The Salvationist Stance on Ecumenism

David Guy

John Drane, director of the Centre for Christianity and Contemporary Society at the University of Stirling, notes in his recent book Evangelism in a New Age that

it is currently trendy for health-care professionals to minister to the “spiritual needs” of their patients, but more often than not the church is perceived as totally irrelevant to this task - because most people filter out “church” as being about joining an institution, whereas the spiritual search is for something more dynamic and relevant to ordinary people and the way they live.

One hundred thirty years ago a former Methodist minister and his wife, William and Catherine Booth, decided that the poorer classes of Victorian Britain felt then that the churches were irrelevant to their search and struggle and that something dynamic was needed. The result was a permanent mission in military style, not something with widespread appeal today (at least in the West) but a movement that so appealed to the mind-set of many in the 1880s that its evangelism made inroads in five continents and its soldiers (members) and officers (ministers) of both sexes were found worldwide within a decade. Never numerically strong by comparison with other international religious movements, the Salvation Army has continued, far-flung yet structurally united and visibly one by military usage. The Booths wanted a mission that would remain permanently dynamic and lovingly aggressive. They founded a Christian world communion. To quote Reginald Woods, who led the Salvation Army delegation to the WCC’s New Delhi assembly:

... though the movement began as a Christian mission to the churchless and always keeps before its members the importance of their character as a mission with an outward thrust, where a missionary body retains its converts in its own ranks and trains them to continue the work of evangelization, it necessarily becomes a church.

I mention this not only because many in ecumenical circles fail to realize that the Salvation Army is an autonomous church body (some regard it as a para-church or a purely social expression of Christianity) but also because it is necessary to know

0 David Guy is secretary for international external relationships in the Salvation Army International Headquarters, London, England.

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something of the Army’s origins and development to understand the apparent ambiva- lence of its ecumenical stance.

The infant movement incurred widespread hostility both from vested interests in society and from some church leaders. This was in part due to Booth’s controversial decision to dispense with the practices of infant baptism and with the eucharist, both practised in the movement’s earliest days. These he regarded as not essential to spiritual life and a cause of strife and division among Christians. (That he would cause further contention by abandoning them altogether seems not to have occurred to him.) Also, with Catherine Booth’s insistence, the Salvation Army from its inception gave equal place to women. The Booths preferred to let go the communion service rather than give way on the principle of women’s equal ministry. (One hundred ten years ago, most churches would have considered it utterly unthinkable that a woman administer communion.) The Booths wanted action - first in evangelism, then in training of their converts in service and in the pursuit of holiness as understood in the Wesleyan tradition, then, later, in social service and selected protests.

From all this emerged a movement that is to its members their church but which is hesitant to call itself by that name and therefore, in some cases, reluctant to be counted in with “the churches”; a movement which stresses the necessity of inward reception of grace rather than outward expression (though paradoxically using visible aids to worship and multiplying its own non-essential forms) and one that, while a ware that it is no longer the dynamic alternative to institutional religion that alarmed and attracted the Victorian world, still sees itself as needing to preserve a unique identity to fulfil a unique role. Other Christians do not see it that way; to many the military imagery savours more of obedience to authoritarian direction than dynamic daring for Christ. But I speak of how Salvationists see their own movement - at its best and when true to itself. Also a movement minus sacraments amid an ecumenical movement con- cerned to unite all who share a common baptism around one eucharistic table creates an interesting situation.

There are those within and outside the movement who ask why Salvationists bother with the ecumenical movement at all, given their particular “hang-ups” and priorities. And yet the Army has been involved in the ecumenical process from early days. It was associated with the International Missionary Council, and its officers participated in the work of Faith and Order and Life and Work in the decades leading to 1948 and in the first assembly in Amsterdam, where the Salvation Army became a founding member of the WCC - almost unique in that it was received as an international and not a national church (though sometimes mistakenly presented as a British organiza- tion).

What motivated the ecumenical involvement of the Salvation Army leadership in those days and what has motivated it since? This is not always easy to establish. I do not have access to most of the correspondence that passed between leading officers in the days prior to the Amsterdam assembly. Some indication as to motive and attitude must therefore be sought in official statements made during the forty years that have followed. This has seen the Army withdraw from its position as a church in full membership of the WCC (1981), but at the same time reaffirm its “fraternal relationship” with the World Council and continue to participate as a world commun- ion in assemblies, committees and, in 1993, the Faith and Order conference in Santiago de Compostela. Also we are represented in the conference of secretaries of

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Christian World Communions and in various continental and national councils of churches.

When Salvationists have gone into print about the Army’s involvement with the WCC or other ecumenical bodies, it has often been to justify or explain such involvement to the doubtful. But by lifting out certain statements one may discern basic principles or purposes which explain the presence and the somewhat hesitant ecumenical pilgrimage of the Army. However, before looking at any statements about councils of churches as such, one must seek a mandate and compulsion for ecumenical involvement in the Salvation Army’s doctrinal basis.

Because Salvationists believe that the one vital element in the Christian life is evangelical conversion, that is, personal response to the gospel, expressed in subse- quent discipleship and growth in holiness, we can never logically demand any other test of Christian identity than faith that works by love. If another trusts in Jesus Christ as Saviour and follows him as master and Lord, no secondary doctrinal difference or divergence in worship and culture can forbid recognition and fellowship. Since it is the experience of saving grace, transforming and moulding character and conduct, that identifies the Christian and initiates into fellowship with all others trusting the same Saviour, all who yield allegiance to Christ must be regarded as already belonging to one undivided fellowship. Unity is now - though it is now to be explored and deepened. Our own theology, rightly applied, commits us to the ecumenical fellow- ship. To quote from Bramwell Booth, the second general of the Salvation Army, writing in 1925:

No, there is one church ... And being one, yet it is to be for all classes. In the church of Christ there is “neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all”. Of this great church of the living God we claim, and have ever claimed, that we of the Salvation Army are an integral part and element - a living, fruit-bearing branch in the True Vine.

Noble as this language is, it implies the possibility of a second and non-theological motive for ecumenical involvement: the need for recognition. The confidence of “we claim and have ever claimed” rather suggests that there have always been those who have questioned the place of the Salvation Army within the church catholic. To be counted with the churches is therefore important, though to the more traditional Salvationist it may seem a move away from the Army’s radical beginnings. We need to be seen to belong. This is never admitted in so many words, but it appears repeatedly in reports of ecumenical events where “we received a warm welcome”, “our stance on the subject was appreciated”, etc. In a statement explaining the continuing involvement of the Salvation Army with the World Council of Churches, William Clark wrote in 1988: “We have the respect of most churches, who accept that we have our own role in a visibly united witness in a divided world.”

Allied with this felt, though unadmitted, need is a noble - and I use the word with due thought - tradition of friendliness, again going back to our beginnings. We were born into a society in which religious divisions were only beginning to be healed and theological opprobrium more the practice than the exception, yet our founders avoided controversy and trained their officers to do likewise. They forbade attacks on other forms of faith (sin was the enemy) and encouraged friendly relations wherever

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possible. General Wilfred Kitching stated that sending nine officers to the third assembly of the WCC (New Delhi 1961)

follows the tradition of fellowship and cooperation with other Christian bodies we have enjoyed since the Founder’s day onwards. We have ever been ready to support those who are sincerely striving to bring in the kingdom of Christ on earth and we have ever been grateful for the understanding of our friends of the churches and their leaders.

Friendship and cooperation then - but to what extent? And how far can they be practised without the leadership of the movement feeling threatened? Kitching’s predecessor, Albert Orsborn, had raised that very question in the pages of the same magazine:

There can be no question about our duty to maintain and cultivate friendship towards all Christians. This has always been our attitude. It therefore follows that we arefriendly with all whom Christ has named his own, and for that primary reason we do not refuse fellowship with the World Council.

But he went on:

We are there to listen and perhaps learn. But we are not prepared to change or modify our own particular and characteristic principles and methods. Not that we have been asked to do so... But where do we stop? This is a great and important question.

“Where do we stop?’ This is often an unspoken question in dialogue about the way forward. At least Salvationist leaders have been prepared to ask it openly. The answer to Orsborn’s question remains unclear, the inflexibility on which it is based unyield- ing. Though ecumenical policy could change with a change in top leadership, the likelihood of any dramatic reappraisal of “where do we stop” does not appear likely. Yet ecumenical involvement continues and it is probably true, though usually unnoticed, that there is more written today in Salvation Army publications about the joys and problems of ecumenical experience than at any other time.

In all of this what do Salvationists hope to gain from participation, what do we experience and what do we hope to contribute? First of all, when true to our traditions, we seek unity in mission, though not the loss of identity. While wary of any suggestion of merging of structures, the Salvationist is inclined to applaud any move towards visible unity in outreach in evangelism. This was the attitude of the Army’s co- founder, Catherine Booth, who said: “I want the world to be saved, I don’t care how it is done. My heart is set on the kingdom and I don’t care how it is propagated.” The same yearning for action is reflected in the remarks of recently retired General Eva Burrows:

The one thing about the Salvation Army is that we like to achieve things; we like to get things done; we’re activists. Therefore we don’t always sit easily on committees where they talk endlessly and accomplish nothing. However, if we feel we can take part in an ecumenical group for initiatives on evangelism or growth, we’ll be there.

This needs to be worked out at local level, of course. Ecumenical support for famous evangelists in the short term has become a commonplace miracle. Regular and sustained outreach at grassroots is something yet to be seriously explored and in days when accusations of proselytism are rife - sometimes with justification - even more urgent.

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The reference to the activism of the Salvationist draws attention to an area where the Army’s representatives may profit from ecumenical involvement, though they are slow to realize it. The challenging of concepts and analysis of language that accompanies much ecumenical dialogue is a useful exercise for Salvationists and a healthy corrective to the tendency to rely on intuition and action without due regard for discussion and argument.

What enrichment does the Salvationist consciously experience? A great deal in worship and fellowship and some in exposure to the eucharistic traditions of others. Reactions vary. Some Salvationists come to an appreciation of the eucharist as a precious means of grace and to a love of the liturgy that accompanies such celebration - without forsaking the basic Salvationist principle that no outward form is essential. Others continue happy with the Army’s position but grateful for opportunities to discuss and reflect on these issues with those who approach them from other perspectives. Still others emphasize the continuing divisions caused by divergences in sacramental doctrine and usage and keep as far from celebration of communion as possible. All hope that their participation in ecumenical dialogue has been helpful to general understanding and goodwill and to clarifying of the Army’s position. Some have testified to the value of the Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry exercise, since the invitation to share in the response to Lima impelled them to re-examine their own convictions and the insights of others.

Some see a value in Salvationists joining in ecumenical gatherings where evangeli- cals are known to be thin on the ground. While some would assert that our proper place is with others of like mind, many would argue that we must be - and must be seen - where evangelicals are often under-represented. To quote William Clark again: “We relate ... both to the so-called ‘ecumenical’ and to the ‘evangelicals’. It is sad that some seem to see these as not compatible. We stand as evidence that they are.” And if it is surprising that the small number of Salvationists usually involved in ecumenical events think of themselves as “standing as evidence” it should be remembered that the uniform makes us visible however small our numbers. Our presence is noted by other evangelicals - not always with approval.

As evangelicals, Salvationists are glad to uphold the need for personal conversion in circles where this emphasis sometimes appears to be lacking. We believe in the transformation of individuals by the immediacy of saving grace, even when the structures of society appear to remain unmoved. We place direct and traditional evangelism before social protest, though our founders came to see the need for change in society as well as in the individual. If this emphasis is part of our contribution to the ecumenical debate, so also is our tradition of spirituality lived out in service to a needy world. It is often difficult to convey the basics of Salvationist teaching on holiness - rooted in the Wesleyan tradition - because it is so often assumed that we have no teaching on the subject and come only to be taught our ABCs in this realm. But when the difficulty of communications is overcome, we find enrichment in sharing with and receiving from those of other schools of New Testament holiness.

Salvationist expertise in social and medical service is also something we are pleased to offer. The Army’s worldwide programme to combat AIDS is a case in point.

What of the immediate future? With other Christians the Salvationist will ponder the potency of the koinonia concept and ask if it can show the way forward in this so-

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called ecumenical winter. Meanwhile, the ecumenically committed will continue to travel in hope, cheerfully confident that the God of glad surprises is working out his purpose amid setbacks, misunderstandings and failures, and that the meaning of unity in this age and for the service of this age will be revealed by the Holy Spirit.

In closing I glance back at the beginning of the work which resulted in the world communion called the Salvation Army. This is usually traced to the day in 1865 when William Booth accepted responsibility for a struggling mission in East London. What is often overlooked is that it was for that period an “ecumenical” mission, with supporters drawn from across the spectrum of Victorian evangelicalism, though mainly free-church. Booth’s original intention was to pass on his “converts” to “the churches”. This did not work out, but in its beginnings the movement had an ecumenical outlook and was launched from an ecumenical base. Is it unthinkable that within the ecumenical movement it might find spiritual renewal and also fulfil that original intention of becoming a mission for the church in total?

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