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The SALVATION ARMY

July1st, 2024

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There are few places in the world that have never heard of The Salvation Army. I thought I was as informed as anyone about this Christian group, but not so. Since far back in my adult life, we have made the Salvation Army one of our main charitable recipients. Others included our church and the Bob Rumble Church for the Deaf. I don’t believe we ever achieved our goal of giving back to the work of God at least 10% of our income as the Bible teaches.

When we moved into our rebuilt cottage on Lake Couchiching after retiring in 1986, one of our projects was to find a church home. Naturally we gravitated to our roots, the local Baptist congregation in Orillia. It was a friendly enough place and well attended and the theme for that Sunday was, just what we were doing. The sermon was “Never shop for a church“ needless to say, this was enough to discourage us from returning. We should have had the presence of mind to just settle in at the Salvation Army services just down the street, but we did not. However, thanks to my neighbour here in Welland, we are happy to now be a part of the St. Catherines Salvation Army congregation.

We have had a visit from Major Don Feltham and so many members are kind with telephone calls and cards and we feel at home with these faithful and giving Christians.   Two, are Major David and Donna Pitcher “retired”. We have exchanged books and stories of our past with them and David is the son of Commissioner Arthur R. Pitcher who had a very interesting and varied career in the service of the Salvation Army. He wrote many books, one titled “People of my Pilgrimage.” The author takes you through his life as a child from a fishing village on the coast of Newfoundland to his final years of service. He served in high positions in Southern Africa, the Caribbean, southern USA and Canada. With sub titles from Pilgrim’s Progress, he refers to all the prominent and ordinary people who crossed his path on his Life Journey in the service to the needy of the world and God. The Pitchers are fine people as are most that we have come in contact with. Totally dedicated to the work of God ministering to so many that are under the radar. David and Donna are mentioned frequently in the book and as David states so proudly of his father, he did not make it to General but he had some very high positions in our corp.

All religions have their own reasons for being different, God made us all different as human beings and so entering into a Salvation Army service will be somewhat different than a Baptist, Anglican or Roman Catholic church. Baptists believe in Believers Baptism and by immersion where other protestant religions and Catholics do not think immersion is necessary and baptize babies. Different Protestant churches celebrate the last supper with communion at different times during the year while the R/C church celebrate communion at almost all services. I was surprised when I found that the S/A do not celebrate either Communion or Baptism. They have a pretty good argument for their position of not observing Sacraments.

In July of 1865 William and Catherine Booth joined the East London Christian mission. The name soon became The Salvation Army dedicated to the care physically and spiritually to the poor and suffering of this world. The membership is currently 1.65 million in congregations numbering 15,409 with 26,359 ministers. They have a presence in 133 countries. In the United States alone the Salvation Army is the 4th. largest charity receiving over $2 billion in donations and serving over 32 million. In 2022 the expenditures in the USA alone were $3.2 billion.

Coming from a rather stogy and proper Baptist background and old enough to remember quite vividly all ladies in the church sanctuary wore hats and the men did not. Our service was a routine that rarely changed but we had one thing in common with the Salvationists, we all loved to sing the grand old songs and hymns. I think I am too old to start clapping in time with the music but I do love to hear the clear voices and when the band starts to play, I am stirred to know that I am in the presence of our loving God.  If you are looking for a Christian home with a service that is simple and straight forward with a message from the Bible and with lots of uplifting music, attend a service at a citadel or church. You will be welcomed warmly.

 

Paul D. Scott                                 rantingsandraves.com

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