Friend of God: William Booth Isaiah 58:6-11 August 9, 2015 Earlier this year Captain Martin Ross of Lodi s Salvation Army mentioned that this year The Army is celebrating its 150th anniversary. The Salvation Army is a major mission institution in Lodi. It is also one of over 150 Christian organizations which claims its spiritual heritage from John Wesley, as do we. Today we remember and celebrate the life and legacy of our cousins in the Wesleyan family, William and Catherine Booth. William Booth was born April 10, 1829 in Nottingham, England. He was one of five children born to Samuel and Mary Booth. He was baptized two days after his birth at an Anglican Church. His father was a builder of inexpensive housing, but failed at various speculations and he struggled for financial stability. Life at home was difficult. William s only brother died at 2 years of age, but his three sisters all survived childhood. William did have an elementary education and the children attended the Anglican parish without their parents. When he was 13 years old, the family was financially ruined and unable to pay the mortgage. William stopped attending school. He was apprenticed as a pawnbroker s assistant. Through this work William was exposed to poverty and circumstances more dire than his own. His father died when he was 14, leaving him to care for his mother and sisters. He longed for better life. Neighbors took William to the local Broad Street Wesley Chapel, where he became a member of class meeting. As is typical of a Methodist class meeting, members examined their lives and answered questions regarding the state of their souls. William was moved by the drama of Methodist preaching and the hymns of Charles Wesley and Isaac Watts. He felt both driven to God and called by God. His pastor recognized in him gifts for ministry and invited him to preach in surrounding villages. After 6 years William suddenly lost his job as pawnbroker s assistant, perhaps because he refused to work on Sunday, which he devoted to worship and working for the Lord. After a year of unemployment, at the age of 20 he moved to London, desperate for work. Although he despised the work, he took a job in a pawnbroker s shop. He found opportunities to preach on Sundays. However, he was despondent, destitute and alone. In spite of the difficulties, he was tenacious in practicing his faith. On his 23rd birthday he left the pawnbroker s trade, thanks
to a benefactor who agreed to support him until he could find some sort of settled ministry among the Methodists. As an evangelist, he clearly believed and taught the doctrines of salvation and sanctification. He called people to repent, to embrace the salvation of God offered through God s grace, and to grow in holiness. Booth found his spiritual home in Methodism and he considered John Wesley his spiritual mentor, although Wesley had died nearly 40 years before Booth was born. In London William was introduced to Catherine Mumford who attended a small Methodist chapel where he preached. Later both recounted that it was love at first sight. Catherine was home-schooled and had read the entire Bible eight times before the age of twelve. She also attended Wesleyan class meetings and had a conversion experience at age 16. Several common bonds drew the couple together and made them inseparable through 35 years of marriage until Catherine s death. At heart they were Wesleyan in theology, practice, and spirituality. They were engaged for three years while William decided in which Christian denomination he wanted to pursue his ministerial studies. One of his struggles was around the authority of the pastor. He believed that a pastor should not have to be subservient to local church governance. He was rather autocratic in temperament and liked to exercise control. His call to evangelism eventually led to his exit from Methodism, which could not find a place in its structure for an independent evangelist. Colleagues were also jealous of his success as an evangelist. Driven by his impulse to save the world from itself, he set out to develop a ministry of evangelistic revivals. In 1865 the Booth family moved to London to have a more settled life closer to Catherine s parents and because she was called to conduct a revival in London, for Catherine had gained prominence as a preacher. William was invited to lead a mission in the East End of London, an area with the bleakest of living conditions, including unemployment, prostitution, and a lack of sanitation. Booth was haunted by the desperation of the people, although he had no social plan for addressing their physical poverty. At that point in his ministry 150 years ago, he believed that spiritual rebirth would lead to social stability. As time went on, the Mission had 13 preaching stations with a total seating capacity of eight thousand. Although there was as yet no organized controlled social ministry, there were reading rooms, penny banks, soup kitchens, mothers meetings, and a system for distributing food, clothes, boots, and blankets to the poor. The only attempt at an organized social ministry was Food-for-the-Millions which provided nourishing meals for the poor at a reasonable price.
The first Annual Conference of the Mission was held in November 1870. The name was officially changed to The Christian Mission. William Booth was given the role of General Superintendent, a title fitting his autocratic style. When the name was changed to The Salvation Army in 1878, the ministry had grown to 57 preaching stations. The original intention of the mission was to convert the unconverted and send them back to local churches for further spiritual growth. As the popularity of the Mission grew, it was evident that the Booths needed some of their converts and others to assist with their work of saving sinners, raising up saints, and putting the saints to work. One author suggests that Booth s ministry endured because he adopted the doctrine and organizational structure of John Wesley s Methodist movement. He also adopted military language and imagery which contributed to a solid structure. In addition to General Booth, mission station preachers were given the rank of captain. Ministers were called officers and laity were called soldiers. The mission of the organization remained the same: We are a salvation people this is our specialty getting saved and keeping saved, and then getting somebody else saved, and then getting saved ourselves more and more until full salvation on earth makes the heaven within. William and Catherine Booth had eight children. During the Mission days the children took part in the open-air services, gave testimonies, led meetings, and even preached. Their skills were being tested and refined until each of them would play a significant role in the organization. The oldest son, Bramwell Booth, became the Chief of Staff and was chosen as the natural successor to his father. Many of them were sent on international missions to France, Switzerland, India, Canada, Australia, and America. The Booth children and in-laws enjoyed a privileged position in the Army, with benefits far beyond what other officers received. Three of the Booth children eventually resigned from the Army, largely due to the heavy-handed authority exercised by their father and brother, Bramwell. William s beloved daughter, Emma, was killed in a train wreck in Missouri while her husband served as National Commander in America. Most of the Booth children inherited the same strong-headedness possessed by their father, which sadly led to estrangement in the family after their mother s death. Catherine died of cancer on October 4, 1890. As she lay in state in the Army s Clapton Congress Hall, an estimated fifty thousand people filed past her coffin. Although devastated by her death, William was determined to continue the work to which God had called them. The year 1890 marked a turning point in the Army s mission. Booth finally recognized the importance of social salvation along
with personal salvation. He came to understand the work of social redemption as preparatory to the work of spiritual redemption. People could not hear the spiritual word of salvation if they were hungry, homeless, and hurting. Thus the mission of the Army was broadened. In his later years William relinquished leadership of the Army to Bramwell and returned to his passion of evangelical preaching. He made several international trips and was excited about the invention of the motor car with its potential use in spreading the gospel. In the spirit of the original Methodist circuit riders, he began his first motor campaign in August 1904. At the age of 75, in 29 days he traveled 1,224 miles, spoke at 164 events, with the average length of his indoor addresses being 70 minutes. Booth was received by Presidents McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, and invited to open the United States Senate in prayer. He was received by King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra at Buckingham Palace. He was awarded the honorary Doctor of Civil Law degree by Oxford University in 1907 on the same day as Rudyard Kipling and Samuel Clemons, also known as Mark Twain. Dr. Roger Green suggests five reasons for the growth of The Salvation Army. The nineteenth century in which Booth preached and established The Salvation Army was a religious environment, dominated by a Protestant theology and a Protestant ethos. Second, the concentration of women in ministry was a new cultural and religious phenomenon. Women preachers attracted great crowds of people. Largely through the influence of Catherine, women were participating in the life of the Mission and preaching at the preaching stations. In 1870 the Conference declared that Godly women possessing the necessary gifts and qualifications, shall be employed as preachers itinerant or otherwise and class leaders. A third reason for the progress of the ministry was Booth s embrace of the biblical and Wesleyan doctrine of sanctification which was available to all believers. A fourth reason was his vision of winning the world for God with the resulting establishment of the kingdom of God. Finally, Booth s use of practical military strategy strengthened the organizational life of the Army. In his last months of life Booth developed problems with his sight and eventually was blind. He died the evening of August 20, 1912. The next day the public pronouncement was made: The General has laid down his sword. For three days his body lay in state at Clapton Congress Hall with 65,000 people paying respects at his coffin. Among the mourners were common people and the poor from around the world, as well as heads of state and royalty.
At time of his death, The Salvation Army had spread to 58 countries, with nearly 16,000 officers preaching the gospel in 34 languages. The social ministries included homes for children, alcoholics, women, men, ex-prisoners, and lepers; labor bureau, farm colonies, hospitals and social institutions of every sort. In spite of his human frailties and weakness, William Booth devoted his life to fulfilling his mission of saving the world from itself. He maintained his singleminded focus of saving sinners, raising up saints, and putting the saints to work. We give thanks for this friend of God whose life and ministry continues to impact multitudes. Gracious God, we rejoice in the old, old story that continues to speak to us in new and fresh ways. We gather for worship because we long to be changed by the power and presence of Jesus Christ. May his grace roll over and within us once again, forgiving, cleansing, renewing, and empowering us. Draw us close to you, O God, that we might feel your loving embrace and receive courage and wisdom for our daily lives. We celebrate the gifts of family life, the new life of Joshua, fresh beginnings at school, youth group picnics, and all the joys of life. Send your blessings upon first responders who are fighting fires or answering calls for help. Abide with persons who are anxious for their homes and communities threatened by fire. May your healing presence abide with We pray for your people in need of food, shelter, employment, and stability. Bless The Salvation Army and other agencies which reach out to do good. May your spirit of peace, hope, and reconciliation hover over Ferguson, Missouri today. Open the hearts and minds of our nation to the racism that continues to haunt us. Move us forward toward acceptance and respect for all human life. On this day we are mindful of the costs and consequences of human warfare. Forgive our inability to reconcile our differences peacefully. Help us tap into your eternal fount of wisdom that we might grow in our ability to resolve our differences peacefully. We unite our voices with Jesus, together praying Roger J. Green, The Life and Ministry of William Booth: Founder of The Salvation Army, Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2005. Rev. Lori B. Sawdon First United Methodist Church, Lodi, CA