IN professional sports, there are only two kinds of managers: those who have been fired, and those who are going to be. The management and the fans want a champion and they want it now! When that doesn’t happen fast enough, the first order of business is to fire the manager and rebuild the team.

I doubt that’s a good model for The Salvation Army. There must be a better way to achieve our godly desire for results than constantly starting over. Here are three simple ideas which I feel are too often dismissed as being too obvious to be appropriate.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Why do we keep reinventing ideas for ministry? If a traditional means of attracting and winning people to the Lord is working well, let’s stay with it, even if it isn’t our personal favourite. If an idea or programme is working in the corps, don’t scrap it. While the details might need to be modified to adapt to changing needs, a full overhaul of a successful idea is rarely required.

Several years ago in response to the perceived needs of seven million ‘Baby Busters’ aged 25 and younger, Coca-Cola decided to abandon its traditional soft drink formula for a slightly sweeter taste. It was not prepared for the outrage of 70 million ‘Baby Boomers’ and their parents who liked the old Coke and would rather change brands than switch to a new, unfamiliar taste.

Coca-Cola saw its error and quickly moved to bring back the classic version. Fixing something that wasn’t broken had put them at risk of financial ruin.
The second rule is similar:

If it doesn’t work, don’t keep doing it.
When challenged or under stress we revert to what we think we do best and try to get through by increased exertion. That can be practical in some cases but not if what we are doing has not been working. Simply doing more of the same when it has not proved successful is unlikely to produce results.

Dr C. Peter Wagner, reviewing a church’s evangelism programme, asked what the church had done in the preceding year to reach people with the gospel. ‘We knocked on 5,000 doors and invited them to accept Jesus and join the church,’ they confidently stated.

‘That’s great,’ he replied. ‘How many joined the church?’
‘Well, none,’ came the answer.
‘So what will you do next year?’
‘We’re going to knock on 10,000 doors.’

I doubt that doubling your activity on a project that has not worked is good stewardship. I’m sure William Booth readily scrapped ideas once they had outlived their usefulness. Don’t let’s waste time and resources on things which do not build or extend the Kingdom of God.

Take open-air meetings for example. I enjoy open-air meetings which are done well and result in reaching people with the gospel message, especially when they provide person-to-person opportunities to share Jesus and invite people to attend meetings. But I don’t like playing or preaching to no one. No sensible business puts resources into unproductive activities just for the sake of continuing to do something that has long been done. Why should we?

Yet some corps conduct open-air meetings in business districts when no one is around, or preach in front of a highrise apartment block in the hope that one person might have a window open and by some miracle be so thrilled by the music 12 floors below that they will listen, come down and follow the group back to the corps hall.

The words ‘we’ve always done it this way’ or ‘we’ve never done it that way’ are often the epitaph of a dying church.

Our ministry must be accessible because the Saviour is infinitely accessible. When William Booth went onto the streets in London’s East End he went where the people were. We need to do the same. Then our outdoor ministry will be a viable tool, not a dusty relic of the past.

Jesus went to the Temple in Jerusalem, to the town well in Samaria, to the open-air markets and public pools because that is where the people were.

When we read the Book of Acts we learn that each time Paul went to a new city he started at the synagogue, because that was where he could find a nucleus of Jewish men who knew the promise of the Messiah. He went elsewhere, too - to the river, where people were doing their laundry, to meet Lydia, and to Mars Hill to meet with those who gathered to debate. Paul apparently did not preach to empty streets or tightly-shuttered buildings.

Let’s be innovative and go where the people are. And let’s be personal and approachable, as Jesus was.

If some aspect of our ministry clearly doesn’t work we should ruthlessly rid ourselves of it and devote our energies to what glorifies Jesus Christ and helps build his Church. Let’s not simply retain cherished programmes, schedules, activities and methods from the Army’s past which no longer produce results, even if they are part of our denominational history. The only things that should be sacred and permanent are our worship and service in Jesus’ name.

In the USA, two of the fastest-growing time slots for worship are 8.30 on Sunday morning and 7 on Saturday evening. These times appeal to people who are deeply committed to family life and who want to spend quality time together in play as well as in worship. They appreciate having a choice which makes both this and church attendance possible.

The message of salvation and grace through faith in Jesus Christ has not changed throughout 2,000 years. What must change is our willingness and ability to make tough choices in order to capitalise on the methods which work instead of continuing traditions which no longer work. If we can’t attract children to Sunday school, for example, try holding this activity after school on a weekday.

I’m not proposing that we scrap the whole corps schedule but that we drop what does not work and double our effort on new things which might work, given the support of the officer, congregation and community.

Yes, there is a high risk of failure when we attempt new things. But the Army’s long-term health will be even more at risk if we simply continue doing what we have always done regardless of the outcome. Risk can mean the difference between life and extinction.
Finally rule three:

If nothing else, do no harm.
Let’s not ever leave people damaged as a result of our ministry.
In the medical profession, from the days of Hippocrates, the basic dictate has been ‘Do no harm’. A patient should not suffer more from having medical treatment than from receiving no treatment. And Christians should follow the same rule. Our mission must be to share the miraculous, life-changing message of grace without subjecting anyone to behaviour or instruction which creates more problems than it solves.

In Luke 11 Jesus speaks of the danger of doing harm when we should be messengers of healing and love.

‘When an evil spirit comes out of a man,’ says Jesus, ‘it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, “I will return to the house I left.” When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first.”’
(vv 24-26 New International Version).

We must take care to ensure that those to whom we present the gospel fully meet with Jesus and receive from him the grace they need to live spiritually healthy lives.

In our zeal to reach people, do we sometimes fail to establish a relationship of trust that gives credibility to our witness? Do we ever overload new converts with behavioural demands and restrictions based on what we don’t do?

Who we are becoming is more important than what we are doing. Let’s beware of substituting behavioural Christianity for true relational Christianity by emphasising prohibitions. Our priority must be on promoting grace.

At a Salvation Army congress meeting I attended, people had fun having their picture taken with a cardboard cut-out of the then General. It gave the appearance of reality from a distance but not close up. We must be careful that our modelling of Christlike behaviour does not merely appear genuine from a distance while falling short on close inspection.

Jesus frequently challenged the Pharisees who demanded strict obedience to long lists of regulations and demands. He warned all those who would follow him to beware of anything which replaced heart worship with the outward trappings of religiosity.

At the risk of trivialising what is precious to some denominations, a person who is baptised without experiencing a true inner heart change by the Holy Spirit simply gets wet. In like manner, if a soldier is enrolled under the Army flag in full uniform but without any heart change, all he or she gets is a new suit.

Salvationists who obey anyone other than the One who gives us grace and freedom may become like the Pharisees: ‘whitewashed tombs filled with dead men’s bones’ ... or perhaps that should be navy blue tombs.

So how should we live and serve the Lord? Does he demand more than we can possibly give?

No, the prophet Micah figured this one out a long time ago: ‘With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God’ (Micah 6:6-8 NIV).

That part of Salvation Army life and faith isn’t broken. We just need to live it out.

by Major A. Kenneth Wilson

A. Kenneth Wilson is corps officer,
Old Orchard Beach,
USA Eastern Territory

Reprinted with permission from The Officer, Sept./Oct., 2006