Bridging the Gap
On a fall afternoon in the early 1950’s, a corps officer walked onto the field of a Salvation Army Boy’s and Girl’s Club in Salisbury, Maryland, where a youth football team had just finished practicing. The officer gathered the team around him and asked if any of the boys were interested in learning to play a brass instrument. Among the boys who raised their hands were two brothers, and that evening they showed up at the corps for beginner band practice. Thus began the connection between the brothers, their family, and the corps congregation.
That corps officer was then-Captain Les Hall, one of the founding fathers of the Southern Territory’s music program, and later the territorial music secretary. One of the brothers who raised his hand that day was my future father-in-law, Major Jesse Duncan, who not only learned to play a cornet, but eventually gave his life to Jesus and became a soldier, a bandsman, a corps cadet, a candidate, and a Salvation Army officer.
Ideally, this kind of connection between the Army’s community programs (including social services) and our corps congregations would happen all the time, but, in my experience, it seems to be sadly rare. Over the years, the Army has built hundreds of corps community centers across the U.S. with gyms and fields attached, hoping, I’m sure, to duplicate my father-in-law’s story. And, undoubtedly, there have been some who followed his path. But when I’ve asked Salvationists in recent years to give examples of corps congregation members who came from our community programs, they have named few, if any.
Why is this so? What is the “missing link” between community programs and corps? One reason might be the difficulty of translating athletics into the corps program. You can’t play basketball in the chapel during the Sunday morning service even if you have a championship team! My father-in-law’s story is instructive. While he was initially attracted to the Army through its athletic programs, it was the music program that got him into the corps on Sundays, because music is a part of every worship service. There is nothing wrong with community athletic programs, of course, but if there is no significant harvest of souls and soldiers year after year, we either have to change the way we operate them or direct our resources elsewhere. And this is true of all our community programs.
Another, and more important, reason is that most Salvationists aren’t involved in our community programs in any significant way. This is especially true of our soldiers, but often of our officers as well. We have largely outsourced the operation of these programs to employees, and not only are these employees usually not Salvationists, they are often not even believers. How can we expect them, no matter how well intentioned, to recruit corps congregation members?
What can be done? There is no silver bullet, obviously, but here are some ideas that I think can work.
First, we Salvationists—officers and soldiers —must have regular contact with the people who are in our community programs. Historically, this has been the Army’s secret sauce and is the only way to move people into our corps congregations, which is where the spiritual transformation that the Army exists to help bring about most often takes place. We must show the Army flag, so to speak, in every program we run. It might be as simple as a giving a halftime devotional at a youth basketball game, ensuring that a Salvationist greets every social service client, or just “hanging out with a purpose” with a group that rents our building.
Second, we should try whenever possible to hire Salvationists for positions in our community programs. In the corps that I’ve seen successfully bridge the gap it’s most often because these employees are Salvationists, and it’s only natural for them to steer people toward the corps congregation.
Third, and I may be showing my bias, but we should double down on music and arts programs in our corps because they have proven most successful in moving kids and adults from community programs to corps congregations. If done properly, it can be a seamless transition. If someone is singing, playing, dancing, or acting in a community program, they can sing, play, dance, or act in our Sunday worship services, at our camps, and in our divisional programs.
I’m sure there are many other ways to bridge the gap between our community programs and our corps. The precise method, as always, is not as important as the commitment to doing something. As for me, I’ll be on the hunt in my community for another Jesse Duncan!