Josh Mann, March 20-21

“He defended the cause of the poor and the needy….Is that not what it means to know me, says the LORD?” Jer. 22:16

The emphasis on the poor and social justice that has been explored and unpacked over the last two weeks is more controversial than I originally expected. There are a myriad of reactions and responses from Christ-followers; it seems this is easier to talk about in theory than it is to agree on in practice. Nevertheless, these kinds of verses and their implications reminded me of a book our staff read this past fall about the first church of what would eventually become the worldwide movement known as the Christian and Missionary Alliance.

It reads, There seems to be no satisfactory explanation for the astonishing activities of the Gospel Tabernacle over the next twenty years. It was as if a burning core of power had been tossed into the center of New York, radiating heat and light in all directions. There was no want of workers. Everyone was expected to help, and almost everyone did. The work accomplished was almost beyond believing.
Several evenings during the week, bands of young people from the Tabernacle held meetings on the streets. A number of rescue missions were opened and hundreds of human derelicts fished out and salvaged from the flotsam and jetsam of the lower classes. Groups of trained gospel workers visited the hospitals and jails every week with the message of hope. Earnest efforts were made to reach and rescue the fallen women that swarmed in certain sections of the city. A free dispensary was maintained for the poor of that neighborhood known grimly as “Hell’s Kitchen.” Special services were held for the sailors that crowded the water fronts. An orphanage was opened for the poor of the city streets, and other efforts were made to relieve the destitute and the suffering wherever they were found within the great melting pot that is New York.

Salem Alliance is essentially a granddaughter church plant of that original church, having begun only thirty years later by leaders that had been directly influenced by that picture of what it looks like to show and tell the grace and truth of Jesus Christ in the world today. I hear echoes of those days reverberating through this place in these days. We have a great history as it relates to these issues; I believe we have an even greater future.

Tozer, A.W. Wingspread. Christian Publications, 1943.