Booths Writing Boldly: Part 9

by Colonel Richard Munn 

This 10-part series will look at bold written exhortations from William, Catherine, Bramwell, Herbert, and Evangeline. The force of their collective convictions still lands. Often quoted, they have the capacity to pierce straight into the heart of the matter, impatiently swatting aside distractions and equivocations. General John Larsson titled his 2015 book on the clan simply, Those Incredible Booths.  

With deliberate and remarkable synergy, the heart of the gospel and the heart of Salvation Army doctrine unite with perfection and force. Jesus assertively says: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Our sixth doctrine expansively says: “We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ has by His suffering and death made an atonement for the whole world so that whosoever will may be saved.”

To put it mildly, both statements have a global vision.

Evangeline Booth channels this in one succinct, bold lyric, “The world for God.” Far more than East End London mission, far more than British revivalism, far more than Victorian empire, Evangeline sees the entire world for evangelism, service, and Kingdom purposes. The scope is breathtaking. Your small gathering of believers, idiosyncrasies and all, are vitally part of a grand mission and vision.

Tony Campolo says that “youth was made for heroism,” and that we often fail to challenge young people sufficiently. J.B. Phillips famously wrote, Your God Is Too Small, suggesting that we too easily have a limited conception of God, creating a deity that fits our comfortable mindset. Not so with Evangeline — “The world for God.”

Anecdotally recorded around the founding of the late 1940s United Nations building in New York City is the story of Evangeline striding in, meeting the top leaders, and imperiously stating, “You need The Salvation Army here.” We have been on site ever since. The United Nations for God.

Ever theatrical, Evangeline writes a song that is both romantic and visionary. The verses are unsingable for most congregations; the chorus decidedly not so, a confident, ringing anthem:

The world for God! The world for God!
I give my heart! I’ll do my part!
The world for God! The world for God!
I give my heart! I will do my part!

(The Song Book of The Salvation Army, No. 933)