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He cared for the likes of us

January 25, 2012 by 1 Comment

 

Crowds lined the streets at Booth's funeral

One hundred years ago this year General William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army ‘went to glory’ at the age of eighty-three.

For three days his body lay in state at the Congress Hall in Clapton, east London. It was estimated that 150,000 people packed the streets on the day of his funeral at Olympia in west London. Men women and children from all walks of life came to pay their last respects. Kings, Emperors and Presidents sent personal messages of condolence. King George himself wrote: ‘Only in the future shall we realize the good wrought by him for his fellow creatures. Today there is universal mourning for him. I join in it.’ Queen Alexandra, the Queen Mother wrote: ‘Thank God, his work will live forever’.

Unknown to most, one of Booth’s most ardent admirers, Queen Mary attended the ceremony coming unannounced at the last minute with her Lord Chamberlain, Lord Shaftsbury. It is said The Queen sat next to a woman with a very different history from her own. A woman who had once been a prostitute, rescued through the ministry of the Salvation Army. That ex-prostitute pronounced a stirring epitaph for the General: “He cared for the likes of us.”

Although their methods offended some of the more genteel church goers of the day, The Salvation Army were effective in reaching out to the poorest and toughest in society. Some lambasted Booth for reducing religion to that of the music hall but their style connected with the working classes up and down the country. A motely crew of converts became effective evangelists, people like Billy Herdsman an escapologist whose Houdini style act caught the attention of the crowds. There was another show-business recruit, George Fox, the Converted Clown. In Leicester, Sarah McMinnies billed herself as the Saved Barmaid. There was Happy Hannah, the Reformed Smoker. These, along with Hallelujah Fishmongers, Blood-washed Colliers, Saved Dog-Fanciers and the Converted Pigeon-Flier all had one thing in mind, to see people experience the forgiveness of Christ. Their billing reinforced the message that this was a religion for the masses.

At this point it’s worth highlighting one of Booth’s most militant and effective officers, Elijah Cadman. From the age of six, Cadman was a boy chimney sweep. At 4.00am every morning he would be forced up chimneys, scraper in hand to loosen the build up of soot. From infancy he was hardly ever sober. In his teens he moved from his native Coventry  to nearby Rugby where he established a street gang known as the ‘Rugby Roughs’. He gained a fearsome reputation as a boxer. His conversion came about when he and a friend attended a public hanging outside Warwick prison. As the trap doors swung open, the ropes snapped tight and the condemned men breathed their last, Cadman’s friend turned to him and said “Elijah, that’s what you’ll come to one day.” Those words proved to be the catalyst; appalled by the realisation of his life of sin he turned his back on his old ways. He would now fight for God as hard as he ever fought any one in the boxing ring. His favoured method to draw the crowds was to ring a big hand bell. He billed himself as “The Saved Sweep from Rugby”. Even though Cadman was illiterate it didn’t stop him being an effective preacher, he would memorise whole passages of scripture by heart. Cadman and others had a common touch which the people loved.

With his growing army of fearless evangelists, Booth had come a long way from his modest beginnings in Nottingham where, from the age of thirteen he worked as a pawnbroker’s apprentice. It was probably this work  that cultivated in him a deep loathing of the poverty, injustice and suffering that he saw every day.

William Booth was initially reviled by the established church, the Earl of Shaftsbury branding him as ‘anti-Christ’.  Salvationists were persecuted by violent mobs to which the police turned a blind eye.  Yet at the time of his death the Salvation Army had influence in fifty-eight nations. From Europe to India, the United States to Japan. The pawnbroker’s assistant died as a man honoured by the world.

Just three short months before he was remembered and celebrated at a funeral which resembled that of a head of state; a frail William Booth addressed the Albert Hall packed with 10,000 faithful followers. At that time, he gave what turned out to be his farewell address. The crowd was hushed as he spoke. He spoke of the far reaching effects of the practical gospel proclaimed by the Salvation Army all over the world. He concluded:

The object I chose all those years ago embraced every effort, contained in its heart the remedy for every form of misery and sin and wrong to be found upon the earth, and every method of reclamation needed by human nature. It is of course the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

It is this Gospel which houses the poor, benefits the working class, promotes temperance and good health, reforms criminals and transcends politics. It is Jesus Christ who changes lives and makes all these things possible. It is Christ only who is the answer to the problems and struggles.

Is the Salvation War coming to a close? This war is just beginning. My part is coming to an end. But while I still have breath, I commit myself to strive for the Lord and those that need him.

While women weep as they do now, I’ll fight; while little children go hungry as they do now, I’ll fight; while men go to prison, in and out, in and out, I’ll fight; while there yet remains one dark soul without the light of God, I’ll fight. I’ll fight to the very end! Fellow Salvationists, the war is not over. Win it for Jesus Christ!

One hundred years on, who is fighting for those in poverty? Who is moving out of the hip and trendy churches in the ‘safe’ areas? Who is moving to the rough, tough neglected areas of the UK to live out the gospel? Who is going to fight for the dark souls without the light of God today? Who is ready to fight to the very end? In 2012 the salvation war is far from over, let’s win it for Jesus Christ!

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Comfort in a Cold Climate

December 23, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Easterhouse Glasgow

Thirteen years ago today the Spice Girls were sitting on top of the music charts with their third successive Christmas number one, ‘Goodbye’ and Manchester United were on their way to an unprecedented treble. There was no financial crisis, more people had jobs and pension funds were comparatively healthy.

Thirteen years ago today on Wednesday 23 December 1998, Bob Holman had an article published on the BBC News website. His comment on affluence and the extravagance of a commercialised Christmas is even more relevant today and just as thought provoking as it was thirteen years ago. I’ve reproduced it here in full:

Comfort in a cold climate

Bob Holman brings Christmas cheer to harsh surroundings

BBC News Online is presenting a series of personal viewpoints on Christmas from Christians from all walks of life. Bob Holman, a voluntary neighbourhood worker on the Easterhouse council estate in Glasgow, here explains how the focus of his Christmas is bringing seasonal cheer to a deprived area.

In Britain today, Christmas has been hijacked by affluence. But I doubt that the carpenter from Nazareth would be comfortable in such an atmosphere of extravagance.

Instead he would probably feel more at home with me at Easterhouse, in a dingy hall where those who can’t afford expensive presents are glad just to meet and share fellowship at this time of year.

Easterhouse is probably the largest council schemes in Britain and houses some of the UK’s most underprivileged families. Over 80% of its pupils receive a grant which is an indicator that they come from homes with very low incomes.

Nonetheless, Christmas is a special and joyful time for residents – many of whom are special in their own right.

Captain Christmas

I moved to Easterhouse 12 years ago with my wife Annette. We soon became involved in the Christmas celebrations when Salvation Army leader Captain Eric Buchanan – having learnt about my former aid work on a council estate in Bath – drew me into the first of many Sally Christmases.

Christmas in Easterhouse starts on the Sunday before with a carol service. It ends on Christmas day with lunch and a party for families who do not have the money for turkey and trimmings.

At the carol service, a packed hall enjoy the women’s choir, watch the nativity play acted by children dressed in towels and blankets and listen to the army leader’s humorous address.

One year, the Captain Buchanan was energetically leading a carol when he suddenly stopped and walked out. After a puzzled silence, Annette initiated “choose your own carol” to fill the gap.

It turned out that the captain had seen a needy person enter through the back door and that person had instantly become more important than anything else.

At the Christmas Day party, I have the hopeless task of organising the games for excited children – and parents – until rescued by the arrival of Santa Claus. The hall is dingy and its windows covered with wire protection but it becomes a place of laughter.

Faith in the poor

One regular at the party used to be Erica and her family. Abused as a child and then a teenage prostitute, her life was changed at the Salvation Army.

I remember calling on Erica one Sunday afternoon when the family had just 15p in the world. The children wanted it for sweets but Erica refused. That evening at the Salvation Army she put it in the collection.

In a book written largely by Easterhouse residents called Faith in the Poor, Erica describes how she made a stable life for herself and the importance of the Easterhouse Christmas.

She wrote: “Christmas Day at the Sally was great. I was in the women’s choir which Annette led. I never missed a Sunday service and the Captain and Mrs. Buchanan were a part of our life.”

Merry Christmas.

As we celebrate Christmas 2011, we must not forget the many individuals, families, and communities like Easterhouse, up and down the country who continue to suffer from both the effects of recession – poverty, joblessness and hopelessness, and from a lack of the gospel story – forgiveness, dignity and hope. What should we do as we move into 2012?

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A Stolen Statue

December 13, 2011 by 2 Comments
Dr Salter’s statue

A famous statue of Dr Alfred Salter, the inspirational Christian campaigner and Labour MP in Bermondsey, was stolen from its position by the Thames recently. The life sized bronze figure has presumably been sold for its scrap value.

When Alfred Salter was selected as the Labour candidate for the Bermondsey West seat in 1918,the Times newspaper commented at the time: “Dr Salter, the Labour candidate, is one of the highly educated idealists who are to be found in the ranks of that party. After a brilliant academic career, he decided to devote himself to work among the poor in Bermondsey, and there he has laboured for many years both as a doctor professionally and as a member of local administrative bodies. Personally, nobody has a word to say against him, but his views are of a very extreme kind.”

Salter was born in Greenwich in 1873, and went on to study medicine at Guy’s Hospital. In 1900 he married fellow socialist and Christian, Ada Brown. In that same year he established his medical practice in Bermondsey and the couple worked and campaigned together to combat the effects of grinding poverty and the overcrowded slums. Salter was renowned for providing medical services free of charge to those who couldn’t pay; eventually establishing a pioneering public health service in the area that pre dates the NHS by twenty years.

Fenner Brockway said of the Salters in his book:Bermondsey Story: The Life of Alfred Salter:

…they began the partnership which was to bring something little short of a revolution to Bermondsey and its people.

People in Bermondsey today feel very strongly about the theft of this statue. I suppose it demonstrates, over sixty years after Salter’s death, the loyalty and the solidarity people feel towards a man who was seen as one of their own.

So, should we be bothered about the theft? After all, there are a number of other lasting memorials to his name in the Bermondsey area. There’s a block of flats, a primary school, a medical centre, a street, even the Alfred Salter Bridge. They all ensure his name lives on.

I believe there’s something far more important than the theft of a statue (sad as that is). It’s the ongoing theft of the values Salter and others have campaigned so vigorously for, often at great personal cost. Things like free medical care, old age pensions, assistance for the unemployed and good quality social housing to name just a few.

Like that statue; which was lovingly crafted at great expense; then torn from its rightful place and sold off cheap.  We see the welfare system of this nation being stolen from us and ‘cashed in for its scrap value’.

This has prompted church leaders to write to the Government protesting the proposed unrealistic benefit caps. Benefit caps which will facilitate ‘social cleansing’ as people are forced out of their communities, and which will increase homelessness and child poverty. For decades, we have consistently seen Social Housing sold off and not replaced and whole estates pulled down and the land sold to private developers. We’re now seeing NHS hospitals handed over to companies to run for profit. Schooling is slowly being taken out of the hands of the local authorities. Apparently, under the new Education Act only academies and free schools can now be set up. There will be no new community schools!

As we’ve seen, Alfred Salter was a man universally loved by the people. A man of principle, motivated by his Christian beliefs, which in turn fed his socialist values. He was loved and respected by the people of Bermondsey because he poured out his life for them. “Personally, nobody had a word to say against him..”

We desperately need a new generation of ‘Alfred Salters’. Committed Christians who are willing to stand up for people today who continue to suffer as a result of the ideology of the wealthy elite at the head of our government. An ideology which demonstrates to me that they have no understanding of the effects of poverty and hopelessness their actions have inflicted on the voiceless poor of this nation. We should cry out for justice.

The influential Christian politician, Keir Hardie stated:

Poverty can never be remedied by charity, but only by justice.

We need a new generation of campaigning Christians who love and value the working class enough to live amongst them; to love and honour them; to be an advocate and a voice for them. To proclaim a message of hope, justice and Good News to them. Just like Alfred Salter.

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