Blood, Fire, and Living Incarnationally

[tree_and_leaf]

Stuart Jeffries reports on the Salvation Army. Interesting article, possibly despite Jefffries (I didn't want to know about his masochistic fantasies about girls in uniform, and although I admit that I didn't know that the Sally Ann is the biggest social care provider in the UK after HM Govt, precisely how clueless do you have to be to be surprised to hear that they do lots of good work among the poor and marginalised? Given that Roy Hattersley, though an atheist, is a vocal admirer of the Booths and has often written about them in the Grauniad, I suspect Jeffries of being disingenous, but it's a rather odd journalistic strategy).

On the other hand, I sympathise with his finding the term 'new expressions of church' (or neo-church!) baffling and off-putting. I hadn't realised that particular cliché was current among Salvationists, and while I'm not averse to thinking critically about what and why the church is doing things, it would be very nice if we could ditch that silly term, not to mention its assumption that the only correct model is evangelical/ charismatic, or involves letting people drink coffee during the service, or moving the church to a shopping centre, or all of the above.

The Anglican equivalent is 'fresh expressions of being church,' and very annoying the report was, too. There is a Facebook group called 'stale expresssions of being church', which I have to admit I joined while feeling more than usually catholic and bolshie.

ETA: possibly I have been overestimating how well the Salvation Army's work is known. For the record: they do lots of excellent work, particularly with the homeless, addicts and the elderly, and it is not dependent on willingness to be proselytised at. Which reminds me that I keep meaning to contribute to their Christmas Appeal....

Comments

*oppresses*

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

precisely how clueless do you have to be to be surprised to hear that they do lots of good work among the poor and marginalised?

I dunno. About as clueless as I was in my second year of university, when a friend told me, and had quite a job convincing me? (the friend was a committed Christian, by the way) Now granted, I wasn't the most clued-in of people, but at that age I'd had substantially more contact with organised religion than a lot of my peers.

Re: *oppresses*

[tree_and_leaf]

Ah. Obviously I'm over-generalising from my own experience again. Sorry.

Re: *oppresses*

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

Not necessarily - perhaps I am?

Absolutely nothing to apologise for, at any rate...

Re: *oppresses*

[tree_and_leaf]

Well, I was feeling a bit guilty about 'clueless'.

perhaps I am?

An interesting question, albeit one I can't answer! *g*

[gramarye1971]

I did a bit of bell-ringing at a local shopping plaza as an undergraduate -- they asked for volunteers, and I signed up for a four-hour stint. I wouldn't have minded it so much if I hadn't nearly developed frostbite during the long, chilly bicycle ride back to my dormitory that night.

I don't know if I'd ring again, although if I have pocket change I sometimes give it to a bell-ringer when I'm passing. Now that I'm older and more fiscally responsible, I've started to pick and choose my charities, and I usually earmark my charitable giving funds and volunteering time for the year well before the holiday season.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Which reminds me that I keep meaning to contribute to their Christmas Appeal....

Yet another thing that annoys me about Oxford was that I could do this in Cambridge by either (a) shoving some cash in the collection box of the man who was reliably outside M&S in December, or (b) waiting until the band came round and played locally. This year, not only am I done out of a brass band even in the city centre, but I have had to use the website facility!

It was a rather odd article, I thought. I think my own knowledge of the Sally Army come from my mother donating some furniture to them in my childhood (under 10), and presumably an explanation as to why these people were coming round with a big van.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

I'm slightly ashamed to say that I had little idea how much they did.

[miriammoules.livejournal.com]

The largest in London, however, is my own circuit, the West London Mission.

Hugh Price Hughes and Booth influenced each other quite a bit, IIRC. Methodism's response was the Mission Circuits.

As with early methodism, there is now the solidly middle class folk in the citadels, who like the Daily Mail, and they are often disjointed from the social justice Guardianistas.

Will shut up now.

[caulkhead.livejournal.com]

'It was a rather odd article, I thought.'

It read to me rather as if Jeffries had decided in advance how he was going to write the article, and stuck to the mental draft as far as he could, despite the actual research turning out somewhat differently to what he expected.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Very much so - it reads as if a couple of bods in the office came up with an idea in a tea-break and decided to stick to it whatever happened.

[tree_and_leaf]

The absence of the Salvation Army from Oxford baffles me.

think my own knowledge of the Sally Army come from my mother donating some furniture to them in my childhood (under 10), and presumably an explanation as to why these people were coming round with a big van.

It was something like that in my case (or possibly asking who the people in the uniforms playing carols were....

[tree_and_leaf]

Yes - Jeffries is basically a tv writer anyway, isn't he? It sounds as if he was initially trying to do a Louis Thingummy 'Look at these weird people' piece and then realised it wouldn't work, but could be bothered to remove all the original traces from the article (c.f. the discussion about dressing him up in the uniform).

[tree_and_leaf]

Well, they don't tend to shout about it.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

All the better for them.

[tree_and_leaf]

I didn't know that, either. Thanks!

[tree_and_leaf]

Oh, indeed. I could never join the Salvation Army, because I'm not an evangelical, but I admire them a lot.