Day 13: Praying for the sale of the War Cry and Kids Alive! (1886)

Join with Salvationists of the Wales Division for day 13 of 150 days of prayer.

• ‘I will trust you because of your faithful love. Please make me safe, so that I can be happy and thank you’ (Psalm 13:5 EasyEnglish Bible). 

1886

Language has always been an important element in mission. As well as the obvious issue of communication, there is also the often-underestimated issue of respect for the local culture. George Scott Railton was a remarkable globetrotting evangelist. His success was due to many things, not least his incredible gift with languages. Railton’s mission to North Wales was aborted so that he could campaign in the USA. Without doubt he would have spoken Welsh had he been appointed to Wales.

The Salvation Army in Caernarvon was commenced at the request of a solicitor who was saved in an Army meeting in London and wished to take the Army’s message to Caernarvon. After the Army opened fire there in 1886 the first Welsh-speaking corps was formed. The Salvationists hoped to open more Welsh-speaking corps in the north but were hampered by the lack of Welsh-speaking officers.

An advertisement in several editions of the War Cry read: ‘Can you talk Welsh? If so, why don’t you offer yourself to God and The Salvation Army to save the Welsh. In North Wales alone we could open, in a short space of time, twenty new corps, if we only had the officers.’

Prayer

• Pray for those preparing, editing and selling the War Cry and Kids Alive! – including a special issue of the War Cry in Welsh, Bloedd Y Gad.
• Pray for officers who can speak Welsh.
• Pray for an increase in Salvationists speaking Welsh, who can be salt and light in teaching, translating and spreading the use of the Welsh language.