SA MISSION And THEIRS Part I

A portion of the Enigma Chapter from: Return to Battle in Russia and Beyond Volume II

    Sven Ljungholm & Kathie (Ljungholm) Bearcroft       

 During the period between 1920 and 1970, there was little or no mission activity conducted by the Russian  Orthodox Church. There were decade long periods of forced stagnation and setbacks imposed by the Communists.  However, the advent of an unprecedented influx of intra-Christian proselytism from the ‘west’ in the late ‘80s triggered a swift revival of interest in mission, and led Orthodox missionaries to have a more receptive approach to both its own and other cultures                                                                                                             As the Orthodox Church prepared to enter the 21st century, its worldview, which has been less influenced by the modernity of the West, may enable it to minister more effectively to people involved in postmodern reactions against modernity.                                          

While the mission movement in Orthodox Christianity has lasted nearly twenty centuries, the self-conscious study of mission is much more recent. Missiology, or mission studies, has not usually been taught as a subject in Orthodox seminaries or academies. It is only since the rise in popularity of mission studies in the West that Orthodox scholars have begun to pay any attention to the subject. Two recent published monographs in English on this subject: Eastern Orthodox mission theology today by James Stamoolis (1986), and Orthodox

x Alaska by Michael Oleksa  (1994), could be said to have been pioneering works in this field.

                                                                             As Soviet political hegemony slackened, the mindset changes that came over Central and Eastern Europe were momentous, marking the end of a status quo that had existed for four decades, and in Russia for a full seven. In this transition from one clearly definable epoch to another, the evangelical churches from the ‘west’, including the Army,  stood on the threshold of a thrilling new era in its history. The vigor and spiritual dynamism of the Army was nowhere in greater evidence than at the event of the year—the 1990 International Congress in London.                                                                            A concern echoed often during our 2 year tenure in Moscow by general congregants, recruits and soldiers when speaking of the Russian Orthodox Church was the nativity exhibited by ex-pat Salvationists working in Russia. Repeated requests that all officers/soldiers offering for service in Russia include real vetting with a special focus on the several cultural and theological and ecclesiological differences between ‘western’ missionaries and the 1,000 year old Orthodox Church went unheeded.                                     Many of the soldiers enrolled in the first wave of enrolments in March 1992, eventually totalling several hundred, voiced concern about the ‘westernization’ of the Moscow Salvation Army. TSA Moscow can expect, according to Russian SA soldiers, a reversal in the rapid, historic growth and expansion of 1991-93 when the integrity of the Russian people was foremost. 

We sought partnership in mission. Our corps and brand were our most valuable assets, and mission belongs to the local corps emphasizing the importance of corps/outpost planting.                                        “Within weeks of the Ljungholms’ farewell from Moscow to ‘open fire’ in Ukraine, the SA worship form, style, symbols and mission emphasis waned. Two thriving corps plants and a large outpost project were abruptly closed without explanation. All three corps plants were soldier inspired and led with direction from the Ljungholms.”  

            In the last several decades there has been resurgence in the debate about Paul’s instructions to the church to initiate missionary projects outside their own geographical border;  “this is primarily the task of the apostles and of other missionaries whom the churches have commissioned. But Paul commends and praises the missionary commitment of individual churches. And he hopes that the believers' conversations and lifestyle in everyday situations will contribute to and support God's desire that more Jews and more Gentiles hearthe gospel of Jesus Christ.”

            What's striking about Paul's approach is that the church was at the heart of both ends of his mission, both sending people from home and mission in the field. The church was not only central to how people were sent; it was also central to what they did when they arrived.[1]

Our most important resource, faithful, committed, Christ-filled soldiers, conquered valiantly when divine goals ruled over antiquated rule books. 

            

The earliest ecclesiology for Salvationists is found in the Orders and Regulations. At first all evangelists, and later all officers, were engaged by the Founder and heard from his own lips what character and duties he expected of them. As the organisation grew, William Booth, Bramwell and Railton all spent much of their time on peripatetic inspections, encouraging and correcting the workers and their work. This proved increasingly unmanageable. Booth recalled that for a time he resorted to issuing “these instructions in the form of correspondence; but this also I soon found to be a task beyond my ability… I was therefore compelled to print such special directions as I had formerly issued in other forms.”[2]                                                                                          Leadership is indispensable to the effectiveness of a movement. It is not suggested that structure be abolished; the nature of human affairs is that structures will happen anyway, and their having some continuity, accountability and legitimacy may be necessary to help mitigate the effect of unrestrained personal power. As O’Dea says, “charismatic authority is inherently unstable and… its transformation into institutionalised leadership is necessary for the survival of the group..[3]                                   Our mission is what we are. If Christ lives within us, our ministry is merely sharing the Christ within us, sharing what we are with everyone, at home, on holiday, at the corps, everywhere and all the time.[4]

            Oh for a spirit of total recklessness, of entire self-abandonment, in order to win souls and overthrow the kingdom of hell.[5]                      

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[1]  Chester, Tim  The Importance of the Local Church Mission Matters 2015

[2]William Booth, in Preface to Hulda Friederichs, Romance, pp. 7-8.

[3]Leadership in The  SA Harold Hill p.55

[4]Howard Webber http://fsaof.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/rekindling-fire-mordecai-part-one.html

[5]Booth, William  Full Salvation, 10 October, 1891                                          

W.B. Arrives at the Finlyandrya Station

RETURN TO BATTLE IN RUSSIA 

AND BEYOND

VOLUME II

A breakthrough came in the summer of 1908. Stridsropet, the Army’s official publication in Sweden featured the following article:

                        “RUSSIA!”

The road is finally open for The Salvation Army's advance. The Russian Prime Minister sees no reason why we should not enter.

So far the Tsarist-Russian Empire has remained forbidden to The Salvation Army. But at last it’s evident that that which was once a hindrance is not impossible to overcome and as a consequence a vast new mission field is now open to us. Surely, much has led to this favorable, from our viewpoint, reversal.

One of these is the Army’s general acceptance. Little do we know when or how this will be expressed, or how far it extends. Notices of the Army’s development, of the General’s travels around the globe and his motorcades, have time and again been seen in the Russian press. Russians travelling to different parts of the world have encountered those who belong to, in their eyes, this outlandish blood and fire Army. The results of their questions and impressions has been shared with friends at home, yes, and has in the light of day, been seen in books and periodicals.

__________________


Dr. Ross Wilcock, a Canadian Salvationist, presented a paper on

L eo Tolstoy at the United Nations in December 1988, including references and linkage with The Salvation Army. Both Tolstoy and Tsar Alexander II possessed their own private copies of, In Darkest England and the Way Out in their libraries.And Tolstoyd as a regular recipients of the English War Cry posted to His home.
Russians near the border of their own country have even come in contact with our northerly-located corps in Sweden, Norway and Finland. Some have entered into God’s great salvation, freedom and joy through The Salvation Army. They then shared here and there about these people with outlandish uniforms, happy faces and a joyous religion.In Switzerland and other countries the resident Russians have studied our work and then informed relatives and friends in their homeland of their impressions. In Paris scores of Russians, students, lawyers, physicians, actors, etc. kneeled at our penitent form, sought and found God’s great gift: peace of soul, and then disappeared from our sight, remaining only as a statistic in our reports. However, it has eventually come to our attention that many of them subsequently in their homeland, unconsciously paved the way for The Salvation Army.

Among these was even a woman of the court, a childhood friend of the current Tsar, who came to know the Army in Paris. She embraced our faith, and when she returned to the court in St. Petersburg, she testified about the blessing she received. She acquired our literature and circulated it among her friends. Until the week she died, she regularly bought the French War Cry, ‘En Avant’. She visited London several times, and participated in our “Two days with God” in the Exeter Hall. The best of all was, she thought, the altar call section of the meeting when crowds poured forth to seek forgiveness and purity. Filled with enthusiasm, clapping her hands and waving her handkerchief – yes, she even went so far as to foretell that the day would come, even if she didn’t live to see it, when in Russia’s capital one would witness similar scenes. And surely, no one, with the ability to read the signs of the times, could read the interviews and doubt, that the Russian noble-lady’s prophecy is being fulfilled.”

Quite naturally the General’s oft-repeated visits to Germany and Scandinavia, and in all likelihood his audiences with the nobility of Sweden and Denmark, opened the eyes among many highly placed, discerning and forward-thinking Russians’ attitude with respect to The Salvation Army’s moral and social relevance. A story that almost sounds incredible could be told of how Russian officials, through these and other visits, had a completely different view of the Army. But it is not yet time to tell you this. However, these facts, do remain a strong contributing factor, when it’s a question of achieving an opening in Russia for The Salvation Army.

We could even present other factors, and foremost among them is our work and expansion in Finland. Our work in this country has been the subject of repeated inspections and official reports to St. Petersburg. Among those who have supported the Army have been representatives of the Russian state, including governors. The story of how the Army’s first territorial leader in Finland – Brigadier von Haartman – turned the resistance of one of Finland’s governors into friendship, is told in the small book, Hedvig von Haartman.

The Army’s work, with its corps, crisis centres, slum stations, and hostels in Finland’s best known cities has, we believe, spoken in an eloquent language of its enhancing and regenerating capacity among society’s poorest, illiterate and lowest classes.