Dear Salvationist, 5 Resources To Help You Become A Better Soldier

There are certainly more than five resources, but I wanted to just name five today to get us all started.  Our desire to be better soldiers isn’t to please the Army, of course if we are serving God in the capacity of this army, we will find success and purpose.  Our desire should be first to seek after Him, then what we do in uniform will be holy and pleasing to Him.

Caution, Name-dropping zone ahead…

1.  Salvation Army Publications 7 Magazines…
Your corps should have a subscription to various publications that are created and maintained by editors and writers within The Salvation Army.  Publications like The War Cry, Young Salvationist, Word & Deed, just to name a few.  Many of these contain encouraging articles from others in the faith, while publications like Word & Deed focus primarily on spiritual application and is often slightly deeper than most other articles out there.   There are many more of these Salvation Army publications world wide, and these can vary from territory to territory and country to country.

 

2.  Salvation Army Books  & Theologians: 
Many of the writings of Samuel Logan Brengle on the topic of Holiness come to mind.   They are widely read and can help with our spiritual development as soldiers of Christ!   Here is a recent publication from Bob Hostetler who has organized the writings of Brengle entitled – “Brengle Helps”  But don’t stop there, check out the writings of George Scott Railton as well.  There are a number of great Salvation Army book publications out now and it is continuing to grow!  Here are a few other notable books available: (And many, many more!)

3.  Salvation Army Bloggers & Writers: 
I believe the literary sphere is swiftly changing in regards to how fellow Christians read and receive written material.  The Salvation Army bloggosphere is growing, with more and more very talented writers adding their own flavor of writing almost weekly!  I would like to consider Pastorsponderings.org as one of those, and here are other bloggers to take note of if you haven’t already:  Stephen Court’s Armybarmy, Pete Brookshaw, Clive Adams, Jim Knaggs, Steve Simms, Ruth Sullen & Deb Thompson…just to name a few.  I will undoubtedly get myself into trouble here for not mentioning others, and some I’ve forgotten.  I am sure you can also recommend other Salvationist bloggers out there as well -please leave those links in the comments below and help us compile a longer list!  Many of these bloggers stretch our understanding of spiritualism and this Christians faith journey that we’re all on.

4.  Discipleship & Small Group:
If I were to rank many of these, discipleship would be at the top of the list in regards to the most important resource a soldier needs!  Unfortunately (as far as I know) the printed material exclusively from The Salvation Army on the topic of discipleship is limited.  Dr Charles Lake’s Discipleship training material comes to mind, the Youth Discipleship Program, Metro Youth’s “Bold” Corps Cadets courses.  Other suggested sources (non-army, but highly applicable) “Discipleshift” “Real-life Discipleship Training” Books by Henri Nowen  The need for discipleship in our army is paramount!  We need more than book smarts and head knowledge though, we need application and tangible mentoring and shepherding in our corps!

5.  Sights & Sounds! 
Another vast resource that we have at our disposal today is social media!
Corps from around the world are adding audio and video content either prerecorded or live streaming!  With new technology and applications such as Facebook Live, Periscope and others, we are now able communicate at a faster, more reliable rate!   Some soldiers are offering worship songs for downloadable play in your corps, while others are providing bible study tools online for anyone to access anywhere in the world.  These resources will become more fluid and easier to find as we organize these and make them more readily available!
Examples:
Centre for Spiritual Life Development
SA Dropbox
SAVN.TV
IHQ Webcasts
Central Territory USA Media (Visual Communications) 

These are just a few links to check out, there are many, many more, and I would love for you to share your favorite Salvation Army links and media sites!  Do you have a podcast, sermon live stream, periscope account – share it here with us on our comment section and we will include this in an continuing Resource segment!

These are just five resources to help us become better, stronger, godly soldiers for Christ in this Army of Salvation.  Tell us what you think, share, comment and subscribe for more resources to come!

Something more for our Army world to ponder today!