Others

When William Booth (the founder of The Salvation Army) was on his death bed, he was visited by one of the managers of the telegraph system of London. The man asked Booth if he had a last message he would like to send to his Salvation Army officers around the world. He said, "If you have, whether it is long or short, we shall be glad to send it free of charge." Looking up, the General smiled his thanks and said just one word: "Others."

This old story has been recently revived. That word 'others' was used as the theme for the Salvation Army's ROOTS conference this year. I received a very flash, glossy brochure this week advertising the Hillsongs European Conference which takes place in London in October. They have taken the same theme and quote that old story. It's quite challenging to see how one of the world's largest and most dynamic churches are finding inspiration in the example of our Founder.

But what does 'others' really mean? In a mission sense it has been used to challenge church goers to live a life of influence and impact. But I'd like to give you a real life example.

Yesterday Lyn and I heard that Alec had died. Alec was a soldier at one of our first corps appointments. He's been in a nursing home for the last year and his passing, though very sad, came as a release for him and his family. Alec was one of the churches unsung heroes - he knew and demonstrated the meaning of the word 'others'. He was a hard working man - a former coal miner. His hands, hard as leather from years of mining and gardening, were the tools of a christian who lived out the life of a servant of Christ.

When Lyn and I first moved to the small village where Alec lived we found a community struggling to come to terms with the closure of the coal mine which had been the life-blood of the village for many decades. The village had no gas supply - we all relied on coal and coke boilers. The problem with coal is that you have to keep the fire burning - when you go away the fire goes out. In the 4 years we lived there we never came back from a holiday to a cold house - Alec had been in to clean out and relight the fire - making sure we had a warm welcome back. Regularly I would come home after a morning out and about visiting the 'flock' to discover that Alec, without any prompting, had loaded his lawnmower in the boot of his car and come around to cut the lawn and tend the garden.

The surprise of finding a bag of newly harvested vegetables from Alec's allotment and left as a gift on our doorstep meant we enjoyed the cream of the crop every harvest time.

Alec wasn't a public speaker but his life spoke volumes about his understanding of 'others'. Conferences may never be held in his memory but he enriched my life greatly and the church on earth will be a much poorer place without him.