Worship God.... Not William & Catherine Booth

Greetings in the name of Jesus!


I love The Salvation Army! I’m the first to declare my passion and love for the Army that God raised up to be a strong Christian movement and force in this sinful world. I love The Salvation Army’s ethos and what it stands for. I love the doctrines; I love the Army’s quirkiness. I love the founders of The Salvation Army, William & Catherine Booth, for they were obedient to God’s call and stepped into His will for their lives and in doing so, by God’s guidance and leading started The Salvation Army. But I am utterly convinced that we must not worship our founders, but instead, worship God.

At times, it appears that within the Army, instead of the letters W.W.J.D? (What would Jesus do?) Some tend to ask W.W.W.B.D? (What would William Booth do?) I read it in the OnFire when people write in asking “What would Jesus or even William Booth think about this?” How could we possibly put God and William Booth of the same level? I’m all for looking back on our past and celebrating all that God has done for those in The Salvation Army who have fought the fight before us, but I’m confident that God has much more in store for us today and that He would want us to be looking ahead for all that He will do. I believe that His blessings for His Army today and for the future will be too numerous to count. I believe that this is a new day for The Salvation Army. We’re called to serve a new world, a new generation. We believe we are called to the poor and the marginalised, but we’re also called to claim the world for God. Do you believe it?

We must not fall into the trap of placing our founders above our Creator, God.

I believe we need to continually ask ourselves ‘what does God want us to be doing? We need to seek out His face and His will, so that we may continually be in line with it and in doing so, we honour God. We must seek out and do what God wants His Army, The Salvation Army to be doing.

O God, You raised up Your Army to be a mighty force in this world. May we continually be obedient to You. May our worship honour You, may our offerings honour You. May you be pleased with all that we bring. Holy God, would You convict the heart of every person that sees themselves as apart of The Salvation Army to seek out what You want them to be doing. May The Salvation Army bring You glory and honour, now and forever. Hallelujah! Amen.