Kids of Courage

The Salvation Army founders, Catherine and William Booth

This year the Salvation Army is celebrating their 150th anniversary. Salvation Army members from around the world are gathering in London, England. Read below a story from the Kids of Courage archives about the early days of the Salvation Army.

Peter Monk was an Irish prize fighter. He was used to fighting people for money.

Peter went to a meeting where William Booth was preaching about how to follow Jesus. Booth was the founder of the Salvation Army, and he ministered among the poor in London.

Even though Peter was used to fights and was not a Christian, he didn”t like it when the rowdy crowd gave Booth a hard time. He calmed the crowd and soon became a follower of Booth and of his Savior, Jesus.

People who didn’t like the Salvation Army continued to oppose the work. In one year (1882), 669 Salvation Army members were attacked and 69 meetings buildings vandalized.

(Source: 70 Great Christians)

The attacks did not stop the Army”s work. Today the Salvation Army serves God and the poor in 126 countries throughout the world.

Find free William Booth student and teacher’s guides in the Downloads section of this site.

Students at a school in England were asked to name the person they would most like to be stuck with in a broken elevator. A girl answered, “An elevator expert.”

In one sense, we are all “stuck” — not in an elevator, but in a world with many problems. Sometimes all the problems can seem too much to bear.

But Jesus is an expert in human struggles. When he was on earth, he was poor, attacked, and crucified. He offers the only solution to the world’s problems: the power of his resurrection.

Let us choose our expert over anybody else!

(Source: From the Lips of Children by Richard Wurmbrand. Paraphrased and edited for clarity. Elevator photo courtesy of Sam Howzit / Flickr.com.)