The Grand Army of Spryfield is Here
Saturday, October 24th, 2009
Napoleon and his Grand Army at the Battle of Austerlitz, by Francois Gerard
Welcome to the official web page of The Salvation Army Spryfield Community Church and Family Resource Centre. Not only are we a Salvation Army, we are The Grand Army of Spryfield. Considering that we’re not the largest church in Spryfield, or the largest church within The Salvation Army itself, how do we get off calling ourselves the ‘Grand Army’?
When the Emperor Napoleon wanted to inspire courage in his army – an army that was on the verge of disintegration, he called his ragtag group of soldiers the ”Grand Army”. This new mark of honour gave the troops an image to fight for – they were the Grand Army of France, the soldiers of the Emperor. And so with cries of “Vive l’emperor!” Napoleon’s soldiers fought for their leader, almost gaining all of Europe in the process.
As soldiers of King Jesus, how much more should we then fight for our King? Fighting, as in to ’win souls for the kingdom’? And so we call ourselves the ‘Grand Army’ of Jesus Christ, not because we’re mighty in number, but because we’re mighty in spirit. With the passion of our Founders, William and Catherine Booth, the salvationists at Spryfield Community Church (sometimes called the ‘corps’) are committed to take up arms in the salvation war by preaching the gospel to the whosoever. We will also show the love of Jesus by serving our community.
We hope that this website will be used to challenge, convict, and inspire you to take up arms in the salvation battle. Will you join the Grand Army in making Spryfield and the wider community of HRM a better place? If we go in Christ’s strength, we will be victorious.
“Forward march! With Blood and Fire, and win the world for Jesus!”
