So we have been in London three months.
The thing that has struck me most?
It is a city that feels like a destination.
Although we cant discount where God will send us in the future.
Yet, it feels like our place.
A place we have been drawn to.
A place where the needs are so complex and so massive that we have no choice but to do what we can to join what is already an ongoing mission firstly by Jesus, secondly by many who are called to its cry of need.
There is an advert on UK TV screens that invites ladies to try out some make up, and, the girl putting the make up on invites the nation to get the London look.
A friend of ours told us that it is important for us to be in London. She said that whatever happens in London is amplified throughout this nation.
I'm a Liverpool boy through and through, but even I can see that it's true.
This is the birth place of the Salvation Army.
On the streets of the East end of this significant city, Booth and his people touched the very lives of the poor, took action that often literally saved lives both literally and kingdom wise. This bold work was seen by others who caught the wave of passionate outreach that was happening in London and took the work to other Parts of this Nation. Then it spread like a uncontrollable fire throughout the globe.
The Salvation Army in its early days got the London look.
What happens here is often amplified even globally.
In all walks of life.
As I stand on the streets in the West of this great city, and try to get to grips with the question of why so many Salvation Army Corps have closed, which is one of the reasons Dawn and I have been brought in to this appointment, I can guess some of the reasons, but strangely I don't really care much for the reasons why. I just don't feel it. But what I do see is opportunity and hope. There always is with Jesus.
Here?
The Salvation Army in parts of West London has lost its look.
But maybe its not the London look its lost.
It could be that its the Kingdom look that has more truthfully been lost.
But.
Its no good fixing our gaze on that.
Wallowing in the self pity of seeing a once great Army in shreds before our very eyes.
Wondering what might of been.
Longing to connect with past glories.
Thinking because we have lost the past that the future is dead.
No.
Jesus says this.
"No-one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God." (Luke 9:62)
Looking back renders us unfit for service.
I guess because in looking back, constantly, we are immobilized.
And we believe the lie that the future is dead.
So Dawn and I were sitting having a coffee. In walks Nancy, a lebanese lady who owns the coffee shop. She has a beautiful little 18 month old daughter called Sarah. Sarah was born prematurely and has struggled with encephalitis which has rendered her so unwell that her little short life has been a weekly series of medical treatment and care, including some very serious special care baby unit admissions to hospital that were very trying moments for Nancy and her family. Nancy and Sarah sat with us the other day and Nancy shared with us her story. Dawn and I saw the determination in this mothers eyes that Sarah would live a normal existence. We were able to share with her about our work and our savior. But i saw in Nancy's eyes, and in her conversation, that rare kind of determination that says, I'm not going to get stuck in the past, I'm not going to think about what might of been, I am believing in a future for my gorgeous little treasure of a girl.
I rose from my coffee shop chair and knew that God had spoken directly to me.
I had a new depth of passion for our appointment.
I took in a brand new level of determination.
And.
We carry a vision into West London that I believe has the Kingdom look.
So.
We cannot stand and stare at past glories, or the sad state of the Salvation Army in this part of London.
Or listen to those who speak of a dead future for the Salvation Army.
We have no choice but to look at the need staring us in the face.
The Nancy's and the Sarah's.
The people worshiping anything but the one true God.
The man I can see lying in the filth of a doorway right now.
Those everywhere, who for them, a savior is needed but seems so far away.
Thats the Kingdom look.
Thats the Kingdom work.
Thats our future.
We have agreed to put our hand to the plough. To push into new ground. To join God in his saving work.
So if we are looking back.
And long to stay in an unhealthy relationship with the Salvation Army's past.
Is it time to Leave that behind?
Look forward.
Your life can be a mission.
Thats what Jesus wants.
Thats what will raise a new Salvation Army from the ashes of decline.
Get the Kingdom look.
It will resonate throughout the Kingdom of God.
In earthly terms it will spread throughout the nations!
And
The future will never be dead for us, the Salvation Army, the Church.
Never!
While we agree to put our hands to the plough.
Blessings.
