TC Today

Over the next few years we will be giving attention to the restoration of a soul saving culture throughout the Army. For example, one of the territory’s strategic initiatives will be to see an increase of spiritual expectations in social programmes.

We have taken the first steps in remodeling the Corps Programme Department at THQ that will be centred around ‘growing healthy corps’ as its primary business and providing resources to that end.

The Literary arm of our Editorial Department is working on books that will seek to reawaken our soul saving mission and holiness tradition. These will be intended for use as personal reading or for groups to use in study with reflection.

Soul saving has been a distinguishing characteristic of salvationism whereby, our soldiers would unashamedly profess their faith, share their testimony and intentionally seek to influence others to accept Christ as Saviour. Sadly, this is not as evident today in the life of our community, but God helping us, we will seek to be the Army He raised us to be.

If God has changed His mind in respect to who He wants The Salvation Army to be today, then I missed the message and no one else has passed brought it to my attention. So I can only presume that we are still called to be evangelicals, missioners and soul winners. That is our business and that is what should define us as part of the Christian Church.

I get rather sentimental over the simple Christmas story about a Mum and Dad who struggled to make life work for themselves, people who faced the ordeal of accusations about her pregnancy before they were married.

The story began with the long tedious journey that ended the night before the child’s birth, where they are content with accommodation in a barn where Jesus was born.

You know, the question has been asked of me, “how does a baby born over 2000 years ago impact my life today?”

Well, the answer for me is just as simple as the Christmas story itself, the Bible says, “the child grew and became strong….” (Luke 2:40)

You know, as much as I love the uncomplicated story of Christmas, it’s not the child who impacts my life; it’s the man He grew to become. The Child grew and became a man. The man who taught me how to live, loving God and others as much as we love ourselves.

He is the man who changed my life and made sense of my living.

Aylene and I wish you a very happy Christmas.

It is a peculiar thing that, in just one week from now we will celebrate the birth of Christ with laughter and joy, but in fourteen weeks beyond that, the Christian Church will darken its countenance to mourn His adult death.

It seems difficult to reconcile, but life is filled with paradox. In my office throughout Advent I display a beautifully hand carved nativity, but set in the midst of the figures and next to the manger, is a small bronze cross. This is a juxtaposition that in my mind, cannot be separated.

Christ came into our world specifically for one purpose. His coming is welcomed at birth, but we cannot lose sight of the reality that, standing behind the manger is the cross. The cross is also the shadow that followed Jesus throughout His thirty years of living and more particularly, his three years of ministry.

From the carol Christians Awake, John Byron wrote in verse 3.

O may we keep and ponder in our mind
God’s wondrous love in saving lost mankind!
Trace we the babe, who hath retrieved our loss,
From His poor manger to His bitter cross;
Tread we His steps, assisted by His grace,
Till man’s first heavenly state again takes place.