With the love of Jesus
With the love of Jesus
30 November 2017
Salvationist Katharine Dale served children and adults with disabilities for 13 years in Ghana.
Over the past four months, we have been looking at the National Vision Statement line by line. This month, we take a magnifying glass to the words: “... with the love of Jesus”.
What compels a young, hot-shot lawyer to give up his well-paid senior partnership at a prime Sydney law firm to start a new kind of legal practice with the Salvos?
What prompts a bright, well-liked 30-year-old occupational therapist to move 16,000km away from her loving support network to spend 13 years in Ghana, working with children and adults with disabilities?
Could it be the same thing that inspires a couple who had been counting down the days to retirement, to commit to being Salvo rural chaplains, spending their days on the road, sharing the gospel with some of Australia’s most isolated communities?
Each one of these selfless and courageous life decisions are the product of the love of Jesus.
Jesus lived his entire earthly life for others: healing the sick, befriending the lonely, including the excluded and ultimately dying,
so that all people could experience a restored relationship with God.
The work of The Salvation Army in Australia is wonderfully diverse, yet everything we do has this one thing in common: our work is shaped, influenced and driven by the love of Jesus.
The apostle Paul gave a similar explanation for his willingness to risk imprisonment and death to spread the Gospel, declaring that: “The very spring of our actions is the love of Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:14, J.B Phillips). He puts it another way in 2 Corinthians 3:16: “We love because Jesus first loved us.”
As Salvos, Jesus is our inspiration and example. When launching the National Mission Statement, National Commander, Commissioner Floyd Tidd, emphasised this same point, saying, “The good news of Jesus has been the foundation of The Salvation Army since the very beginning, and continues to be the inspiration and driving force behind our work today. This is central to everything we are – from our churches to our social work and beyond.”
When you join The Salvation Army you’re not just joining a group of people who want to “do good”. We are a Christian organisation, dedicated to sharing the love of Jesus.
Everything we do stems from, and is an expression of, that love. Being a part of this means you are continuing the marvellous story of millions of individuals who, since the Army began in 1865, have encountered the love of Jesus and felt compelled to live their lives sharing that love with others.
You’re signing up to a big, brave vision that says that we will live, love and fight alongside others to transform Australia one life at a time - not “with hard work”, though we will work hard; not “with the best programs”, though we deliver outstanding programs; but “with the love of Jesus”.
Claire Hill is Communications Coordinator for the Australia One Program.
Read another article about the National Vision Statement.
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