A Citadel or a Parish?

On most occasions I support the Military language and symbolism of the Salvation Army. I am even Proud of it. We are at war with sin and its effects on our world. And there is nothing symbolic about that war. It is war in the realist sense. It is dangerous and there are causalties. There are victories and there are losses. Just mentioning victories and losses floods my mind with memories of both.

However, Historicly we have refered to our corps (church/mission station) as a citadel. This is a term I fear may have become a bit of a self fulfilling prophecy. The Following definitions are from dictionary.com

citadel
–noun 1. a fortress that commands a city and is used in the control of the inhabitants and in defense during attack or siege.
2. any strongly fortified place; stronghold.
3. (formerly) a heavily armored structure on a warship, for protecting the engines, magazines, etc.

The Term Citadel is reflective of what many of our corps have become. A place of protection used to either to retreat to or control from. Ultimately, i don't care what any of it is called as long as the work is getting done but... We have not been called to fight from a fortified postion. Sadly most of our ministry is done not by our "Regular soldiers" but by employees. (I know Larry this shouldn't be sad we have many wonderful employyes but it is sad that "our forces" are not in the war to which they have enlisted)

Could you imagine the resources that would be freed up and how much more would be accomplished if the work of the army was done by its soldiers?

In the more litergical churches especially the Roman Catholic, the concept of Parish is used. The parish is not the Church building but the Community in which that building resides. There is a sence of responcibility to that community. Oh, what a difference we could make if we could get our entire corps to start viewing their community as their responcibility.