Battle Axe Series- William Booth

Few Christian leaders can boast of the legacy that spans decades like William Booth. Many people in our generation may not have heard about this great man of God because of the dwindling influence of the Salvation Army in the global society. This is coupled with the fact that the organisation has become more of a social welfare hanger; at least most people associate it with such services. Its founder, Booth did not conceive it to be a vehicle for social reengineering. He was a man consumed with Christ’s love for souls. He was an evangelist to the core. In this edition of the magazine, we pay tribute to this great man of God by telling his story in an abridged form.

Booth was born on April 10, 1829 in Sneinton, Nottingham, England to Samuel and Mary Moss Booth. His parents had five children with William as their only son. His father was a successful building contractor until 1842 when he lost his business. When his father could not pay for his schooling, he was apprenticed by a pawnbroker. Soon Booth was converted to Methodism, and he declared, “God shall have all there is of William Booth”. He trained himself in writing and oratory, and he preached the Gospel with his close friend, Will Sansom with whom he established an outreach known as Mission Ministry. Both held meetings in cottages at night, sang songs and visited the sick. This came to an end when Sansom died of tuberculosis in 1849.

The following decades until Booth founded the Salvation Army would seem a hodgepodge of disappointments and false starts unless one looks closer for the hand of God in the events. He began pawn broking but was miserable. He did lay preaching on the side, then open air evangelism on street corners. Booth then joined the Methodist Reform Church but became increasingly dissatisfied when they assigned him to pastorates; he longed to be free to preach evangelistic campaigns. About this time, specifically sometime in 1855, he met and married Catherine Munford who was apparently in support of his desire to launch out independently.

 In 1861, Booth applied for permission to engage in evangelism fulltime but was turned down by the leadership of the church. Consequently, he resigned from the denomination, prompting the church to bar him from campaigning in any of its congregations. However, some missionaries heard him evangelizing and invited him to hold a revival on an ancient Quaker cemetery on Mile End Waste. He began preaching often to the poor and destitute of London’s East End- ministering even to alcoholics, criminals and prostitutes. The work could be discouraging and many hurled stones and set off fireworks during his meetings. His wife said he often arrived home in the evening with torn clothing and a bloody bandage wrapped around his head.

Following his popularity and acceptance by the people, he and his wife started the ‘Christian Revival Society’ (later renamed The Christian Mission) wherein meetings were held and Booth preached on topics such as repentance and salvation.  Booth’s Christian Mission became the Salvation Army in May 1878. He was dictating a letter in which he claimed his group was a “volunteer army”. His son heard this and declared, “I’m not a volunteer, I’m a regular”, so the name Salvation Army was birthed. What we may consider eccentric, eventually proved effective for the organisation: they produced uniforms, had a flag, military ranks, rousing music and military orders. Of course, Booth became known as the “General”.

Apart from evangelism, the Salvation Army initiated many programmes for the needy such as Food for the Millions (a soup kitchen), job training, industrial schools, homes for fallen women and recovering drunks, because many of such people were not allowed into regular churches. This was far from a communistic concept. The primary mission remained preaching the Gospel to all who would hear it. Booth’s first converts to Christianity were thieves, prostitutes, gamblers and drunkards who were not accepted by churches due to their ill deeds.

His compassion for such people motivated others to preach the Gospel to the lost. Salvationists who migrated to other countries began writing to Booth of the need for opening branches in their localities. This led to the setting up of operation centres in these countries, including the United States of America, France, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, India, South Africa and Argentina. During Booth’s lifetime the organisation spread to 58 countries and colonies.

            His book, In Darkest England and the Way Out became a best seller. It established a philosophy and a structure for ministries such as his. Not everyone was happy with his successes though. In particular, alcohol merchants feared that he could hurt their business so they attacked the marches against drunkenness. Several members of the organisation were killed in the process. In 1882 alone, 662 members, including 251 females were assaulted. Twenty-three of the victims were under age fifteen.

Also, the press and the Church of England were often hostile toward the Salvation Army. Among their charges was that Booth and his wife were becoming insanely wealthy through a phony ministry front. They also accused them of nepotism because many members of his family were appointed to leadership positions. The opponents equally criticized Booth for placing women in leadership positions. To cap it up, the group’s motto, “Blood and Fire” was misrepresented as glorying in the blood of sinners and the flames of hell. The actual meaning of the motto was “the blood of Jesus and the fire of the Holy Spirit”.

However, in the end, it was impossible to argue against the great good that Booth’s ministry was doing across the world. Public opinion began to soften. In his latter years, he was invited into audience with kings, emperors and presidents. As he grew older, he began to lose sight in both eyes and was eventually replaced as leader of the organisation in 1909.

In spite of this, he held evangelistic campaigns in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and other nations before he died at age 83 on August 20, 1912. About 150,000 people filed past his coffin as it lay in the Clapton Congress, while about 40,000 including Queen Mary of England attended his burial ceremony. He had completed his mission on earth.

Booth’s life and ministry show what God can do with a soul that is completely surrendered to Him. The evangelist did not allow the scorn of the world or opposition from organised mainstream churches to becloud his vision. He focus was on the salvation of souls and he gave his all to actualise this objective. Booth’s life is legacy are worth emulating by all who identify with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There is no greater calling than to be a soul winner. It has eternal rewards beyond our imagination.

Daniel 12:3 states, “Those who are wise shall shine as the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who turn the many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever”. Proverbs 11:30 also declares, “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life and he who wins souls is wise”. We need to ask the LORD to give us more grace to reach the lost in our spheres of influence. We must ignore the scorns of the world just like Booth did and take the Gospel to the unreached. The time is getting shorter and the enemy is doing all he can to undermine the Gospel of Jesus Christ globally.

*** Culled from William Booth Biography, https://www.inspirationalchristians.org, William Booth, https://www.thefamouspeople.com.