‘Salvationism’ Podcast on Radio NZ

‘Salvationism’ Podcast on Radio NZ

On 31 October, ‘Sunday Morning with Chris Laidlaw’ on Radio NZ explored what ‘Salvationism’ means. Major Campbell Roberts, Secretary for Social Programme and Director of the Social Policy and Parliamentary Unit, and Major Harold Hill, a retired Salvation Army officer and historian, offered their personal perspectives in the radio programme’s regular ‘Ideas’ segment.

Campbell Roberts looks back on what has shaped his own views of Salvationism and his practice of it in a New Zealand context. His family’s involvement with The Salvation Army began with its social services and his continuing passion for those on the margins of society stems from there.

Currently the longest-serving active Salvation Army officer in New Zealand, Campbell shares about an incident while training as a Salvation Army officer that still influences his outlook on ministry to the margins today. He discusses his involvement in Anti-Apartheid protests when the South African rugby team toured New Zealand in 1981 and his disappointment at Salvation Army opposition to the Homosexual Law Reform Bill in the mid-1980s. Campbell gives his views on Salvation Army political engagement in recent years and briefly considers the part that local cultural plays in different expressions of Salvationism around the world.

Following this, Harold Hill provides insights into the historical origins of The Salvation Army, explaining factors that led to a mission based on militaristic lines. He speaks about the Army’s early involvement in political issues in England, such as lobbying to increase the age of consent from 13 to 16 years. Answering questions about why Salvation Army uniform was introduced, Harold explains it came at the suggestion on early Salvationist Elijah Cadman, who told founder William Booth: ‘I would like to wear a suit of clothes that tells everyone that I love Jesus.’ (Harold says he didn’t have the opportunity to share the alternative story of Cadman’s words; namely, that he actually said: ‘… a suit of clothes that would tell everybody that I mean war to the teeth!’)

Harold discusses the rapid spread of the Army in New Zealand and Booth’s ambitious social work manifesto, ‘In Darkest England and the Way Out’. He responds to questions about the Army’s early work with Maori (and its own undermining of this work) and Salvation Army chaplaincy.

The programme concludes with brief discussion on the Army’s recent evolution from an institutional model of Salvation Army social service delivery to one that is far more integrated.