPT THE PROMISE THAT GOD CAN NOT FAIL, WHAT THEN ARE WE WAITING FOR!

End Part -1-


Dr. Sven Ljungholm
Soldier, Hamilton Corps

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