A challenge to the territory: We need to go public with God's story

Territorial Leader Commissioner Jenine Main speaks on Saturday evening at Together 2024. 

Bendigedig fod yma i ddathlu penblwydd arbennig Byddin yr Iachawdwriaeth yng Nghymru.

It’s wonderful that we’re celebrating 150 years of God working through The Salvation Army in Wales here in Newport tonight. 

When the Cory brothers asked William Booth, a young Methodist minister, to preach in Cardiff in the early 1860s, who would have thought it would lead to us celebrating this significant anniversary today? In 1874, the same Cory brothers gave William Booth the Stuart Hall on the Hayes in Cardiff as a mission hall. And so the story of The Salvation Army in Wales began. And we’ve heard now how John Allen contributed to that story. 

We thank God for William and Catherine Booth, Mother Shepherd, Kate Watts, John Allen, and others who enabled this mission to flourish around this nation. I want to think just for a moment of the words from Paul, Silas and Timothy, who wrote this combined letter to the Thessalonians, and in his first letter to them, he thanked God for their faithful work, loving deeds and enduring hope. 

Tonight, I would want to thank God for the faithful work, loving deeds and enduring hope of the Booths, John Allen, the Cory brothers and Mother Shepherd. In fact, we want to thank God for all those in Wales and all our nations and islands in the UK and Ireland Territory who have been faithful in their work for the Lord, who’ve shown love in all they do and have had enduring hope – unwavering hope – through our Lord Jesus Christ. And that includes all of you – every one of you. 

And having unfailing hope and being faithful in our work for the Lord and serving him with love is essential and commendable, but there is more. Paul goes on in this letter to commend the Thessalonians for sharing their love and their faith and their hope beyond their community. 

This is what he writes: ‘So you received the message with joy from the Holy Spirit in spite of the severe suffering it brought you. In this way, you imitated both us and the Lord. As a result, you have become an example to all the believers in Greece – throughout both Macedonia and Achaia. And now the word of the Lord is ringing out from you to people everywhere, even beyond Macedonia and Achaia, for wherever we go we find people telling us about your faith in God. We don’t need to tell them about it, for they keep talking about the wonderful welcome you gave us and how you turned away from idols to serve the living and true God. And they speak of how you are looking forward to the coming of God’s Son from Heaven – Jesus, whom God raised from the dead’ (1 Thessalonians 1:6–10 New Living Translation). Amen. 

Paul talks about faith, hope and love in all of his letters. They’re crucial to who we are as Christians, but he commends the Thessalonians for sharing that faith, hope and love to a much wider audience. 

When I was a young girl, I suffered very badly from travel sickness or car sickness. And to distract me, my mum would sing old choruses. You’ve been there, haven’t you, many of you! It was, of course, before car radios. I love those memories, and when I think about them, they make me feel, well, they’re good, they warm my heart. 

But she had one chorus she would sing that said: ‘If you bring the one next to me and I bring the one next to you...’ Then there's a few words about the weather, I have no idea what they are. And then: ‘In no time at all, we’ll fill our hall.’ I actually don’t think they’re the real words – I just made those up – but it’s something like that. And some of you will know it. 

As territorial leaders, we travel around the UK and in this great Movement, The Salvation Army, we see so many faithful works, loving deeds and enduring hope. We’re encouraged and blessed by what we see around us, and we’re grateful for it. 

And it’s clear that many of you, all of you, have been faithful for many years, working hard in your corps and your communities with much love, and you’re holding on to that unfailing hope. But somehow we've become good at keeping it to ourselves. It’s time to go public!

It’s time to go public with our love for Jesus, with the reason and motivation for that faithfulness and that love and that hope. It is time to go public. 

So, I go back to that old chorus. If you bring the one next to you and I bring the one next to me... We’ve got 30,000 members – well, that’s just the ones we measure. If you bring the one next to you and I bring the one next to me, in no time at all we’ll have 60,000. What would that look like? 60,000 registered people, members, whatever, believing in Jesus as their Saviour, engaging in faithful works, loving deeds and finding enduring hope. 

A couple of weeks ago, Paul and I were privileged to be conducting a corps anniversary at Penge Corps. And we were really pleased to recognise four adherents. One of them was Simon. He’s been coming to The Salvation Army since he was a child. He lives in supported living in a community house. And, since the pandemic has been over, he’s bought three of his housemates. And now they all believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour and want to worship at The Salvation Army. Simon went public with his love for the Lord and for the Army, and he brought the three next to him! 

It’s time to go public. Time to share the good news of Jesus, our faith, and our hope and our love and the fullness of life that can be found in Jesus Christ. With our family, with our friends, with those we socialise with, those we walk with, those we run with. And those words – ‘Well, they know I go to The Salvation Army’ – are not good enough anymore. 

I was on a train recently and I had the red shield on my jacket, and a woman, a young lady, struck up a conversation. Well, Paul and I were together, and she struck up this conversation with us: ‘Well, what do you do in The Salvation Army?’ 

We had a lovely long conversation explaining to her about the Church and our love for Jesus and the works and the deeds that we’re able to do because of our faith and our love and our enduring hope. But she knew nothing about The Salvation Army. People don’t know so much about us today as they used to. We need to go public. 

We cannot assume that people know who or what we are or what we believe by just saying: ‘Well, I go to The Salvation Army.’ People need to be invited to something so that they can build relationships with a community of believers. They need to be invited to informal events, meetings, picnics, Alpha, whatever, to see for themselves that we love Jesus. 

They need to hear about and witness the power of prayer. They need to hear about and realise the unconditional love of Jesus Christ for themselves. And they need to have the opportunity to find Jesus. 

I’m really encouraged to read in our Salvationist or online, wherever, that people are being added to our numbers weekly. But not quickly enough to make up for the losses. We need to go public. We need to start sharing Jesus. We need to start speaking Jesus. We need to start showing Jesus. 

Wouldn’t it be great if next year – wherever we are – we not only thank you for your faithful works, for your loving deeds and your enduring hope, we could also say, like the apostle Paul: ‘And now the word of the Lord is ringing out from you to people everywhere. For wherever we go we find people telling us about your faith in God.’ 

Thank you for who you are. Thank you for what you do. Thank you for your strong faith, your hope and your love in the Lord Jesus Christ. May it start to ring out from you to people everywhere. May the love of God be made known way beyond our four walls. 

Let’s make a decision to go public with this. Go out into the world and make disciples. Who will you share God’s story with this week? 

God bless you.