Catherine Booth: Mother Of The Salvation Army

One thing I love about the United Kingdom is that much of its history is preserved in writing; so, we can look back, read and learn from the past. This week I would like us to take a brief look at Catherine Booth, who was the Co-founder of the Salvation Army

Born in 1829, Catherine Booth belonged to a generation of women who were raised for the purpose of marriage and motherhood, yet by the age of 19 she was already challenging the widely accepted theory of woman’s inherent inferiority.

Controversially, Catherine attributed woman’s supposedly ‘lesser’ abilities to a lack of sufficient training and education that rendered her ‘anything but an help mate to man’. In accordance with her convictions and in defiance of cultural expectation, she followed her faith into the public sphere, pioneering the place of women in religious ministry firstly through the Christian Mission and then The Salvation Army.

Working in the public sphere signalled her rebellion against the Victorian ideal of womanhood that confined women to the private (domestic) sphere, whilst her intellectual written responses to those who publicly challenged her beliefs demonstrated her active and persistent engagement in wider public discourse on women’s place and purpose.

In her 1859 pamphlet, Female Ministry, Catherine argued that: ‘God has given to women a graceful form and attitude, winning manners, persuasive speech, and, above all, a finely toned emotional nature, all of which appear to us eminent natural qualifications for public speaking’.

In the midst of many challenges, and often moving against the norms of society and culture, Catherine Booth made a great impact on the lives of many, both women and men, and, together with her husband William, brought a huge harvest of souls into the Kingdom of God.

More than 150 years later, women have attained greater freedom than then, and many of the prejudices against women have long been abandoned. Women have come far in obtaining various liberties, and have greater opportunities in education, careers, etc, especially in the secular world. However, women still lag behind when it comes to the service of God, particularly in leadership and Christian outreach.

For far too long, more than half of God’s workforce has been redundant, and the Church has operated under-capacity by limiting women, especially in the area of leadership. Therefore, many gifts and talents have lain dormant or been under-utilized. This has been a major setback to God’s kingdom, because whilst souls are perishing, the Church has been slow in rising to full operational potential, by raising and releasing women to work.

“Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.” – Ephesians 4:11-12

According to the above scripture, God’s people – every believer, irrespective of gender – must be equipped, that is, taught, raised and empowered to serve the Lord. Our first service to the Lord, beyond our worship and prayers, is to reach out to a perishing world with the Gospel of the Kingdom and disciples other believers. Every believer, man, woman, youth and child, must be equipped to share the Gospel and disciple other believers. (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 18:15-18)

This is why I see a day coming soon, when many women, empowered by the Holy Spirit, shall rise up and preach the Good News of Jesus Christ! With our “graceful form and attitude, winning manners, persuasive speech, and, above all, finely toned emotional nature” we will share the gospel in every sphere of our influence – at home, on the school run, at work, whilst shopping, having coffee friends, at the hairdressers’ etc!!!

The clarion call is out: Arise Women Of Britain and the Nations! AWAKE! ARISE! ACT!

Apostle Jennifer Abigail Lawson-Wallace
CEO, Women In Tune International
QUIVER Convenor