Today...

The Army today is much different than it was
 when we served. This week I sat in with our Corps 
Officer and the Divisional Secretary for Program for 
his evaluation, while a lady member was with the female 
Corps Officer and D.C. for her evaluation . Much more 
care and concern is put into the oversight of
 Officers. As well, corps have a much larger part to
 play in day to day managing of the congregation.

 I sometimes wonder if we would have remained had the system operated then as it is today. However, I know that God did 
not abandon us when we resigned and He has remained
 with us and our family through the whole time enabling
 us to serve Him and the Kingdom in many diverse ways 
in the past 20 or so years since we returned. 

Do I regret going to Training College and what 
happened since? Not at all for, “His Grace has
sustained us through it all”


There were any number of reasons why we ended back 
worshipping and making our church home in The 
Salvation Army. When we first returned to Winnipeg we attended a small Pentecostal church and then Calvary
 Temple which was the largest Pentecostal church (seats
2000) in our area. About two years later we started 
back attending at our former home corps (East
Kildonan). One of the main reasons is that my wife’s 
family attended that Corps as did most of our friends
... But more than a sense of family was also the fact
 that our Doctrinal Statement seemed to be more in 
keeping with what I believed than the Statements of 
Faith held by other denominations.



Fairly quickly after returning we were reinstated as
 Soldiers and somehow I ended up teaching Adult Bible 
Class on Thursday evenings. As well, I soon took over 
as YPSM. Edna became active again in the Band and
Songsters and also teaching Sunday School. Over the
 years since then we have remained within the Arm y
except for a period when our children were in their 
teens and the only functioning Youth Groups that fit 
in were at Calvary Temple and so we started attending
 there while still being involved in some Army 
activities.
 It was important for us that our children have access
 to youth groups and other activities for their growth.

I truly believe that The Salvation Army is and was 
the place for us because of our uniqueness in being
 what I call “The Spetnaz (Commando) Troops of
 Christianity “.

We as an organization have an impact 
in places where other Christian groups do not
 willingly go nor are they welcome. As such many people are
 brought into a relationship with Christ within The
Salvation Army and then some find their home in another
denomination. I do not think we will ever be a large 
denomination nor should we strive to be. We should be 
honest to our purposes and roots and seek out those 
who are in darkness bringing the light to them.

 As such our doctrines are open enough that we can 
minister to people without piling sets of rules and
standards of belief on them that restrict them from
 finding life in Jesus. Yet these statements of belief 
are Biblical and allow us to be called evangelical .
Some of us are conservative and some of us are liberal
but we all are evangelical. The brackets on either 
side of the Cross are wide enough for varying views on 
those items which are not salvatory (fundamentals of 
the faith) but narrow enough to know that not all will
be saved in the end. Our purpose is then to reach 
those who need to make the decision to accept the
 salvation that has been purchased for them and then to 
live a life of holiness in the power of the Holy Spirit.

 The Salvation Army is the unique place where this can 
be done.



John Stephenson
Canada