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Thursday, June 05, 2008

Emma Booth Tucker on Salvation Army Children's and Youth Work

This is a portion out of Frederick Booth-Tucker's biography of his wife (and daughter of William and Catherine Booth), Emma 'The Consul" Booth Tucker:

"Amid all our plans and schemes for the ingathering of the parents, Christ pleads on behalf of the children, "Let them come! Forbid them not! Unto Me!" Not merely within earshot of the tidings of His life and death; not merely within range of a system of theories, or ceremonies, or dogmas, but unto Him - the living, personal, saving Christ, who can rectify the young heart as well as the older one, and who inspired the child Jeremiah as well as the veteran Moses.

"The Salvation Army takes its stand there, and it will be increasingly powerful and increasingly great in so far as it legislates and labors for the rising generation; in so far as it takes to them, and brings to bear upon them the vitalizing, renovating and uplifting forces of a living Salvation.

"Therefore, let us gird ourselves afresh for battle, strong in the conviction that our work will fail to win the Master's approval, and be utterly inadequate to the needs of the hour, unless our efforts result in bringing the children unto Him; unless genuine conversion is the outcome. Let us remember that the Holy Spirit is pledged to work with us, to interpret our words, to carry home out teachings, and to answer our prayers. The Savior of the lambs knows how to carry them in His bosom; knows how to pierce the little heart with the shaft of His love; knows hot to woo even the stripling to the hidden glory and honor of Calvary-loss and Calvary-triumph.

"Children can be saved! Thousands of changed hearts, evidenced by revolutionized lives, are bearing testimony to this fact all over the world to-day; and in many instances, even further miracles of grace are wrought by the child-saint becoming the child-Soldier, and Salvation and inspiration for the Salvation of others becomes the growing ambition of the Christ-captured disciple.

"It has often been marvelous in my own eyes to recognize the early impress of the Spirit's work. Even in babies of two and three years of age I have seen with wonder and praise that Jesus has made His presence unmistakably realized.

"I remember the case of a baby girl not two years old, who would only go to sleep with her little hands placed through the bars of her cot, "Holding Desus," as she expressed it. And again, another who, after any little childish wrong or forgetfulness, would never rest content with the pardon and kiss of those around, but must run to the window, and gazing up into the skies, with simple baby lispings, wouldas forgiveness from the great Parent Heart to whom neither the old not the young appeal in vain."

Her own experience was often referred to by her in after life as an encouragement to Christian parents to seek the definite conversion of their children by all means within their reach, and never to despair of its possibility.

At the age of seven she was converted, but the tenderness of her conscience made her at times doubt the reality of the change, because occasionally she still gave way to temper. So she determined to definitely settle her doubts, and came forward in a Meeting and freshly re-surrendered herself to God at the age of eleven.

Living in the warm atmosphere of Consecration and active service created by her parents during these early years, Emma had, of course, a great advantage enjoyed by few children, and from her youngest years the child spirit seemed readily to absorb the greatest influences that surrounded her.

Realizing how few children had enjoyed the special privileges that had fallen to her lot, she was tireless in her subsequent efforts to urge her fellow-Officers to make this a leading feature of their work.

Booth-Tucker, Frederick. The Consul: A Memoir of Emma Moss Booth-Tucker. King's Cross, London: Salvationist Publishing and Supplies, pp.6-7

Sunday, June 01, 2008

The Wesleyan Influence on the Rights of Children

I just discovered that many consider the Methodist Wesleyan, Hannah More (contemporary of John Wesley, William Wilberforce and Robert Raikes), one of the modern founders of Sunday School), to be the first person recorded on speaking about the rights of children and youth:

"The rights of man have been discussed till we are somewhat wearied with the discussion... To these have been opposed, as the next stage in the process of illumination, the rights of women. It follows, according to the natural progression of human things, that the next influx of that irradiation which our enlighteners are pouring in upon us, will illuminate the world with grave descants on the rights of youth, the rights of children, and the rights of babies." 

Hannah More quoted in Steven J. Novak, The Rights of Youth: American Colleges and Student Revolt, 1798-1815. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1977.

Reclaiming Children's Ministry

I have just come off of a non-stop, action-packed, three months of touring around the Territory with our Railton students, teaching cadets YP Corps Programming, teaching leadership and theory classes with our Railton students, setting up apprenticeship plans, and spending a great amount of time (my peace in the midst of the storm) with my amazing wife and daughters. Man, I love what I get to do!

It has been amazing to see the Lord move in mighty ways through our students as they have been out on the field. In Myers-Briggs personality tests, I rate as a high 'T' - processing things firstly through my brain rather than my heart, but I have been consistently in tears as I have seen the passion, knowledge and skill grow in our budding youth workers - preaching their hearts out, kneeling with teens leading them to Christ at the Mercy Seat, engaging in deep conversations with children... These things touch my heart in such a deep, profound way.

In the midst of this all, the Lord has been whispering to me about a quiet revolution taking place in our movement - revolution in our understanding of children's ministry.

This revolution is not so much about new techniques or magnetic personalities, it's more about the heart of God consuming a group of men and women who have consecrated themselves to reclaiming children and youth for Christ. I think it's also about a group of people who have begun to recognize the dynamic heritage of children's and youth work that we have in The Salvation Army - and who wish to continue to be faithful to this incredible tradition of making kids a top priority in our local Corps and Community Centers.

In the midst of all of this madness, I have been reading my Bible looking out specifically for a clear understanding of a biblical view of ministry to children and youth. I have also been digging through a variety of historical books (many of these references you can see on this blog). I am beginning to understand that there are a great cloud of witnesses who have come before us in this ministry. This is so incredibly exciting! 

I believe that in order to reclaim children and youth for Christ, that one must reclaim children's and youth ministry - and to reclaim children's and youth ministry means that one must reclaim leaders of children's and youth work... When I think about our students who will be transitioning to apprenticeship in two short weeks, and the new students who will be joining our school in September, my heart is "strangely warmed" when I consider the possibility of what will happen in the next few years as these young leaders bud and bloom in local Corps and Community Centers around our Territory and the world! I can't wait to see!

John Wesley has said, "Give me one hundred men who love only God with all their heart and hate only sin with all their heart, and we will shake the gates of hell and bring in the kingdom of God in one generation."

Do this, Lord, in my generation!

Thursday, April 03, 2008

General Shaw Clifton - "Children"

I was truly blessed the other day when I saw that the seventh Pastoral Letter from General Shaw Clifton, the current General of The Salvation Army is entitled, "Children." I pray that as you read it, that you would be as challenged as I was - and that each one of us would be moved to action - giving children 10 000 times more attention!

PASTORAL LETTER SEVEN
CHILDREN / LES ENFANTS / NINOS

Dear Fellow Salvationists,

In this seventh Pastoral Letter I feel led to think aloud with you about the children of the Army and the children of the world. In doing so I send you warm greetings from London where Spring has come early and is now in full bloom. God's handiwork is matchless. So is God's love, a love that extends in a very special way to embrace our children and children everywhere.

We know from the words and teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ that there is a special place for children in the heart of God. That is why we too as individuals and as an Army must also hold the children in high esteem and look to their wellbeing at all times. Jesus had harsh words for any person harming a child. Also he made time and space for children, letting them come to him even when those around him tried to prevent it. He prioritised the children.

We must do so too. General William Booth visited India twice and published a clear-headed strategy for winning India for Christ. A key part of the strategy addressed our attitude to the children of India. Booth said that for India to be won for Christ we must pay, not just 1,000 times more attention to the children than to the adults, but 10,000 times more attention! This was a bold statement but it applies still today and not only to India. It would break the Founder's heart to visit corps that have no work for children and where throughout a whole Sunday you will not meet a single child. What a tragedy!

Our Junior Soldiers are infinitely precious. Every child is a gem for Christ. A child who loves the Lord with a simple childlike heart can be used by God in turn to win the parents for the Kingdom. Also, the children are our role-models in simplicity and trust, just as we are their role-models in loving and caring for one another. As I write I offer up an earnest prayer for all who teach the children of the Army, for theirs is a very great and privileged responsibility.

In today's world we must protect the children from all kinds of evil and harm: impure literature, the temptations of the internet, drugs and alcohol, those who would prey upon them seeking to damage and abuse them, materialism, low self-esteem, peer pressures of every kind, premature sexualisation - the list could go on and on. Every Army centre in the world is expected to have clear and effective child protection procedures in place. These procedures are not an optional extra.

Let us take a step back and ask ourselves if we are fulfilling our duties to the children within our influence. Do they sense that we respect them? Are we supportive of their family life? Do we teach them, at a suitable age, about the importance of marriage and fidelity? Do we have imaginative, effective programmes for them? Is our teaching for the children sound and true? Are we settling merely for entertaining them or are we intentional about leading them to Christ?

I know that the Lord speaks into the lives of children because he spoke to me when I was only 12 years old. He told me what he wanted from me for the rest of my life. No one else knew what he had said to me, until I was ready to share it. So today this still happens and we who are adults have no idea what God is whispering into the souls of our children. For this reason we must respect them as tender plants growing up for Christ to do his holy will in the world.

God bless the children! Thank you for looking after the children! They are beyond price in the eyes of their Creator.

This comes to you all with my strong love in Jesus Christ and my ceaseless encouragement in the great Salvation War.

I commit you to the perfect love of Christ.

Shaw Clifton
General
April 2008

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Metaphors of Children's & Youth Work: The Uniqueness of the Dominant Metaphor in The Salvation Army

THIS POST IS ONLY PARTIALLY COMPLETE. MORE TO FOLLOW SHORTLY
A while ago, I picked up the book, Children matter: Celebrating their place in the church, family, and community by Scottie May, Beth Posterski, Catherine Stonehouse and Linda Cannell. I picked it up because Beth Posterski was once one of my professors back when I attended Ontario Bible College (now Tyndale University). I have always enjoyed the experience and depth of wisdom which Dr. Posterski shared in class - and so I was anxious to read about her perspective on children's ministry. After reading through this book, I can say that I was not disappointed - in fact, I found myself viewing children's and youth work in a whole new light.

One of the most profound perspectives came early in the book in their first chapter, 'Metaphors Shape Ministry.' They state, "A metaphor is simply a literary device using analogy or comparison that affects our perception of reality." (p.4) They argue that within children's work, there are micro-metaphors which describe the role of the learner, the teacher and the curriculum; and that these are complimented with 'macrometaphors' - which are "the dominant metaphor [that] tend to become the ministry model." (p.10) 

The macrometaphors identified in their book include:

1. The School Model
2. The Gold Star/Win a Prize Model
3. The Carnival Model
4. The Pilgrim's Journey Model
5. The Dance With God Model

In contemplating these models of children's ministry, I found myself recognizing in my own ministry practice how I have found myself embracing several of these models - often for the strengths... but have recognized the accompanying weaknesses. I would like to share my perspective on each of these models while proposing a sixth model which is unique to The Salvation Army - The Junior Army Model.

1. The School Model
There have been times where I have approached children's and youth programs like a school. There are some benefits to this, such as investing in the development of a knowledge of who God is and what it means to serve him in this world. I believe that it is very easy to slip into an anti-intellectual form of children's work which says, "these are just kids - they don't have an ability to comprehend who God is or truth that can apply to their lives." I find that this opinion is both condescending and underestimates the cognitive ability of our kids.

From the earliest of days, Sharon and I committed to communicating theological truth to our girls - and they have been able to both understand and reinterpret these ideas - often in ways that I had never thought of as adults. I don't think it's coincidental that Jesus challenged adults to follow the lead of our children. As Paul iterates in 1 Corinthians 1 & 2, the most profound truth cannot be comprehended by those whom the world considers wise because it is perceived as foolish... Our children do have the ability to wrestle with such ideas - and we should never underestimate their ability to do so. I recently picked up a book called Conversations with Poppi about God written by Princeton theologian Robert Jenson and his granddaughter. It's an amazing testimony to the ability of our children to engage in deep theological dialogue.

With this being said, the metaphor of education can often mean that we apply negative models of education to our children's and youth work. The famous South American educator, Paulo Freire in his book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, discusses the difference between a 'banking method' of learning and 'critical pedagogy.' Often in children's and youth ministry, our education metaphor slips into a skill-and-drill mode - simply opening up kids brains and pouring in rote knowledge that we expect them to parrot back to us in robotic style. Often this isn't intended, but due to lack of time, lack of planning or a lack of creativity, we resort to such modes.

This ministry style - while it might appear effective (kids can quote scripture, doctrines, score high in 'Bible drills,' etc.), this can easily dampen the spirit of wonder that should be fanned into flame in our children and youth - something which it seems that most of us lose as we grow-up, yet is an essential quality that is required for spiritual growth. Often we give up the opportunity for our kids to learn how to think about what it means to be a Christian in order teach them what to think. Without a doubt, we do need to speak truth into our kids lives, but if all that we do rote Christian education, we are doing a great disservice to our kids. Today's market-driven culture is targeting and exploiting our kids at an unprecedented rate (for more on this, see Kinderculture, Cool Hunting,  The Great Tween Buying Machine). If we don't cultivate theologically- and ethically- critical thinking skills that are going to equip our kids with the ability to navigate their faith and ethics through the labyrinth of hyper-commercial culture, all the Bible lessons and memory verses will eventually succumb to the pressure to conform to the lure of the pied piper.  

My prayer is that we would deepen our kids ministries beyond simple fun environments that uncritically mimic whatever is the latest gimmick produced by Nickelodeon or Disney. That means, to some extent the educational model remains critical - as long as the curriculum and the teachers are driven by a Christocentric practical theology and a critical faith pedagogy that grounds our kids faith, but also prepares them for living our a vibrant missional lifestyle in today's kids' culture.

2. Gold Star/Win a Prize Model

The second model that is presented is the 'Gold Star/Win a Prize Model. We all know about this methodology... and I have to admit, this approach motivated me as a kid - and even as an adult Sunday School teacher... For some reason, those cheap, little gold stars seem to get all the competitive juices flowing. Even recently, I have joined Weight Watchers that gives little stars for every 5 pounds lost. For some reason, I find myself suckered into working for those stars - even when I could simply go down to the store and buy them myself! 

It seems that when an incentive is put before us like a carrot dangling from a string, this creates a motivation that fuels commitment, efficacy and hard work. So why not utilize this in children's ministry? A couple of years ago, I watched a documentary from Pastor Bill Wilson of Metro Ministries who says that he will do anything that is morally alright to bring a child under the influence of the gospel. During the documentary, we watched kids entering into a glass box filled with $1.00 bills who would have thirty seconds to grab as much money as they could. As I watched this documentary, I reacted with a mixture of both horror and curiosity. Was this ethically right? Can you buy kids into the kingdom? Is this sustainable? All of these are questions which are amplified and accelerated when looking at a mega-model of children's ministry as represented with Metro Ministries, but are the same types of questions which should be asked when we hand out lollipops, stickers and less glamorous prizes.

In one of the introductory psychology classes I took in college, I learned about the difference between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. As parents, my professor said, we often use rewards to motivate positive behavior in our kids - so a kid at a grocery store might get a candy bar for behaving or a trip to Chuck-E-Cheese for scoring well on their report card. The problem, he mentioned, that as a child becomes conditioned to receiving these types of rewards, they become what motivates the child to succeed. Suddenly a Hershey bar or a pizza party won't produce the same desired result, which requires a more significant form of motivation. By high school, parents are buying cars and promising trips to Mexico for a teen to study. What he was saying was that short-term solutions create long-term problems. An increase in external stimuli naturally decreases internal motivation.

What are the implications for children's ministry? Does this mean that we have to produce bigger events? Larger prizes? Greater spectacles? At what point does this cross the line? At what point does this become counter-productive? At what point does this hold a child back from internalizing their faith?

I must clarify at this point, that at Railton School we have continued to visit Metro Ministries annually - for a Friday afternoon sidewalk Sunday School and their Saturday extravaganzas in Brooklyn. I deeply respect their commitment to sharing the gospel to kids at risk - and they are making a significant impact in the greater New York community. Along with this, their methodology is far more complex than candy bars and big events - this does not do justice to their overarching missional strategy - which is far more complex. I have learned so much from their ministry and am blessed by my brothers and sisters do for the kingdom of God  - and I pray that God continues to use them in mighty ways.

I do believe that the 'gold stars' methodology does have merit, but should be utilized carefully and strategically. It cannot be the dominant strategy. In the earliest days of Salvation Army children's work, they wrestled with this same issue. They would give out books to award kids for coming to Sunday School/Company meetings. Their Life-Saving (now Adventure Corps, Girl Guards) programs award badges for different merits earned. I think these types of strategies have their place and can be used to help to stimulate motivation to develop their faith, life skills, etc. I liken it to adding spice to food - it's about the balance. A little bit enhances a dish, but too much spoils what's been made. External rewards have their place, but this cannot be the main course of what we serve in ministry.

3. The Carnival Model

When reading Children Matter, this model hit me square between the eyes... because I know that I have uncritically embraced this approach without thinking through the extent of the consequence of this being the dominant metaphor in ministry. 

As I have mentioned already, we live in such a commercial culture. A trip to your local shopping mall's kids toy store, a half-an-hour viewing kids TV or a surf through kid-centric websites like Club Penguin and Webkinz will illustrate that kids eternally live in a candy-coated world. I once heard a comedian discussing how when they were a kid, playgrounds were metal (that heated up to searing temperatures in summertime!) and cement (that weren't fun at all to come crashing down on!). Today, playgrounds have been 'nerf-proofed' - where everything is plasticized, cushioned and theme-driven. If a kid falls down, they simply bounce right back up! I know that this is obviously hyperbole, but the romanticized, garden-like, protected, sanitized world we have constructed for kids has been taken to a whole new level - it's Jean-Jacques Rousseau on speed! 

French sociologist, Jean Baudrillard would call this a 'hyperreality' - a world that is more real than the world that really is real (think about it...). Think about Disneyworld, "the happiest place on earth." Think about McDonald's, wherever an individual goes in the world, they never need to conform to a different culture because a "happy meal" can be accessed for a minimal price. How does this relate to the concept of the kingdom of God? 

I think that it is important for us to recognize that our faith and theology both exists and develops in context. With that being said, our contextualized theologies do require an engagement with Scripture, historical tradition, reason and the experiences of other believers from around the world.  Such dialogue will help to highlight blind-spots in our contemporary missio-ecclessial expression and identify ways in which we must choose differently to those around us. Without such dialogue, we enter into the very dangerous ground.

It is my fear that those of us living in modern North American culture have sought to build our churches and ministries upon the shaky ground of what has been called the 'society of the spectacle.' As the biblical story goes, this foolish decision can ultimately compromise the integrity of what is being built... My fear is that too often our children's ministries are so enamored with being relevant, fun and enticing that we find ourselves simply amusing kids on their way to Hell.

Dick Staub in The Culturally Saavy Christian says that, "The word amusement means 'to entertain or occupy in a manner; to stir with pleasing or mirthful emotions,' but if you read the word amuse as a ('not') and muse ('to think'), you could define it as 'to be absent in mind' " (p.7f). Neil Postman in the early 1980s warned that we were 'Amusing Ourselves to Death.' 
Does this mean that I need to pack away my Batman costume (don't even ask...) and embrace an 18th century puritanical posture in which we suck every ounce of joy, laughter, wonder and culture from our ministry to children and youth? Of course not! I believe that eating blue cotton candy at kids carnivals and running through big inflatables (inducing heart attacks!) are at the heart of kingdom life. A solution to carnival-centric children's work is not to circle the wagons and beat off SpongeBob and Patrick. It's not striking to ban High School Musical from our churches (though part of me wishes it was!), but about ensuring that we are not simply enjoying the culture of childhood, but that we cultivate the spiritual pallet of our kids so that they will be able to "taste and see that the Lord is good."

I think that this is why it is important to integrate these models - there is almost a tension between the educational model and the carnival model which requires balance. Maybe this is the answer to this challenge... To clarify, this isn't a bid for faith-based 'edutainment,' but I would argue that learning and growing in the faith is fun and should demand our ultimate creativity and commitment.

I think the challenge of creating a stimulating learning environment that draws kids into the experience of learning takes a lot of time, effort and imagination. Imaginative learning is modeled most profoundly by Jesus - think about it: storms and fish, seeds and trees, captivating stories, shared experiences... all of these formed the canvas upon which he taught his followers what it meant to be His disciple. However, we think that sitting around a circle, in a cold room with an adult speaking in the vernacular of another generation to be a stimulating environment? As Paul says in Romans, "By no means!" 

A couple of years ago, my father-in-law, who is the Territorial Commander for The Salvation Army in the Southern African Territory, visited Mozambique for a Youth Councils. Mozambique is one of the most impoverished nations in Africa and the ministry of The Salvation Army began recently within the past couple of decades. They don't have the opportunity to download creative ideas from the internet, they can't go and buy a program-in-a-can from the local Christian bookstore, but utilizing the resources available to them (mud, wood, paint, etc.), they built one of the most amazing backdrops and sets for this event and attracted hundreds of youth to come out to this event! Now that's commitment, that's imagination... that's what I'm talking about. How committed are we to communicating the gospel and discipling our children and youth? How much effort are we willing to put in? Is it possible that we have stunted our imaginations by simply purchasing our plans? 
Let's recognize the dangers of the carnival model, but let's also seriously commit to creating an creative environment conducive to effective gospel transformation.

4. The Pilgrim Model

In our world, we love stories of sojourners on a mission. Whether this be classic stories like Pilgrim's Progress, The Wizard of Oz, The Chronicles of Narnia or The Lord of the Rings, we are interested in the journey - the process of becoming or discovering something more... The image of the Emmaus Road has become an image or metaphor of discipleship - of Jesus traveling on a road with two believers wrestling with the possibility of the resurrection - only to discover that He has been traveling with them. 

In many ways, our children are on a journey - a faith journey. As they traverse through stages of cognitive, moral, emotional, physical development, so too does their understanding of who God is, what He does, how He engages with this world... In the gospels, we often read of Jesus invitation to discipleship as an invitation to follow Him. I think similarly, this metaphor or model seeks to define children's and youth work as a path discovering more about knowing God and His redemptive plan. The image of 'guide' or 'fellow traveller' replaces that of teacher. While on the path of discipleship, the child learns how to navigate through the treacherous paths, climbs mountains, crosses valleys, they come to forks-in-the-road where they have to make decisions... All of these help to train our children how to read their spiritual compass and map, how to make wise decisions, how to survive in the wild, etc.

I think that this is an important metaphor to think about. For those living in more urban settings, it might be better to think of this journey like learning to navigate a subway route!

More to follow shortly...

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Out of the Ashes: The Rise of the New Self - A Call to Holiness

This morning, I was blessed to be able to sit in chapel under the ministry of my good friend, Captain Young Kim. I arrived a little bit late as my daughter is home today with a flu bug.

As I walked into the chapel, the worship team was singing an absolutely beautiful song, "Lord have mercy." As I walked through the doors, it became apparent that there was solemn awareness of the transcendence of God as cadets, faculty and students didn't simply sing these words, but cried them to the Lord. Shouts of "Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!" echoed through the chamber. There was something unusual happening.

After a beautiful time of worship and prayer, Young preached a wonderful sermon focusing on the theme of Ash Wednesday. He delved into the the reasons why this day is so important in the church calendar - particularly as this is a day in which we stop to ponder our humanity.

It dawned on me as he spoke, that we have become a culture in which there is great temptation to construct gods in our own image. In many ways, we construct mirrors that are able to reflect back to us who we ultimately worship... it seems what we worship the most is ourselves. "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" is an individual, egocentric quest in which we seek to place our will above others. What are the outcomes of this focus? Narcissism, entitlement, pride, self-absorption - let alone innoculation from hearing the suffering cries of 'the other,' the marginalized... in many ways, those who are the victims of our own self-indulgence.

Ash Wedensday is a day when we are called to pause and to reflect on the fact that we are dust - that we are ash. "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust." A life that is void of the breath of God is nothing more than an exercise in hopelessness... and yet I often find myself on the course of pursuing such vain goals.

However, dust is also a symbol in Scripture of humility, repentance and malleability. Young reminded us that ashes in Hebraic culture were used to express grief and humility; that it was a symbol of repentance from pride; and that it is dust or ash which forms the base of clay - which, when surrendered to the potter's hand can be molded and shaped into new possibilities.

The German theologian, Jurgen Moltmann in his theology of hope, discusses the concept of 'creatio ex nihilo' - that God 'created out of nothingness' - that He breathed meaning and life into dust and ash to create us. Similarly, if we are willing to tear down our idols of self - what the apostle Paul referred to as 'the old self' or 'the flesh' (i.e., 'ash and dust') - then out of the ashes can emerge 'a new self' - a self that considers others first, that places Christ's will above ours...

I can't help but think this morning of the image of a phoenix - that God would have me on this Ash Wednesday surrender the dust and ash of my life to His sacred will - that every facet of my being would be humbled, forgiven, molded and formed into whatever God would have me be - that the Holy Spirit would breathe His breath into me. This act of complete consecration is the essence of holiness - the surrendering of self over to God's sacred will. Holiness, then could be described as the ashes of self-sacrifice being reforged into a new self that has reformed purpose and possibility - as determined by the will of God.

This is my prayer this ash Wednesday:

"Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord to thee."

Thank you, Young, for being a vessel through which the Spirit spoke to me today.

Saturday, February 02, 2008

Showing Up at God's Party

I am sitting at my computer after an incredible day with 20 prospective students who are considering the possibility of applying for Railton School for Youth Worker Training.

As I pause after a non-stop day of teaching, interviewing, acting (terribly, I might add) as Hulk Hogan for our 'American Gladiator' spoof, enjoying a 'Bible murder mystery' and endless laughter, tears and great discussion... I must say, that I believe that the best days of The Salvation Army are ahead of us.

I believe that there is a generation of young leaders who are hearing God's calling upon their lives - who are willing to abandon that which is 'the good life' in the eyes of the world to embrace 'the best life' that comes from standing in the perfect will of God.

I believe that we are on the cusp of a revival of lay-leaders who are going to rise up as indigenous leaders - from the soil of the communities where Salvation Army Corps and Community Centers have 'opened fire.' 

I believe that there is a growing, holy discontent for the injustices that plague the lives of children - and that people want to do something about a poverty line that forces children to go to school hungry and guarantees a full house in juvenile centers.

I believe that the gospel is going to be told in new ways, with fresh strategies, fueled by the imaginations of an idealistic Army of believers who dare embrace the possibility that our communities can be reclaimed - and that this gospel, while expressed in different ways, remains the same gospel that existed 2000 years ago.

I believe that daily, God's kingdom will continue to come on earth as it is in heaven - and that every single one of us are invited to the party, the question is, will we show up?

The invitation is extended.

Thursday, January 31, 2008

A Refresher on Developmental Theory and Youth Work in The Salvation Army

Yesterday in our Youth Work Leadership class at Railton School for Youth Worker Training, Dr. Dennis VanderWheele was teaching through Erikson's stages of development. I have walked through Developmental theory a hundred and one times, but yesterday, Denny helped me to link this theory to youth work in a way that I had never thought of previously. His insight was brilliant and got me thinking on a train of thought that I haven't been able to get out of my head. For my own sanity, I have recorded it on my blog. I hope this helps others who are interested in this area of study.

In Erikson's stages of development, the logical progression of psychosocial development would transition through these crises:
  • Trust
  • Autonomy
  • Initiative
  • Industry
  • Identity
  • Intimacy

[There's a lot more to Erikson's developmental model, but for the purposes of this post, I will just be dealing with these elements].

To clarify, Erikson, along with other 'ages and stages' theorists would seek to tack on specific ages to chronicle psychosocial development with physical and chronological development. Denny had an important clarification that the development of identity/identities (which is not limited to one moment in life, but is an ongoing process throughout all of life) is largely built upon the foundations of trust, autonomy, initiative and industry.

In a normative environment, traditional microsystems such as parent, sibling, teacher would help a child/teen navigate through these stages of development. In less normative environments - youth who would come from 'communities at-risk'* might not have the psychosocial support systems to help meet these needs through traditional means. What happens to these children and youth? (*note on communities at-risk: this does not necessarily have to be defined geographically or even economically. See the Search Institute's Forty Developmental Assets to explore this in greater depth).


Larry Brendtro, Martin Brokenleg and Steve Van Bockern wrote a wonderful book called Reclaiming Youth At-Risk in which they introduce a wonderful model called the 'Circle of Courage.' In this model, they identify that youth have a significant need for:

  • Belonging
  • Independence
  • Mastery
  • Generosity

These needs (or 'assets') might be [a] unfulfilled, [b] negatively fulfilled, or [c] positively fulfilled. Each possibility normally results in a series of emotional and behavioral outcomes - some positive, others negative. A major question which they ask is 'how can we reclaim kids who have a unfulfilled or negatively fulfilled need and create an positive environment which can facilitate a transition towards a positive fulfillment of these needs? Much of the work of the Reclaiming Youth Network has sought to identify strategies to do so.

However, Denny's class yesterday helped me to link the work described above with Erikson's model of psychosocial development.

For example, a young man who is living in an inner-city neighborhood might find a sense of identity in a gang. A gang cultivates trust. It fosters autonomy. Even initiative and industry are a part of this world. So when it comes to identity formation, a gang provides all of the psychosocial scaffolding needed to fulfill 'the needs' of youth at-risk. The problem is that, like in the Circle of Courage model, these needs are being fulfilled in a negative, antisocial way.

In describing this scenario to Denny, I asked him, "How then is it possible for a youth worker to penetrate the microsystem of the gang, help the gang member recognize that the identity embraced places them at-risk and help that person construct an alternative, more positively-fulfilled identity?"

Dr. VanderWheele paused for a moment and then said, it requires that we move to the next stage, intimacy - by cultivating deep, genuine relationships, intimacy helps to provide a bridge to a second, alternative possible world in which trust, autonomy, initiative, industry and identity can be cultivated. Mentoring and the creation of positive peer cultures are critical to reclaiming children and youth.

Often people bifurcate program and relationship - suggesting that this is an either/or choice. However, both are absolutely necessary to help cultivate a positive, psychosocial support system. Programs create a context in which intimate relationships can be cultivated, trust can be built, agency can be initiated, where industry can create purpose and ultimately where alternative, positive identities can be forged. Such programs help to constuct an alternative, positive environment or culture which can serve as another possible world to negative influences such as gangs. However, there needs to be an intentionality behind these programs that requires creativity, commitment and continuous assessment. Such programs need to continually evaluate whether they are aiding the the positive psychosocial development of youth. [For more on this, I would recommend reading Milbrey McLaughlin's brilliant report and strategy outlined in Commuity Counts.]

So how does this apply to Salvation Army youth work?

Youth work has always been (and always will be) a top priority in the overarching mission of The Salvation Army. [For more on this, see my history of Salvation Army youth work timeline.] From our earliest of days, The Salvation Army has focused on the best strategies to holistically reclaim children and youth for Christ. This can be seen in everything from Corps-based ministries like Junior Soldiers and Corps Cadets; to life-skills programs like Boys Adventure Corps, Sunbeams; to after-school programs, orphanages, schools; to addressing child labor issues, human sex trafficking, etc. While some of the earliest literature in modern psychology was being written, The Salvation Army was working with the last, the lost and the least children and youth. As a result, we have been interested in salvation - being the eternal and temporal well-being of children and youth.

While the ministry of The Salvation Army begins with psychosocial- and moral- development, it also emphasizes the spiritual development of youth. Both are critical parts of our holistic mission. We are called to meet human need as motivated by gospel conviction. Yet ultimately, our desire is to expand temporal redemption to eternal redemption as can be fully realized in the life-transforming grace to be found in relationship with Jesus Christ. Not only do we want to construct an alternative identity which saves youth from prison, economic hardship, abuse, etc. - but we also want to construct the identity which comes from becoming a 'new creation in Christ.' When a relationship with Christ is embraced, this cultivates trust, autonomy, initiative, inspiration and most certainly identity.

With such a large, overarching mission, I would argue that all of the programs that are available through Salvation Army ministries provide some of the most profound opportunities to create these alternative, positive environments that can help to truly reclaim children and youth. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary that we do our utmost to, as our slogan says, "do the most good" when it comes to these initiatives. I think that Erikson's framework provides an essential evaluative tool that can aid us in our attempt to achieve that goal.

So, a simple class on a classic developmental theory sent me on a journey to explore youth work through a whole new lens. This is something that I will remember for a long time.

Thank you, Denny for being willing to sacrifice time and energy to train our students.

Monday, January 28, 2008

Growing Up Online - Missiological Reflections on Immigrant and Native Youth Work in a Digital World

I was extremely excited to hear that PBS’s documentary show, Frontline has put together a show on adolescents and the media. It's called, Growing Up Online. This past week, my students and I watched this together as a part of a class which I teach at Railton School for Youth Worker Training. The class is called, Studying the Social Worlds of Children and Youth.

I was very interested to observe my student youth workers watching “Growing Up Online” – as they represent some of the first youth workers that have grown-up as natives of the online world. Most of my students do not remember a world in which the internet did not exist. So while I viewed this as an immigrant to the digital world, they viewed it as natives.

This change has serious implications when considering a missiology of youth work. In mission studies, there is a remarkable difference which takes place in the contextualization of the gospel to a culture when a shift takes place from immigrant to native missionaries. Missiologists Ralph Winter and Bruce Koch refer to this as E-1, -2 & -3, evangelism. E-3 would be evangelism that crosses a cultural and language barriers as well as physical barriers. For example, going to a foreign country would constitute what he would consider E-3 Evangelism. E-2 evangelism would require crossing some sort of barrier, such as a physical barrier. E-1 evangelism would be when a person reaches out to their own people group.

When considering the ‘virtual’ as opposed to physical barrier of the online media world, one could easily perceive of the online world as a new frontier - as it has many similarities to that of an undiscovered tribe or people group. However, the shift from physical to virtual space is only one of many barriers that must be crossed by youth workers. Cultural engagement requires a person to learn new, online languages (whose code is continually changing); operate under new social structures; learn new customs, etc. It actually might be easier to go to a foreign country than it is to continuously be up t speed with the never-ending morphing culture of the online world. When looked at from this perspective, it becomes clear that there is a distinction between those who are completely foreign to the codes and customs of online tribes; those who have become familiar through continuous, intensive study; and those who have grown up in this virtual culture.

Personally, I would consider myself an immigrant to the digital world. As a youth worker committed to the contextualization of the gospel to culture, I have intentionally chosen to work (like an anthropologist) at learning about and engaging these worlds. I have read books on the history of the internet, video-gamming, the psychology and sociology of online activity, I have blogged and read blogs, I have played games, connected with people on FaceBook, etc. All of these are actions that I have intentionally made as a student of these cultures – and I have taken these steps in order to learn more about online virtual worlds and how children and youth live, move and present themselves. However, no matter how much I learn and engage these worlds, I will always be an immigrant to the virtual world – because I was born in a different world. I entered this world as an adult. I will always be something of an outsider.

This is totally different to most of my students – who cannot even fathom a world without cellphones, online social networking sites, instant messaging, YouTube, etc. Even my own daughters are regular participants in the media-sphere through WebKinz and Club Penguin!

So, what was the difference between an immigrant and a native’s perspective on a documentary about growing up online? Well, I would encourage you to interact with my student’s perspectives on this show. I asked them to write about their thoughts on the documentary both as natives to this world and as youth workers that are seeking to reclaim children and youth. These could possibly be two different lenses through which they engage this show - however, it might not be... They can speak for themselves! I am going to attach a link to each of their postings (as they send these to me!):

As I watched the show, I was very interested to note how my students were reacting to what they were viewing. Often, there was a communal laugh in the room – like an insider’s joke at a member’s only club. I was especially interested in their perspective on the mother who reported to the Principal and parents that her son and all of his friends were drunk on a trip into New York City. Cell phones recorded some anti-social behavior which was immediately uploaded to YouTube and a variety of other web sharing sites. As a parent and an immigrant to the digital world, I found myself empathizing with the Mother (while questioning the wisdom of some of her actions) whereas most of my students reacted with complete horror at what happened. As I viewed the documentary, my personal response was that this culture was somewhat anarchic – a virtual Lord of the Flies! Children and youth who were engaging a no-holds-barred culture without a moral compass. However, I recognized that this was my reaction and perspective as an immigrant. It was at that point that I realized that there was a whole new insider’s perspective that I was completely oblivious to.

Marshall McLuhan has observed that when a new technology is introduced into a culture that there are significant psycho-social shifts which take place in a culture. Often these shifts are not easily perceived of by those who are in the midst of such entropic change. I think that one of the most significant changes in social structure is that those who are considered children and youth are in the position of authority as they are natives to this culture while parents are perceived of as socially and culturally incompetent. This places a great deal of strain on the parent-child relationship. Similarly, those who are in positions of leadership in ministry to youth often find themselves in the vulnerable position of being a cultural outsider. We don’t understand the psyche of youth who are growing up online. We haven’t considered what I would call ‘virtual ethics and moral development.’

As a person deeply committed to sharing the gospel of hope with children and youth and to developing young leaders, I want to empower a generation of natives to the digital world to begin to consider how to communicate the gospel in virtual cultures. I can only engage in Winter and Koch's E-2 and E-3 forms of witness. Whereas my students are able to engage these cultures as digital natives in E-1 evangelism.

I pray that as this world which is a social reality to our youth becomes more and more a cultural norm, that we would have more adults who are willing to cross the threshold to become immigrants to this environment; and that we would be able to develop leaders who are immigrants to this world who would be able to help cultivate a spirit of wisdom, moral reasoning and godliness in the digital world.

Friday, January 25, 2008

Bramwell Booth on the History of Salvation Army Youth Work - 1924

I recently came across this incredible piece of first-hand history. It is written by Bramwell Booth in 1924. He reminisces about the earliest days of Salvation Army youth work. This document by 'The Young People's General' helps to defend my argument that youth work has played a priority in the earliest days of The Salvation Army - in fact, the priority of youth work easily pre-dates the emergence of the East London Christian Mission's birth in 1865. Catherine Booth, the Mother of the Army clearly was significantly involved in children's work - as was William.

Bramwell Booth (1924)
Children and Young People's Work

I

The work of The Army for the Salvation of children really began in the home of the Founders. There is no doubt that the Army Mother even before her marriage entertained very definite views about the work of Divine Grace in the hearts of little children. Her own conversion when a girl at school, and the desire which forthwith took possession of her to make her Savior known, left her also with little question about the service which could be rendered by the young to the cause of Christ. But it was in her own home and amongst her own children that she was to see the practical working out of many of the things which she had believed and hoped from her earliest days. I feel no doubt whatever that in any circumstances she would have deeply impressed on her children the claims of God as she saw them, and I believe she spoke the literal truth when she said: ‘I will not have a wicked child!’ She used to pray in the very presence of her children that she might rather have to lay them in an early grave than to mourn over one who had deserted the path of righteousness.

That their children were won for Christ and that the change which was seen in those children’s lives after their Salvation greatly confirmed and encouraged both parents in their faith for children generally, we know to have been the case from Catherine Booth’s own testimony. ‘If our children may be thus transformed,’ she argued, ‘argued, ‘why not many others, and if many others why not all! Let us call the children to their Savior’s side and plant their feet upon the Rock.’

Her own children had given her great joy. She regarded them as good children measured even by her high standards, and the very fact that she could and did apply her own vigorous – at times even severe – (I speak from experience!) methods of training is in itself a tribute to their early development in much that belongs to what we all value. But she did not for one moment allow this to obscure the fact – the dominating fact – that they must repent and be converted, that they must be born again of the Spirit if they were to be saved. The thought was ever present to her mind, the prayer for their Salvation was ever on her lips. They also knew – they felt from the very dawn of intelligence that she believed they could be saved – that she was praying and laboring to bring them to Christ.

In ‘The Training of Children,’ a most valuable book (of which she was really a joint author with the Founder), I find the following on parents securing the Salvation of their children, and the words seem to make a powerful appeal to Officers who have the care of children in The Army, not only the children in our Homes and Institutions, but the children who attend the ‘Companies’ all over the world.

Set yourselves to [secure their Salvation]. Make it the main purpose of your dealings with the children, keep it in view early and late. Sacrifice everything that seems to stand in your way… Take the children by the hand and lead them with you into the Presence of God. Show them how to converse with Him… Do not be influenced by the notion held by some people that children are not to pray until they are converted. Men and women and children, too, are to pray anywhere and everywhere under all circumstances in they want mercy or anything else at the hands of the Lord. Surely the decree has not gone forth that publicans and little children are not to smite upon their breasts and cry to God to have mercy upon them because they are sinners!

Therefore… urge the children to repent and confess their sins to God and ask for forgiveness. Make them look into their hearts and lives. Help them call up to memory their naughty words and ways and they will go on to remember also the naughty feelings and thoughts of which you have no knowledge, and as they look at their sins the Holy Spirit will help them to see how bad they are. Then they will accuse and condemn themselves and cry for mercy on their own account. Hold them to this… and when they do so trust Him He will appear to them as their own Savior and they will go into the Kingdom with joy and thanksgiving.

It was upon such principles as these that the Army Mother worked, and saw her children go one by one, as the Founder says, into the Kingdom with joy and thanksgiving.

But I am thinking of something more than this when I say that the work of The Army for the Young began in the Founders’ home. While their four elder children were still between ten and fifteen years of age they began to invite their acquaintances and the children of neighbors to visit their schoolroom at Gore Road and to hear from them the strange sweet story of a Savior’s love shed abroad in the heart of a child. Those occasional and very small and at first quite ‘unorganized’ gatherings were different in almost very particular from the ‘children’s services’ which the Founder had often included in his special missions in the various towns. The only thing they had in common was an earnest desire and appeal that some one should decide for Christ. Nevertheless those meetings had an important result. They convinced the Army Mother, and her influence prevailed with the Founder himself, that it would be possible to organize and sustain a regular work for the Salvation of children by means of the children themselves. From that moment, 1871, efforts began with this end in view. Tentative plans were made, experiments were tried, special campaigns – all, or nearly all, in a small way – were instituted, always with these objects: (1) the immediate Salvation of the children by faith in Jesus, and (2) their organization and training to do work for the Salvation of other children.

II

Soon after this a Lay Secretary of the Mission named Rapson [Some of Mr. Rapson’s own children became Officers in The Army in the United States in later years.] began to interest himself in this work and was appointed to organize it. A small Hall in the East of London (Thomas’s Passage) was placed at his disposal, and Meetings were held regularly on Sundays and on two or three nights of the week. The neighborhood was a very rough one. The police were obtrusively unfriendly and the juvenile portion of the population practically heathen as regards respect for any form of religion. The Meetings, always, (if we so permitted) crowded on Sundays, were more or less disorderly, sometimes even riotous. But they were nevertheless wonderfully blessed. Children – ordinary boys and girls – were saved, and at once took their stand for Christ. Some of them, with whom I became personally acquainted, suffered cruel ill treatment at the hands of their former companions as well as from their parents, and yet stood firm in their new joy and love. Presently not a few of their persecutors were led to Christ through their influence. Small meetings were held on the week evenings for instruction and for prayer and testimony, some especially in preparation, week by week, for the coming Sunday. Always the greatest impression was produced on even the most disorderly gatherings by the saved children’s own testimonies which often ran something as follows, though I cannot of course pretend to reproduce correctly the East End terminology or pronunciation of those days. A boy of twelve or thirteen, known perhaps as ‘Happy Arthur’ or ‘Praying Tim,’ would say:

I say, you boys, just listen half a minute… You know I was always getting into scrapes, you know I often did you in at ‘two and one’ (a kind of pavement game of that time with marbles). (A howl of derision here.) Well, I say, look here – you know I don’t do it now – do I? (dead silence). Even mother says I am different and she has stopped ‘sugaring’ me (a play on the word cane) and why? –‘cos… you know why – I’m saved – I am in the Mission for Jesus Christ, and I pray to Him and He helps me! You can come! We want you to come! Sam (turning to a particular boy chum with just as much show of feeling as a boy might risk in a company largely made up of boys), Sam, I do wish you would come – God can do for you the very thing He’s done for me.

Such testimonies uttered in evident sincerity usually produced a marked effect upon the boys. The girls were more influenced by the girls, who, though often very shy, were generally more emotional and sometimes wonderfully eloquent with the untrained eloquence of the heart. I have more than once seen a wholly unruly audience of two or three hundred children subdued by tears by the simple story of a girl’s struggle for her mother’s Salvation – told by the child herself.

In these Missions both in Whitechapel, and, as the work spread, at Three Coats Lane, in Bethnal Green and in Cambridge Heath, we suffered much open and violent opposition. I have now and again been with Rapson and a few of the saved boys and girls held prisoner for hours at a stretch, it being impossible to escape. Cheap fireworks were freely used to annoy, and ‘stinkers’ made from a mixture of common treacle, red pepper, and paraffin, which burned slowly and suffocatingly, were constantly in evidence! Tin whistles and broken tea trays sometimes produced a kind of pandemonium, while every type of East End fun was freely indulged in. But the work went on and proved the parent of much that followed. Numbers of children were undoubtedly saved, some of whom died in triumph, while others lived to fight as Salvation Soldiers in the days which then were far ahead.

The advance of the work to many aspects of the adult activities brought to the front more and more children, and questions arose as to the wisdom of allowing them to take part in the Meetings other than for children. Many of the boys especially developed striking gifts, and we began to use some of them in the adult Meetings – they spoke and sang and fished with much acceptance. Here were new dangers – very real dangers. But we had always a warning before us, and though the use of children in this way – that is, apart from their own Meetings – died down considerably as their own work extended and was better organized, I do not think this was because any very real harm had come of it. With regard to this aspect of the matter and the danger for children, especially the danger of their losing the simplicity of children, the Army Mother said at a Council in 1884: ‘Now directly a boy or a girl leaves off being simple, he or she leaves off being a child, and becomes a sort of a mixture between a grown-up person and an imp.’ There were perhaps, a few of these strange ‘mixtures’ to be found amongst us – but never very many.

It was in the year 1881 that ‘The Young Soldier,’ at first called ‘The Little Soldier,’ was launched. It was a weekly paper and proved an immediate success. It has been of incalculable service to this work and of immense help also to many people outside our ranks who love the children and desire to bring them to Christ. It publishes freely communications from our Young People and, with its daughters in other lands, is probably the only newspaper in existence which can be placed in the hands of a child anxious about its own Salvation with any prospect of leading it to Christ.

In all the activities and organizing of those early days, rough and rollicking as they often were, there was kept steadily in view the original idea – carrying on work for the Salvation of children by the children themselves. Thus, as with the adult, or, as it has come to be called, the Senior work, it was the creation of an organized force which was aimed at. Just as we wanted an Army of Salvation among the grown-up people, so we wanted an Army of Salvation among the children. Such an Army must, of course, have serious limitations, as for example, in always losing its Soldiers to become Senior Soldiers as soon as they reach the age of maturity, and again, because its Recruits – Junior Soldiers as we call them – cannot be as fully under our direction as the Seniors, owing, for one thing, to the influence and control of their parents. Nevertheless, it was an Army we set out to raise, possessed of the same over-ruling spirit and purpose as that among the Seniors. I am afraid that this is sometimes lost sight of even to-day. And yet any one who really studies (how earnestly I wish that Officers would study the Army more), any one who studies the work in this department must see at once how this thought runs through it all. The raising of an Army is, in fact, the idea which united the various operations and brings them all into one harmonious whole having one great aim.

The saved children – duly registered and cared for as such – are encouraged to testify to what God has done for them; they are urged to win their brothers and sisters and schoolfellows to Christ. Yes, and their parents also. They are to conduct their own Open-Air Meetings (I was so pleased to find from an Officer home on furlough in New Zealand that this is already seen in some Corps in China), and these Open-Airs were and are sometimes held in the face of much opposition and derision. The children are encouraged to speak for themselves as Junior Soldiers. They hold their own meetings for prayer (I have not heard lately of more than one blessed awakening which began with Children’s Prayer Meetings – in one case it was prayer for the Salvation of their own parents); they sell ‘The Young Soldier’ (I fear that this is not as frequent as it once was); they are encouraged to wear uniform (and warned against wearing showy or worldly clothes), urged to join the Young People’s Bands or Singing Companies, and to play and sing for God. The elder ones are given Companies as soon as possible; they are encouraged to become Corps Cadets training for future work in The Army, and to make public confession of their intention to consecrate their lives as Officers – sometimes for service in the heathen lands.

All this and much more which is seen amongst us points to an organized force deliberately planned and led to aggressive work for God and man, and is as far as the east is from the west from a mere Sunday School or even from a special Service Mission.

III

After a time it was found that many of the children as they grew out of childhood were in need of another kind of care. We saw that if their Army spirit was to be maintained there was a need for organized arrangements to watch over them and to employ them more adequately in God’s work for those of their own sex and age. The loss of some splendid lads from North London Corps in 1900 gave me great concern. It happened at the same moment that we were finding considerable difficulty in keeping up the supply of Candidates for Officership, though young people who had grown up in The Army were to be found at most of the Corps in the United Kingdom and at many Corps in other countries. It occurred to me that some definite effort was needed to reach them as Young People, as distinct from children, and to united and organize them still to witness for Christ and to work for others. After considerable thought I had a conference with some leading Officers. These, with the exception of Mrs. Booth and dear Commissioner Howard, rather discouraged my effort as likely to prove ‘hardly worth the time and labor involved.’ I began, however, by inviting them between three and four hundred young folks of sixteen and above of certain London Corps to spend a day with me in Council at Clapton. About two hundred and fifty came. Their very appearance at once showed to us all how necessary it was that something should be done, and their intense interest and attention convinced us that something could be done.

This, the first ‘Young People’s Day,’ proved a success. The Spirit of God moved amongst us. The confessions and consecrations at the mercy-seat put us in possession of important facts, first hand, and led to all kinds of inquiries, visitations, suggestions, experiments, for helping the young folks. Other ‘Days’ were held. Small groups for prayer and work, of those we desired to bless, were formed. A new Department was set up at National Headquarters. The Founder entered with enthusiasm into the new departure. Special regulations were issued. Presently Officers were appointed to the Divisions as Young People’s Secretaries, and to-day we count by tens of thousands in the Old Country, and by tens of thousands elsewhere, the Young People who are fighting in our ranks for God, for their own holiness, and for the souls of those around them. It has been in large measure by them that we have been able to extend the work among the children, and it is from their ranks in many lands that we have recruited our forces in training for Army Officership both in the West and the East.

It was not easy for some Officers, either Field or Staff, in the Homeland or elsewhere, to realize the importance of this development, and I fear that even now there are those amongst us who see but dimly – some see not at all and perhaps never will – what a mighty future there I for this work. It is not only for the sake of the Young People themselves that it should be done – to promote their Godly living – their nearness to Christ – their heart purity. It is also because they – the young and untaught and in-experienced of to-day will, to say nothing of Officers, be amongst the most important of Soldiers, the Bandsman and Songsters, the Local Officers of the future. We see it already. I am writing this article in New Zealand after a tour in Australia, and almost everywhere I have found the energetic Locals or Field Officers who, with beaming countenances, have come to shake my hand saying: ‘It was at the Young People’s Council at such or such a place that I gave myself fully to God.’

I say in deep earnestness that there is no limit to the influence for good which may be exerted by the Young People of to-day on the future of the Army, and through The Army upon the world. Shall we be equal to our chance in dealing with them? One thing is evident, we shall only succeed in any really big or world-wide sense of the word, in so far as we can lay hold and keep hold of the young life of the nations.

IV

I am deeply anxious that this work should continue to have the right direction. As to the outside children, we are in danger of overdoing what might be called the educational side of our efforts. It is, no doubt, good to teach them the truths which the Word of God declares, but if we stop there we have done but little for them! Their Salvation, while children, is to be our first great aim. We are not a Sunday School – and, by the war, I wish the use of that word to be given up forever; it is not an Army term. It is, in fact, a misleading term, especially now that the Socialists and Bolshevists have so freely appropriated it. The Sunday Schools of the various Churches have largely failed in molding the character and directing the lives of multitudes of the children whom they whom they have had under their teaching for years, just because they have stopped short with instruction. What is the good of Bible reading, apart from Bible obedience; of observing Sunday if we profane the weekdays? What, indeed, is the use of any teaching which does not in fact change and exalt the life and make it a life after Christ’s own pattern and spirit! And how can this be done, whether in full-grown men or in children, without the New Birth and the New Creation which come by faith in Him? We know very well that it cannot be done. We must go on to Salvation. That is our own proper work; that is the reason for our existence. If we fail there we fail altogether! Alas! Is it not true that in some places we have failed? Have we not to bear the pain of seeing many children for whom we have labored drift of seeing many children for whom we have labored drift away from us and from God? Is there not in this a ground for grave concern, a call for close examination of our methods? In such cases ought there not at least to be at once a new beginning in determined and unsparing effort to bring the children to Christ?

And equally I wish our leaders to keep well before them that our aim continues to be, and must be, the raising and maintaining of an organized force for God among the children. The objective remains ever the same. The children are called to be saved, and are chosen to fight and, if needs be, suffer, in order to win their fellows to Christ.

Yes – to suffer! Just as many of the children in the early days of Christianity fought and witnessed and died for their testimony, so our children are to be led and trained to expect and to face opposition, whether in the form of ridicule at school or hatred at home, or of even more active persecution. [I wish more use could be made of that wonderful little book, ‘Red Flowers of Martyrdom,’ by the late Brigadier Eileen Douglas. It contains some of the most remarkable and most glorious histories of children who gave their lives for Christ.] Let us help them. Let us inspire them. Let us unite them. Let us lead them not merely to know the love and power of Christ Jesus in themselves, but to feel the burden of souls and to strive, in spite of suffering and distress, for their Salvation in their own simple, loving, trustful way.

As to the future of the Young People, as distinguished from the children (and it is important to remember that The Army makes a very definite distinction between them), I am anxious to insist upon the importance of improving and developing them as individuals. Important as it is to see that there is a good beginning – that is to say, that the Holy Spirit has accomplished His own work in the New Creation, and that they are united with The Army not only outwardly as Soldiers, but in the spirit and purpose which govern it – it is equally important to plan for the cultivation of their spiritual powers. Even now, though they are with us, all will fail unless we learn how to appeal successfully to their moral instincts and perceptions – to conscience and feeling and love.

I am sure that we ought to make more insistent individual appeal in the name of the Great Savior to what is best in them, definitely calling upon them to crush what is selfish and base, and to cultivate what is unselfish and pure. Let us raise on high the standard of a Godly life. No professions, no prayers, no labor for others, sacred as that may be, can take the place in daily work and life of humility, both of mind and spirit, of meekness, of silence under provocation, of faith in God, of kindness to friend and foe – especially to the weak – of respect for elders, of faithful adherence to promises, of integrity and self-control, of modesty, chastity, fidelity, and honor.

I am certain there is a very real danger, especially in certain classes who are independent and self-reliant, and in others who are emotional and excitable, that the outward exercises of our religion should come to be substituted for these practical graces and virtues which are the gifts of Jesus Christ for everyday life and labor, and without which all will come to nought.

It is just as possible in The Army as among the Buddhists, the Roman Catholics, or the High Church people to substitute forms and ceremonies, music and marches, testimonies and song, for the life – the life with Christ in God – that is, the separate life, the life apart from the world. These things, no matter how pleasing, unless they are attested and supported by rightness and truth and loving sincerity and gentle Christlikeness, become really hateful to God. Instead of helping the Young People to Holiness they really dull the conscience and injure the soul. But must we not teach them to love and seek souls? Of course we must, but that is not the whole of our ambition to them. We want them to be high examples themselves of what the justifying and sanctifying Grace of God will do for ordinary people in the ordinary affairs, the ordinary conduct of ordinary life.

I am sure we ought also to do more in instructing our Young People how to follow the New Light that God gives them from time to time. One of the leading facts of Army experience in every land is that they do receive new Light, that in fact they are constantly the objects of special visitations of the Holy Spirit. Let us show them how to distinguish these visitations from the mere impulses of human desire. Above all let us teach them to go forward following the Light, not to live on past revelations or mercies no matter how gracious or glorious they may have been.

Many Young People come to a dead stop in spiritual things for the want of courage to follow those new revelations which God gives of His will, and in the vital years when character is formed, and the future is largely molded from day to day, to half in following God is perilous, to draw back is fatal.

The system of the Army, the publicity given to much of our work, even at the smaller Corps, the prominence into which many of our Young People are thrown and the fact that in most countries they are seldom protected by persecution and hardship makes for a kind of self-consciousness and selfishness which once they creep in spoil the service, even of the best. The speaking, the singing, the fishing, together with the uniform and the constantly being under observation, all have danger for them. They tend to cultivate self, and may introduce-sometimes do-into their service a sense of their importance or usefulness or attractiveness, or of their ability. I will not claim that absolutely selfless service is likely for any large proportion of them, but we must never forget that if we want them to benefit by the service they render to God and man we must take them out of themselves, we must show them how to hide themselves even in the moments of their greatest prominence, we must help them to make it actually true in their lives ‘Not I-Not I-Not I-but Christ who liveth in me.’

My dear comrades, in all this let us make it plain to our young folks that God is Law as well as Love, that indeed we can say ‘God is Law’ as truly as we say ‘God is Love.’ We need to insist, with that repetition which live will show us how to employ, that you cannot sow one thing and reap another no matter how much you may desire to do so, or how good and sincere you may have been or what suffering for yourself or others the reaping will involve. It is still true that if men fall into the fire they will be burned. That we cannot gather grapes off thorns, or figs off thistles. It is in fact just as true as ever it was that lives built on the sands of wrongdoing or wrong thinking or wrong feeling, or upon mere professions of religion, will, when the storms come, fall and perish-fall and perish forever.

Monday, January 21, 2008

Teen-Age: The Creation of Youth Culture - An Interesting Take on 19th Century Youth Organizations

I recently picked up a copy of Jon Savage's monumental book, TeenAge: The creation of youth culture. In his book, he challenges the commonly accepted belief that the social construction of 'the teenager' as a psychological and sociological phenomena did not generate during the post-WW2 '50s and '60s, but that this had been growing as early as the mid-19th century. Exploring a vast array of iconic figures from literature and history along with movements focused particularly on this age-group, Savage's argument is extremely compelling.
I am particularly interested in his chapter on the period from 1875 to 1904. He focuses on organizations that utilize militarism as a means of helping navigate youth away from anti-Social behavior. As a person interested in studying the history of Salvation Army youth work, I found this quote particularly fascinating:

"At the same time, new voluntary organizations refined the regimented evangelism of the Young Men's Christian Association (established 1844) and General Booth's Salvation Army (established 1878) into a more specifically youth-directed program. The pioneer was William Smith's Boy's Brigade, formed in Glasgow during 1883. Combining parade-ground discipline with Sunday school teachings, the Boy's Brigade had as its specific aim 'the advancement of Christ's Kingdom among Boys, and the promotion of habits of Reverence. Discipline and Self-Respect, and all that tends towards a true Christian manliness." (Jon Savage, TeenAge (2007): 20).

It is interesting to ponder the significance of the militaristic model of youth work during this period. Shortly after, Baden-Powell would return from the Anglo-Boer War to begin the Boy Scouts Brigade. 

For more on the significance of these expressions of youth work, I have been stimulated by the thoughts of Danny Brierley in Joined-up: An introduction to youth work and ministry. 

Friday, January 18, 2008

William Booth on Youth Work (1906) - "The Juniors" (From "Sergeant-Major Do-Your-Best")

William and Catherine Booth have to be some of the most brilliant story-tellers in church history. Taking a page from "Pilgrim's Progress," William Booth wrote the book, "Sergeant-Major Do-Your Best" to instruct through narrative on key, pragmatic theological points he wanted to emphasize in the local corps (church) setting.
It is no surprise that he devotes a significant chapter to youth work - correcting some of the misperceptions he himself had about youth work in this story - and how work with "The Juniors" must remain a priority - programmatically, economically and even in terms of property! This fictitious story provides profound insight into how reclaiming children and youth were an essential of early Salvation Army corps practice. 
______________________________

“The Juniors”

Sergeant-Major Do-Your-Best

William Booth (1906)

 

I want to tell you that we’ve got everything going at high speed now in Darkington No. 1. You would hardly believe the wonderful advances that’s been made this last few weeks.

 

Captain Faithful’s prayers and tears and personal talks, and all the rest of it, have brought forth a glorious harvest. It is just as I am always telling the Officers when they get downhearted. I always says as such times: “Captain, cheer up! You’ve put in the seed, and if you don’t reap the fruits of it all, another Captain will!” And then they says: “Sergeant-Major, we like to reap the harvest of what we sow ourselves” – which it is perfectly natural that they should. Leastaways, I think so.

 

Well, I was saying that we are going ahead at Darkington. You see our new Captain, he seems to have struck another vein, as the colliers say, with his seeking out the roughest and worst; and it has been a very profitable vein, too, I can tell you; not only because of the poor creatures that have been brought up out of the horrible pit, but because it has seemed to put new life into everybody and everything.

 

There is one thing, however, which our Divisional Officer is always worrying about, and where he will have it that we come very much short, and that is the Juniors. It is true we have a “Children’s work,” as they call it; but it is only a poor, bedraggled affair. It’s been going a long time, but nobody pays much attention to it. The place where they hold their meetings in cramped, and dark, and dirty; the big picture bills on the walls about Moses crossing the Red Sea, and Daniel in the lions’ den, and such like – which Deacon Propriety presented to us – are all covered with dust; some of them are actually hanging in pieces; while the Locals told off to look after the children, are – well, I won’t say anything about them, or perhaps it might come to their ears and hurt their feelings, and that would be a pity.

 

Then the children are a forlorn lot, with one or two exceptions; the order in the meetings is wretched; and altogether the thing has such a poor name that the Soldiers, instead of sending their children, simply give it the cold shoulder, and go on with their meetings as if there was no such thing as a Junior work in the Corps at all.

 

You see, Captain Faithful  was a wonderful man – God bless him! – but I must confess he did not care much for the children. Perhaps that is not a fair way of putting it, but his delight was more in an Open-Air Campaign, or a Sunday evening fight, or a struggle to get somebody saved at a demonstration, or to have a good Holiness Meeting, with everybody on their faces before God, than it was for going in for the young people.

 

Then, there’s our present Captain – God bless him! – he’s full of his Saturday nights’ maneuvers, and storming the factory gates, and fetching the backsliders out of the publics, and all that kind of thin; which doings, I say, is all right, excellent, first-rate. God forbid that I should ever speak a word against Officers who work day and night for souls! But, still, I must tell the truth; and that is, that neither of them ever worried themselves very much about the children.

 

The there’s Treasurer Hold-it-tight. He don’t concern himself much about the Juniors. You see, he has no family of his own, and his wife makes no secret of not having any particular love for children.

 

And, to tell the truth – may God forgive me! – I’ve not been a great advocate of the Juniors myself; and Sarah, she never misses a chance of laying the law down to me about it.

 

“Sergeant-Major,” she says, “where would your children  have been, if they had not been looked after and shown the right way, and stirred up to walk in it, when they was young? You’ve not done much at them yourself, have you now? You’ve been so  busy with the Seniors, and the Outposts, and the Open-Airs, and such like – which things ought to be seen to – of course they ought. But, then, you see, the children, Sergeant-Major, had the good fortune to have a mother who loved their souls, and who made up her mind that they should love God and be a good Salvationists, whatever came. Now, what I want to know, Sergeant-Major, is this: Where would your children have been to-day, if they had not been cared for when they was young?

“Look at Tom Blaze-away’s family – although he reckons he’s a good Salvationist – which he is, as when he sings, ‘Death is coming and the Judgment Day’ in the Open-Air, the people can hear him three streets off, and when he gets fairly a-goin’ on his knees in the After-Meetings, the windows of the Hall fairly rattle again, and I fancy sometimes that they very foundations of the building tremble.

 

“But, there now, just look at his children! Don’t they tear one another’s clothes, and pull one another’s hair, and make faces at their father, and sauce their mother, and use bad language, and I don’t know what else? What is to become of them if somebody don’t look after them? That’s what I want to know!

 

“It is true their mother, bless the timid little soul, ought to teach them and save them; but then, what does she know about saving and training children? Why, you remember as how as she was the daughter of that horrid, drunkard, Ted Never-full, and they were married when she was only seventeen, and the children came fast, and Tom drank all he could lay his hands on for the first few years. Then they have only been converted a little while, and have everything to learn. But there are the bairns all the same; and, I ask you, what is to be done with them?”

 

Then, Sarah, she goes on: ”Look at the children down the alley at the back of our house. What is to be done with them, Sergeant-Major, I want to know? You should look in there some times!

 

“I’ve just been down to visit that poor, dying woman, whose husband was found lying in the gutter, helplessly drunk, on Saturday night, and took home by Will Boozham. As I stood in his room I had a look out of the window at a gang of youngsters in the court, who was talking to each other in a most confidential manner about what they was going to be when they ‘growed-up,’ as they called it. One little, half-naked rascal said he was going to be a thief; another, scratching his head in ever such a ferocious manner, was going to get drunk every night; another declared that he was going to be a soldier, and shoot the Boers; and so on, and on and on. Oh, it did make my blood curdle to see them in their rags and filth, with their mouths full of cursing and filthiness. I felt as if I was looking at little-devils instead of human creatures. Sergeant-Major,” says Sarah, “what is to become of these young plants, if nobody don’t care for them?”

____________________________

 

Sarah has just got a letter from our boy, Jack, who, I told you, had got his first Corps at Flintville, and a hard-shop the lad has found it. Sarah says that if she had the management of things, she would not send a lad on his first command to a place where things was so difficult.

 

But I says, “Sarah, it’s all right! It will all turn out for the best, and it’ll be good for Jack; anyhow, in the long run.” Well, as I was a-saying, Sarah has got a letter, and it has cheered her up not a little, and she declares she is going to read it to the Captain, to push him up to doing something more for the Juniors. And then she made me promise to speak of it, and said it would be interesting. Perhaps there’s a bit of mother’s pride in this, but the letter really sounds very well. Here it is: –

 

“Dear Mother, – I can’t stop any longer from telling you the good news about our Corps. You know what a fight we’ve had; but, never mind, better days are coming on.


“And it’s all been through three young girls, the daughters of a Staff Officer, who have gone in for a Band of Love. They’ve got some of the dirtiest and lowest children in the place together, and they’ve loved and amused and taught them, with an amazing lot of patience.

 

“For a while all seemed to be of no use, the children only got harder and harder; but then the break came and some of the worst got saved.

 

“And now, to see those boys at the meetings, in the Hall and in the Open-Air, and hear them testify and pray, it is wonderful. It’s cheered up our Soldiers, and they’re working with a new heart. The mothers and fathers of these children are coming to the meetings. Some of them have got converted, and we’ve got a real new start, I do believe. Tell dad he’s to get the Captain to run a Band of Love at Darkington 1.”
____________________________

 

Sarah had a good cry over that letter. I couldn’t see for the life of me what there was in it to cry about. I should have thought it was real delightful to hear that Jack was in such good spirits, and that something was being done in that dark hole. But I suppose they were tears of joy. Anyway, after that letter, she took on about the Juniors again in real earnest. In fact, she got what you might call the Junior fever. So much so, that it took away her appetite, and kept her from sleeping. So at last I says to her: “Well, Sarah, you’d better go an talk to the Captain yourself.” “All right!” says she, “I must talk to somebody, or I shall be real ill about the business.”

____________________________

 

Sarah has seen the Captain, and had a good go with him. She told me about it after. She says he fairly cried when she told him about Rom Blaze-away’s children, and the poor neglected little things down our alley. He said that he had been in India, when he was in the king’s army, and that the heathen children were not in so bad a case as the poor things she described to him. “But,” said the Captain, “how an I go about forming a Band of Love?”

 

“Well,” says Sarah, “there’s Sergeant Never-tire. She’s the soul of what it done for the children in Darkington, and she’s been telling me that they must have a bigger place. And the Sergeant says that there’s an old warehouse close by the Hall that they can have for five shillings a week, and that it could be cleaned up and made quite grand for a few pounds; and if the Soldiers would only set to, they could do nearly all that wants doing at it themselves.”

 

Well, the Captain, he promised Sarah to pray about it, and to bring it up at the next meeting of the Locals.

____________________________

 

We’ve had the Locals’ Meeting, and I’m sorry to say that some rather hard things were said about the Junior scheme. You see, the Captain, he made a nice speech, which, to tell the truth, was just about the same that Sarah had been saying to him, and then he proposed they should take up the children in earnest, and go for the warehouse that Sergeant Never-tire had recommended. He’d been to look at it, he said, and he thought it would do proper.

 

There was no response to the proposal, and I must confess that I didn’t feel like saying anything myself, which vexed Sarah very much. She told me afterwards that I hadn’t the heart of a chicken, or else I should have jumped up, and said: “Well done, Captain, that’s it! And there’s my five shillings towards doing the place up!”

After a little silence, however, Treasurer Hold-it-tight, he gets on his feet. I smelt mischief as soon as I see him shuffle off his seat!

 

“Captain Seek-the-lost,” says he, “this is a good case you’ve made for the children. I’ve no doubt that many of ‘em is in a very poor way, both for this world and the next. But who’s responsible for them? Isn’t it their fathers and mothers for, if it isn’t to take care of their children, and have them taught and saved, and got ready for Heaven? If I had any children, which I haven’t, I shouldn’t want other folks to come and look after them – me and my wife would reckon that we had to do that work ourselves. The work of The Salvation Army, I reckon, is to go for the fathers and mothers, get them saved, and then let them take care of the children.

 

“Then, as to the warehouse, who’s to pay the cost of doing it up, please? Why, there’s our own Hall, doesn’t that need painting, and don’t the spouts want mending; and ain’t there other things that want seeing to? And then, who’s to pay the five shillings a week? Can you tell me, pray?

 

“And then,” he went on, “if you fill this warehouse with children, where are the Company Sergeants to come from? That’s what I want to know. Then, Captain, if you have all the Soldiers at work among the children, just ask yourself, where will the Open-Airs and the Pub-Boomers’ and the Drunkards’ Brigade be? And where will all the other work of the Corps be? I say, let us stick to what we’ve got in hand, and do that well. We never was doing better than we are. Why not let well alone?”

Then Treasurer had not got down on his seat before Sarah was on her feet. Her face was crimson, and her heart was full, and she talked – bless her! — as she can talk when her blood’s up. I can’t tell you what she said, nor nobody else can. I know she cried, and we all cried, and made the Captain promise to take the warehouse, and I promised my five shillings, and Boozham and Grumbleton and a lot more promised to help as well.

 

And then what should the Treasurer do but jump up and resign, saying that if such wild things as these was done, he could not be responsible for the Corps, and he would have no more to do with the money.

 

But the Captain, he says: “Treasurer Hold-it-tight, we cannot let you go out of the office like this. You know I’ve not been a strong advocate for the Juniors myself, but I see now that we ought to do something extra, and we will do something, God helping us. But, Treasurer,” says the Captain, “you must stay my time out, anyway; and if this thing does not turn out to your satisfaction, I’ll write to the Divisional Officer, and you can give up your office then, and we’ll go out together.”

 

Now, things took a strange turn after this meeting, and this is how it happened. You see, Treasurer Hold-it-tight had a brother, Charley, who was the misery and disgrace of the family. It appeared as if the drink fiend had got possession of him altogether. I don’t know how he got into this wretched plight – but he went from bad to worse, until he got about as far away as a man could get who is not actually dead and lost. His wife died of a broken heart. He lost situation after situation. Nobody would look at him. Hold-it-tight and his wife helped him all they could. They gave him food, and clothes, and money, and paid his rent to keep out the bailiffs again and again. They prayed with him, and advised him, and got the Captain to talk to him times without number; but it was all in vain, and at last they gave him up, and told him they would do no more. And this made him real mad, and set him on to hate his brother with all his heart.

 

He had three children. They lived in filth and wretchedness – if you canal it living at all – in an old hovel belonging to a farm-house at the very end of the town, in a field all by itself. Poor wretch! He was at the bottom of the ladder, and seemed but to want to go one step lower to be gone for ever.

 

Well now, it seems that just after we got into the warehouse, the Sergeant Never-tire, by some means or other, persuaded the eldest of this drunkard’s children to come to the Band of Love – and directly afterwards they got her beautifully saved. You see, she was a real nice child, about twelve years old, and what you might call regular good-looking. Sarah had just got a new bonnet and frock for Polly, so after she had mended the old ones up, she fixed Sally up in them, and when she was dressed in her uniform, she looked just like a little angel.

 

Well, little Sally no sooner got right herself than she set to work to get her father saved. She began by singing to him the songs she learned at the meetings. Her favorite was: —

 

“Oh, you must be a lover of the Lord,
Or you can’t go to Heaven when you die.”

 

Then she used to pray for him, and cry over him, and talk about her mother in Heaven, and about Jesus dying for him on the cross. But he only seemed to harden his heart and drink more and more.

 

One night, however, he let her bring him to the meeting. I don’t know how it came about, but there it was. I think he was a little gone with the drink, but he knew quite well what he was doing. My word! Wasn’t everybody surprised to see him there! Many of us knew that he had sworn a thousand times that he would never enter the doors while his brother Steve, the Treasurer, was alive.

 

When he came in he was a strange spectacle, I can tell you. His face had not been washed for many a day; his hair was all matted with dirt; all the clothes on him was a ragged shirt and a pair of old trousers, all patched and torn, while on his feet were two old boots, both belonging to the same foot.

 

As he got inside, he slunk down on a back seat close by the door with his dear little daughter, her face radiant with smiles, sitting by his side. I cannot describe that meeting. I believe every Soldier, and everybody else in the place that knew Charley was there, prayed for him that night. The converted old topers testified furiously. Everybody sang over and over again: “Oh, you must be a lover of the Lord”; and when the After-Meeting had got well on, the prettiest sight my eyes ever beheld in Darkington was to see little Sally lead her ragged, miserable, drunken father to the mercy-seat, and kneel by him, and pray that God would have mercy on his soul. 

He was not there long before the Treasurer was kneeling on the other side. Hold-it-tight may have done some crying before that night, but I had never seen him shed a tear. But his poor drunken brother, Charley, smashed up and groaning for mercy at the Savior’s feet, broke the Treasurer’s heart, and he sobbed till you could hear him right over on the other side of the Hall.

Charley got properly saved; and when he and the Treasurer stood hand in hand, singing “Praise God, I’m saved!” I don’t think there was a dry eye in the place.

____________________________

The fastest friend of the Juniors possess in Darkington to-day, the one who gives his money most freely, and works hardest and longest and most successfully for them, is Treasurer Hold-it-tight.