Live with Jesus
Dear Friends
Call to Jesus 2017
Grow in Jesus 2018
Act like Jesus 2019
Live with Jesus 2020
It is our privilege to greet you as the new territorial leaders for Germany, Lithuania and Poland. One of our first decisions was to fully support the Vision 2030 strategy that has been developed across our Territory in recent years.
At the heart of everything we do in The Salvation Army is a simple idea: ‘Live with Jesus’. But it does not just happen – we need to sow, to grow and to harvest.
This year, 2024, the focus is on growing. In 2025, we will focus on harvesting.
We work and pray to see God’s Kingdom flourish and The Salvation Army grow throughout the Germany, Lithuania and Poland territory. As we continue with our Vision 2030, we envisage that this desire to ‘live with Jesus’ will serve us well, and that we might find ways to sow, grow and harvest.
As we ‘Live with Jesus’ and move towards 2030 we encourage you to keep those goals in focus and plan accordingly, and some of the ways in which THQ can support you will be detailed in this document.
To people in corps and social centres, we encourage you to keep it simple. Look at what you are doing and ask honestly how you are living with Jesus. It must start with you. It must start with me. If we are not living with Jesus, how can we expect to encourage others to do so?
We’d love to hear how you are getting on as you live with Jesus. You are welcome to email us (info@heilsarmee.de) or send a letter to us at THQ in Cologne. More importantly, always be ready to share your experience of life with Jesus with your friends and neighbours. Your testimony can change lives!
May God bless us all,
Dean and Eirwen Pallant, Colonels
Territorial Leaders of The Salvation Army in Germany, Lithuania and Poland
International Mission Statement
The Salvation Army is an international movement and part of the universal Christian Church. Its message is based on the Bible. Its ministry is motivated by the love of God. Its mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human need without discrimination.
General Lyndon Buckingham – the 3 big ideas!
Excerpts from an interview with General-elect Lyndon Buckingham, Sunbury Court, London 27th May 2023. When asked for a comment about his vision and priorities for The Salvation Army, General Buckingham said:
Our unity globally is associated with three big ideas. We need to understand them. We need to recommit ourselves to them, and we need to make them a priority.
- We are a people that love to talk about Jesus, we want people to know that God loves them and that Jesus is the ultimate proof of that love – and that The Salvation Army has responsibility to share the good news of the gospel, that God loves them, that Jesus is the proof, and that welcome is available through him. I would pray that Salvationists all around the world would find it very natural and easy to speak to others about their personal relationship with Jesus Christ and the transformation that he has made in their lives. That’s a big idea of this movement. We want people to know the good news that there is life and there is purpose, and there is hope, and there is eternity through faith in Jesus Christ. And if we could get excited about that around the globe, think about the impact of that.
- Another big idea of the movement is that we think that practical demonstrations of the values of the kingdom of God are as impactful as talking about them. And so, the sleeves rolled up, the caring for the needy, the helping the vulnerable, the being the voice for the voiceless, the advocating for justice, the going after things where people are being in some way tortured or separated or rejected. That we as a movement, we go to those places, we put our sleeves up, and we say, we don’t want to just talk about God’s love, we want to show you guys. This is the soup, soap and salvation that has been our history. And I would love it if salvationists would get this idea that actually I can do that. I can knock on a neighbour’s door and say, is there any way I can help you? Is there any way I can serve you?
- And the third thing is…..we’re a holiness movement. We think there is some value in the world to being salt and being light. We value the indwelling Spirit that makes us clean and free and whole, and joyful. And I think that when we are walking in the Spirit in such a way that it’s the love of God that’s bearing fruit in our lives, we underestimate the impact and the value of that in the world. I have no hesitation and say, although vision statements aren’t worked out yet and priorities aren’t sorted, if we could be that all around the world – hello, come on!
Vision 2030 has been revised to support these 3 big ideas.