SALVATIONISTS and friends from around the world will be able to listen to General André Cox preach on BBC national radio on Sunday 26 April, as part of a Sunday Worship programme celebrating The Salvation Army's 150th anniversary. The live BBC Radio 4 broadcast from Sunderland Millfield Corps (church) will also feature music from the International Staff Songsters and Bible readings, prayers and testimonies shared by Salvationists and representatives of local Salvation Army centres, including Southwick Community Project and Swan Lodge Lifehouse.
Listeners from around the world can tune in at 8.10 British Summer Time (BST) via the online BBC iPlayer facility. The broadcast will also be available to 'listen again' for 30 days.
The programme will reveal how The Salvation Army came into being as part of the 'love story' of William Booth and Catherine Mumford, with the programme notes explaining that, when the couple met and fell in love in 1852, 'so started a love story not only for each other, but also for the disadvantaged and downtrodden which would overflow across the world'.
It continues: 'Within days of their first meeting William and Catherine were writing love letters to each other. William was determined to be a Christian preacher and evangelist and Catherine was not only wholeheartedly behind him, she effectively helped to mould the man he became... Initially the Booths did not plan to create a church but a "movement" of people who, once converted to the Christian faith, would go back to their own congregations, or join an established church. Very quickly, though, it became clear that this "movement" was developing its own personality and distinctiveness.
'The Salvation Army today is still officially a "movement" although now it is also an established Protestant evangelical denomination with deep roots in both big conurbations and smaller towns right across the world.'
Feature by IHQ Communications
International Headquarters
