The Australia Territory’s Rallying Cry: Jesus-centred
BY COMMISSIONER MIRIAM GLUYAS, Territorial Commander
The Salvation Army Australia Territory has issued a ‘rallying cry’ as a callback to its Army roots, using slogans to unite and inspire our Salvationist troops.
The rallying cry is ‘Jesus-centred, Spirit-led, hope revealed’.
The rallying cry isn’t intended to add even more to our mission, vision, and values, but instead serves as a measure to draw them all together as we ask ourselves in all we do:
‘Is Jesus central to this?’
‘Where is the Spirit leading us?’
‘Where am I seeing hope revealed?’
Today we explore the first of the three rallying cries: Jesus-centred.
JESUS-CENTRED
Jesus is our source. Jesus is our lifeforce.Jesus is our reason for living, loving, and fighting.
We live according to the ways of Jesus as outlined in the Gospel accounts. We love according to the example set throughout the Bible by the Saviour who laid his life down for us. We fight using spiritual discernment (Ephesians 6), by the power of our Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8) and not in our own strength or ways (Philippians 2:13).
Jesus is the only way to transformation of the world: he was foreknown before the foundations of the world (1 Peter 1:20), foretold of before his birth (Isaiah 7:14), and serves as the forerunner of our salvation (Hebrews 6:20). Jesus is the only way to the building of the church: he is the foundation (1 Corinthians 3:11), the building blocks within his people (1 Peter 2:5) and the capstone of all (Matthew 21:42).
The Salvation Army Australia commits to staying in step with Christ’s leading and teaching (2 John 1:9), enduring all things that God’s salvation may be evident (1 Peter 4:12-19), praying continually that all may find salvation (1 Timothy 2:1-6) and living out our faith as a consistent testimony so that God’s name be praised (Matthew 5:16).
Jesus has offered his life as ransom for our sin, was raised from the dead, resurrected by the power of the Holy Spirit and now reigns supreme at the right-hand of God. We commit that there is no room for anything but Jesus at the heart of The Salvation Army in Australia.
The Salvation Army has an international mission statement that sets the identity and direction for every command and centre that the Army operates:
“The Salvation Army, an international movement, is an evangelical part of the universal Christian Church. Its message is based on the Bible. Its ministry is motivated by love of God. Its mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and meet human needs in his name without discrimination.” – International Salvation Army Mission Statement
Co-founder Catherine Booth once said:
“Whatever the particular call is, the particular sacrifice God asks you to make, the particular cross God wishes you to embrace, whatever the particular path God wants you to tread, will you rise up, and say in your heart, ‘Yes, Lord, I accept it; I submit, I yield, I pledge myself to walk in that path, and to follow that Voice, and to trust Thee with the consequences?’ Oh! but you say, ‘I don't know what God will want next.’ No, we none of us know that, but we know we shall be safe in God’s hands.”
Co-founder William Booth once said:
“In salvation that is both sound and saving one is brought to see that he has nothing, is nothing, can do nothing, merits nothing, but that he is in desperate need of someone to deliver him and that Jesus Christ is the only One who can and the only One who will.”
· SAVIOUR: “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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:16-17)
· SUPREME: “And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy” (Colossians 1:18)
· SOLE: “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people” (1 Timothy 2:5-6).
· SURRENDERED: “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant ...” (Philippians 2:5-11).
· SAVED: “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” (John 1:12).
· SINGLE-HEARTED: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another” (John 13:34-35).
· SANCTIFIED AND SENT: “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified” (John 17:15-19).
“The Salvation Army Australia is a Christian movement dedicated to sharing the love of Jesus. We share the love of Jesus by caring for people, creating faith pathways, building healthy communities, and working for justice.” – The Salvation Army Mission Statement
The themes above are simply suggestions to help us focus our thoughts. They each relate to Jesus’s identity and how we are meant to live in response; in our caring, creating, building and working.
“Wherever there is hardship or injustice, Salvos will live, love and fight, alongside others, to transform Australia one life at a time with the love of Jesus.” – The Salvation Army Mission Statement
Commissioner Miriam Gluyas speaks with Lieutenant-Colonel Stuart Reid (Spiritual Life Projects Leader) about being Jesus-centred: https://youtu.be/wgcTTCUecRM
