The Salvation Army has been in Norway since January 1888 and now has a presence all over the country. Corps were planted at an amazing speed, some were rooted and remained while others lasted for only a short time.
[1]Memoirs from The Salvation Army’s ‘Outpost war’
Looking into statistics from 1910 to 1970[2] (every tenth year) growth continued. The figures from 1910 included 85 corps, in 1920 there were 114 topping off in 1950 with 138. It then started dwindling down to 128 in 1970. Connected to the corps work were figures from outposts, often called the ‘outpost war’ where growth was much larger than the growth in numbers of corps. In 1910 there were 183 outposts growing to 680 ten years later, then up to 806 in 1950 to a high in 1960/70 with 882.
These figures from the outpost work caught my interest. I came to Norway in 2005 to be in leadership of the Salvation Army’s work in the country together with my husband. I had experience of The Salvation Army’s work in several countries and from my native country, Denmark. This concept seemed different from my previous experiences. I wondered if it resembled some of the work my mother had told me about from her life as a corps officer in Denmark.[3] I wondered what was behind these figures from the statistics. I decided to do some research to answer my simple questions: What was an outpost? What did the ‘outpost war’[4] consist of?
My findings from the research were that an outpost was a place being visited by officers/ soldiers or musical groups on a regular basis with personal contacts from door to door often selling the War Cry (Krigsropet) and inviting people to public meetings for children and adults. It often included devotions in private homes of the families the officers stayed with, perhaps including some neighbors. The meetings would take place at a farm, a sitting room in a private house in a village, a school house, a prayer house, a community hall, an institution or a canteen. These were situated in the district of a corps and could be all locations from villages, islands, isolated farms, small fishing communities, even workplaces like the timber industry on the river Glomma or The Salvation Army rescue schooner[5], Catherine Booth.
During my research another question came up: “What value did this work have for the people at the outposts and for the officers doing the work?” These questions, the first two and this added one directed my research.
The interest I had in this work was not so much as a Salvation Army leader, because the work had dwindled out long before I came to Norway. The interest of this history came from the stories my mother had told me about her first years as an officer. I experienced a bit of this work as a young teenager, but not on the scale the work had been in Denmark earlier on, not to mention the extent it had been in Norway. I think ‘the lenses in my glasses’ have a nostalgic color and a touch of fascination when it came to the outpost work. I am aware of that when I read and analyzed the letters.
The search for material
Apart from the statistics that caught my interest in the first place I looked into small booklets of yearly overview of The Salvation Army’s work called ‘Our Crusade’[6] from the years, 1927 – 1935. I could see that the statistics of the outposts were changeable or not in focus. In 1927 there were 1376 outposts and the following eight years the outposts are just mentioned as countless, many or quite a lot. It did not say what it was. Turning to Krigsropet[7] and Den unge Soldat[8] the information widened a bit, but not substantially. In Krigsropet it was mostly very small reports that this or that outpost had been visited, that it had been a blessed meeting, or good congregation, or the corps band or string band had been visiting the outpost. An exception to these sparse reports was an article from 1985 from Commissioner Haakon Dahlstrøm[9] who in his retirement highlighted different aspects of Salvation Army mission. It is called: “Outpost Norway: The chapter of faith in Hebrews 11 on Norwegian soil”. It is a nostalgic reminiscence of the faithfulness of officers and the hardship of long journeys in all sorts of weather, modes of transport and blessings the officers brought to people. It does not give a lot of facts of the actual work. In Den unge Soldat the reports were as sparse, but in between there were photos presented. I could see rather large Sunday schools with 30 to 40 children from an outpost. Some of the adults in the photo would be in Salvation Army uniforms. In one photo two of the adults were presented as outpost soldiers. I took that to mean (and was confirmed in that aspect) soldiers living in that community apparently doing Sunday schools and other children’s activity. It seemed as if the name outpost covered a broad variety of activities from regular meetings and children’s work to more seldom visits by officers and groups from the corps.
Because the information from written sources was so sparse the next step I took was to send out a questionnaire[10] to 350 officers, active and retired.[11] I received 212 answers, 143 from officers over sixty and 69 under sixty[12]. Most of the material I have used for statistical purposes and it can be used further to investigate for instance the effect of different kinds of work for recruitment, but for the purpose of my research there were few with enough substantial answers. Twenty questionnaires contained longer answers and small narratives. I have chosen seven of these to help find the answers on my questions. Four of them actually signed the letters with their name.
The method for the research
These stories are the officers’ own recollections of their lives or part of their lives. It resembles autobiographies or memoirs, but is of course only covering this specific part of their life that I asked for. Some of it is more like reminiscences than memoirs. One of the answers resembles notes from an old diary and is not a story as such. This material gives insight to how the officers experienced the work with more details and variations of what the work consisted of and is different from what I got from the short answers. The stories cannot answer my third question in depth, because I could not pursue what they had written: What value did this work have for the people at the outposts and for the officers doing the work? The stories give some hints of this depending on what the officers have chosen to tell, but not in depth. The stories fill out the sparse reports from Krigsropet and Den unge Soldat with facts, accounts and reflections as remembered.
Birgit Hertzberg Johnsen[13] has a quote[14] expressing her view on people’s autobiographical stories:
“When talking about their lives, people lie sometimes, forget a lot, exaggerate, become confused and get things wrong. Yet they are revealing truths. These truths don’t reveal the past ‘as it actually was’, aspiring to a standard of objectivity. They give us instead the truths of our experiences.”
I would not express myself in the same way, but I find some truth in this quotation, because the stories have been through a writing process, a period of reflection and of choices. That does color whatever is written. The writers have chosen what would be relevant to share or what has value for their own image and identity today. Over the years these incidents might have been at the forefront, while others have been pushed aside but in the situation of answering the questionnaire they have been remembered. Whatever the case all of it will be colored by the ‘now’ more than the ‘then’.
Paul Thompson is one of the pioneers of Oral history[15] and he[16] reports the results of different experiments of the reliability of memory. I think the documentation of the reliability of memory coming from the different sources he is presenting is valid and relevant for this research even though they are memoirs and not Oral History. His conclusion from these findings is:
It is clear that on all counts the loss of memory during the first nine months is as great as that during the forty seven years. Only beyond this do the tests suggest any sharp decline in average memory; and even this may be more due to declining speed in tests timed over seconds, and also to the affect on average performance of ‘degenerative changes’ among some of those in their seventies. Of equal importance is the finding that for those class-mates who were considered friends, no decline in accuracy of recall can be traced, even over an interval of more than fifty years. The more significant a name or face, the more likely it is to be remembered……..Accurate memory is thus much more likely when it meets a social interest and need.[17]
The descriptions of the visits to the outpost and the people there have a character of being significant for the writer, so I think it can be justified to connect their stories to this long lasting accuracy of memory. Most of the respondents chosen for this essay were between 70 – 80 years[18], and they were mostly recalling the first years of their officership. Some of these recollections might go fifty odd years back. What they wrote on specific events as well as the general schedule for visits to outposts might be quite accurate, but of course all of it has been through a reflection even a self-evaluation of the value of the officer’s performance and effort. The values held today will come through in what they consider to be the most important part of the work.
Thompson[19] continues on the theme of reliability of the memory:
The final stage in the development of memory commonly follows retirement,……This is the phenomenon recognized by psychologists as ‘life review’: a sudden emergence of memories and of desire to remember, and a special candor which goes with a feeling that active life is over, achievement is completed. Thus in this final stage there is a major compensation for the longer interval and the selectivity of the memory process, in an increased willingness to remember, and commonly, too, a diminished concern with fitting the story to social norms of the audience. Thus bias from both repression and distortion becomes a less inhibiting difficulty, for both teller and historian.
Even though most of the respondents were way past the retirement experience I judge this is still valid when it comes to telling about the outpost work. I do that for the following reasons. After I had sent the letter, I would be stopped after a meeting or on the street or wherever by retired officers who wanted to tell about the outposts. Mostly it happened in situations where I could not take any notes. For a number of the officers the outpost work had been extremely important for their own sense of calling, for their identity as officers. They felt what they did was valued by people at the outposts, because they were met with respect and expectation when they came. At least that was the lasting experience, they shared.
As a Salvation Army officer’s life and work is (or at least used to be) a wholeness, it was difficult to separate one from the other. The information of this specific work was a sharing of their life in a wider sense than just telling about a workplace. They were sharing their identity as officers. It was partly an evaluation of their service as officers.
The experience of those growing up at an outpost
Question 9 in the questionnaire has an a) and b). The a) for telling about the contact to The Salvation Army growing up at an outpost and b) for personal experience doing the work at the outposts. I have separated the seven chosen answers along these lines. I have four that grew up at an outpost plus were engaged in the work later as officers and three that were engaged in the work as officers, but not having this background themselves.
There are differences between the two groups in the way they describe their own work. In the group of those growing up at the outpost, there were comments of how refreshing it was to travel to the outposts. One wrote that if she got tired she would soon forget it, another one that when she was tired she would go to the outposts because of the inspiration it gave her. So the outposts became a sort of cure for tiredness. This theme didn’t come up with the other group. I think it must be due to a feeling of ‘home coming’. For those growing up at an outpost this environment resembled home even though it might be in a different part of the country. Outpost work was rather demanding and not a natural option for rest, but still this feeling at home turned the demanding work into a refreshing rest. I doubt that would always be the case, but that is their lasting memory and perhaps it says more about how close this was to their heart than to actual refreshing experience in times of fatigue.
Another difference is the comments of participating in the daily work at the farm where they stayed. The only man out of the four in that category mentioned how nice it was to get to know people hosting them and to help out with the daily tasks at the farm. Another one was a woman who mentioned that she as a farm girl could help out at the farms hosting her and reflected that this gave respect –“people saw that we were ordinary workers” – a respect or credibility that influenced the preaching at night at the meeting. Again this appeared from their identification with the situation knowing the need for an ’extra hand’ at the farm and knowing the respect it gave because of the willingness (and ability) to help out.
The man mentioned above experienced the Army’s visits to the prayer house and stated that the officer sometimes was hosted in his home. He mentioned that the officers came regularly to have Sunday school there. He did not reflect upon the impact of these visits, but he wrote that the class in his last year at school was asked to write an essay about their wishes for a future profession. “I wanted to write Salvation Army officer, but I lacked the courage.” This was his comment and it says a lot about how strong an impact the officers’ visits had made on him. He mentioned his own life as a corps officer and the focus he had on the outpost war. He listed the development in mode of transportation. First walking, then by bike, motorbike and lastly by car.
The youngest[20] of the respondents in this group gave very short statements as these two. First on how she perceived these visits growing up on a farm, then when she did the work herself:
Meetings in sitting rooms in my home (and other homes in the village) made a lasting warm and good impression of care and Christian influence. The officers were met with great trust and considered minister, spiritual adviser, evangelist and ‘happy’ musicians.
She actually used all the designations from the questionnaire apart from the fundraiser and she is specifying the musician as ‘happy’. Apparently she felt they fitted. Had I not included these suggestions she most probably would have expressed herself differently. Taken into account that the fundraising was present in other accounts, it is significant that it is not there. She mentioned it in the short account of her own work, but not here. That could mean that it was all the other things people at the outposts valued and remembered, while the officers doing the work had this as an integral part of the work.
On the back of the questionnaire she attached a copy of part of an essay she wrote as a student at the grammar school those many years ago that gives the atmosphere of such a visit[21]. She described how this was a real celebration. She herself was cleaning all over the place, because it had to be clean when the Salvation Army came. She never forgot how she was sitting at a hard bench with the rather lively dog resting calmly at the floor listening to songs and music on accordion, guitar and violin. Everybody from the village came, so it was totally filled up. It smelled of coffee, waffles and homemade cakes which would be served after the meeting. Karen, the maid, had her white apron on and smiled like the sun, even Ola, the old handyman, had washed the beard free of snuff, the brown tooth he normally hid was visible in his broad and warm smile.
What comes through here is the expectation of something special and of the singing and the music, something that was worthwhile attending and arranging. The part with the lively dog being calm is perhaps her way to describe the care and Christian influence, she mentioned! This essay is close in time to the actual experiences, but according to the experiments of Paul Thompson quoted on page 6 “the loss of memory in the first nine months is as great as that during the forty seven years” the essay here might not be more reliable than other things written now these many years later. The essay has the character of reminiscences, a charming and romantic picture of these meetings. Her memory of something pleasant. I suppose she would have been away from the farm to attend the grammar school so the essay is as much a picture of how nice it was at home, how well they would prepare, how fine a home it was. Still it gives the message that the Army’s visit was something special.
Her comments on her own service:
Meetings (sermons/testimonies/songs/music) with great emphasis on an evangelical message. Meetings and Christmas parties were for all age groups. Conversation and pastoral care when needed. The outposts were a fine financial support. The outpost work gave me much in my service.
The ‘much in her service’ I interpret as fulfillment and substance of her calling.
The oldest of the four, a woman between 80 – 90 years, told of her first meeting with the Salvation Army. At the age of eight she had come down to the village from the farm and met two ladies who gave her a paper, Den unge soldat, and invited her to the children’s meeting at night in the prayer house. When she returned home her mother said, that it had been the ‘Army ladies’, but because of the darkness she was not allowed to go down from the farm. She recalled that years later, when she had moved to the nearby town for further schooling, she heard music and singing from a hall and went there with her friends. She recognized the uniforms from her childhood and was drawn to it ‘like a magnet’[22]. Then she told about her own work as an officer at the outposts. The meeting program followed the normal pattern. She commented on her visits:
They were so happy that we came, we got the impression that they thought we could do all sorts of things. If we were out selling the War Cry, the wife would call: ‘Now you have to come with the guitar and get it in tune. We have a visit of the Salvation Army’. If somebody was ill or dying, we had to go in and read and pray for them. Often we felt inadequate, but God never failed us, he gave us what we needed to carry out what he had sent in our way. There were so many rich experiences. If we got tired we forgot it as fast.
Her letter reflects a strong belief that she was out in a special mission, in God’s mission. He was the one who had sent these situations on her way, and therefore she had to respond to them in spite of her feelings of inadequacy. This belief is present in a number of the other responses as well. It seemed to be the driving force for them to face situations, that demanded more from them than they felt comfortable with or felt they could actually manage. What she is recalling is mostly her own feelings, her inner life. At the same time she described her work – the contact to people in their homes- in short hand.
The longest letter I have received was five pages long (computer written) from an officer between 70 -80 years growing up at a mountain farm in the north of Norway. She recalled the officers’ visits and how she perceived them as evangelists, her own conversion at the mountain hut, and reflected on her whole life as an officer. She stressed that it was certainly not a 9 – 4 job, there were hardly any days off, but this was what God had called her for.
In another part of her letter she added a new dimension to the outpost war. She described the timber work along the river Glomma that involved so many in that community. She recalled that the two women officers every Friday during summer and autumn went out with the workers’ bus at 5.30 in the morning. They led devotions for the workers before they started their work at seven o’clock. During the day the officers walked on the small tracks made by timber on the river and talked with the workers. They had four devotions at different barracks during lunch break, and often they would be asked to sing and play just standing at the shore of the river during work hours. They had the accordion and the guitar with them. When the day was over they would stand at the bus selling Krigsropet thanking for the day and wishing the men a good weekend. They would be home with the bus at 6.30 at night. She commented: “This was different outpost work with focus on evangelism.” For her there is no conflict between evangelism and fundraising, for she stated in the letter that they had raffles to raise money. It must have been during the lunch break devotions. She didn’t specify.
The story about the timber industry is from her very first appointment. The first appointment normally stands out in the memory. It is significant because it is the first meeting with ‘the real job’ after the Officers’ Training College. The memory of such is fairly correct according to Thompson’s experiments, but of course it is not a diary, but what is important for her to remember today. In her letter she wanted to stress the value of taking all the trouble of long days out at the timber industry. Perhaps she took this issue up, because of things being different today with shorter working days and perhaps reluctance to spend whole days in that way. For her own identity as an officer the value of not counting hours has become important to stress today as it is present both in the story from Glomma and in the overall view of her officership.
With her letter she enclosed a copy of a Christmas and New Year’s program from 1966/67 that shows the extent of the outpost visits at that time of the year. On Christmas day and Boxing day there would be worship and Christmas parties at the corps. Then from 27th December and onwards to 14th of January there would be visits to two different outposts most of the days. The Sundays were centered at the corps with worship, apart from one Sunday where the evening meeting was held at an outpost. This program confirms the stories about the many Christmas parties at the outposts.
When I looked through the letters and sorted them I noticed that there was a difference between women’s and men’s accounts of the engagement in ‘the outpost war’. The men focused on the actual program, not so much personal reflections or evaluation of what it meant to them or their officership. The women gave an account of the program as well, but added reflections on their role, the reception and expectation by people and the fulfillment they experienced. The pastoral care aspect came in the women’s accounts. There might not have been a difference between the men’s and the women’s involvement, but the women stressed it more to suggest that this part of the work had been of great value to themselves.
The experience of those without outpost background
The youngest of the respondents, a man between 40 – 50 years mentioned three corps with outposts he was in charge of. At two of them he had two outpost Sundays schools every week, meetings[23] and Christmas parties in schoolhouses, prayer houses, and private homes. At the third one he had an outpost Home League plus meetings. He mentioned fundraising for the Salvation Army’s work in all three places as part of the visits. He was normally hosted for the night at the homes of soldiers living at the outposts. He like a number of other respondents mentioned the Christmas parties, the number and how many people attended these arrangements. In one corps he had 20 – 30 different arrangements at the outposts and estimated that 10% of the population in this vast district came to these events. His only personal comments were that the outposts gave a closeness to people “which we would never have had in the corps hall”. He added that it was an opportunity for training soldiers in witnessing, singing and leading meetings when they were visiting outposts together with the officer.
I wonder if he has kept a form of short hand diary from the places he had been stationed or had kept the weekly schedule from these years. It was not memoir as a story, but simply short notes. I consider them to be rather precise. His personal comment concerned his reflection of the value of the outpost work he found compared to the corps work done today.
Another mentioned his own and his wife’s first corps with 40 outposts. He highlighted the few areas of entertainment offered in these small places:
Apart from the dancing arrangements for the youth the district cinema and the Salvation Army ‘competed’ for the market. It happened that people from the district cinema phoned to hear about our plans. If we were there at the same time both would ‘suffer’.
He also commented the fundraising as important, but reflected on the fact that the mission was the driving force as there had been easier ways to raise funds than travelling to the outposts, still he underlined that it was a welcomed ‘byproduct’. He pointed to the fact that the Army’s visits were popular, because all the believers could gather together with the village’s ‘worldly’ people who normally would not attend a service.
His fairly long letter is reflective, a typical ‘life review’ as mentioned by Thompson where he focused on what had value for him today. He stressed the mission as the overall purpose and downplayed the fundraising that for others were a necessity even though the mission for them was important as well. It was not as easy to raise funds in other ways as he suggested, which has been obvious from other sources. I think he is right in remembering this mixture of ‘church’ people and ‘worldly’ people. That is a general experience for Salvation Army activities even today. The last part of his letter concerned how to do mission today in a different way than at the outposts, but reaching people as widely as there. His focus today is mission. It might have been the case 40 years ago, but that cannot be concluded from his letter. .
He also suggested why this work dwindled out in a part of his letter called “Paradigm shift”:
It happened the second year we were at that corps. In this normally well attended school house there were only 10-12 people. Then one of those present said:”Tonight as many as we are here will be sitting round each of the three televisions that have come to the village”. We felt a lowering of the number of people generally to the meetings, but especially to the outpost meetings. The televisions together with the growing number of private cars, that until then had been reserved for those who needed it for work purposes. Until then people had been more bound to the neighborhood and what happened there. The district cinema and the Salvation Army gave a breath of fresh air from the larger community and met a need, concerning the Army most probably also a spiritual need.
Even though the numbers were falling the outpost meetings were still continued in the following years.
One the women mentioned this aspect, but from another angle. She simply stated that it became too expensive with travelling expenses, rent of halls and heating compared to falling donations/collections due to the falling number of people attending the meetings.
As far as I can gather the financial support from the wider community diminished. Some of the officers mentioned that they were given free passage on the boats, the buses and the milk van[24]. It seems as if the halls earlier on were freely given – prayer halls[25], school halls or community halls and of course the private homes and farms. There are no accounts of this as is the case with the fares for travelling, but the rent and heating bills come in as an aspect later on with the younger officers.
The last letter to be dealt with is from an officer between 70 – 80 years. She recalled her first corps after being commissioned, especially one incident she wanted to share. Usually the officers visited private homes at the outposts. One day they came to an elderly couple and they were invited in, but then the couple disappeared and the officers wondered what was happening. After a while the couple came back dressed in their Sunday clothes and the man said: “It is a feast when we have a visit from the witnesses of the Lord, therefore we must dress ourselves in our festive clothes when we are going to worship.” The letter continued: “I will never forget that prayer time. The man of the house mentioned everybody in the district by name in his prayer. The couple did that every day, they told us afterwards.”
I see the recollection of this incident as something significant. Like the one telling about the timber industry this is her first appointment where all things often stand out in the memory. It is an unusual experience, a precious one and very special because it confirms the essence of her calling and officership[26].
A summary of the work
The questionnaires met my curiosity about the ‘outpost war’ with different answers. I can gather that the designation outpost has been used for different realities from more regular work with weekly activities especially for children to sporadic visits to different villages, even the timber season at Glomma is considered outpost work. The geography must have played a role for the frequency of visits, how far they were from the corps and how difficult it was to get there. The names of some of the places have appeared for instance Odda with outposts all over Hardanger, Larvik where the outposts seemed to be closer and therefore more regular work, Ringebu with outposts all over Guldbrandsdalen, Hemnesberget with outposts at the islands, Sogn and the fjords with soldiers living at different outposts, Gol with over fifty outposts in Hallingdal, Ørlandet at the Trondheim fjord with 70 outposts, Finsness in north of Norway etc. It is evident from the answers that some corps were considered outpost corps meaning that the actual corps was not very big and the essence of the work at these corps was ‘the outpost war’. As many of the respondents refer to their first years as officers, it seems as if young officers were sent to these specific outpost corps. Some officers were doing this work for most of their lives as active officers as is indicated in some answers.
The bigger corps in the country such as Bergen I[27] had outposts as well, but these were not so central to the corps officer’s work, as in the smaller corps or outpost corps.
There are two items of program that were repeated more or less in all: Visiting people from door to door with Krigsropet and perhaps Den unge Soldat[28] andan evangelical meeting at night[29]. Some mentioned children’s meetings in the afternoon and some that the meeting at night had items for children as well. Visiting door to door with Krigsropet led to contact with most of the people in the village or area. It also meant coming to people who were ill, grieving or dying. It seems as if the neighbors would tell the officer about such situations and expect them to visit these houses. Many mentioned the families that hosted them and the small meetings and gatherings in their homes as well as devotions with the family at the breakfast table.Some mentioned the contact they kept with these families over the years long after the officer had left the corps and moved somewhere else.
I will repeat my third question: What value did this work have for the people at the outpost and for the officers doing the work. For the local people it seemed to be a cultural event with music and songs, a social gathering with coffee, cakes, and fellowship, as well as a religious meeting with testimonies and sermons. It is mentioned that these meetings would gather both the religious people and the secular people, so it was a mixture of a cultural program and a religious service. One mentioned that it was seen as a breath of fresh air from the wider community to these smaller communities.
The officers mentioned the meetings, but what strikes me is the focus especially the women have on the contact to people. What they remembered vividly were the incidents where they seemed to make a difference for people in difficult situations giving pastoral care, and experienced trust, expectation and gratitude from people. The accounts are not diaries, so it is the more outstanding incidents that are remembered because they gave meaning to the work and I suppose to the officer’s own identity as an officer. The comments about being tired and the outposts as a cure for that point in such a direction. Their main focus seemed not to be this cultural/religious offer to people as the meetings expressed. It was there and important as such as I gather from comments on being an evangelist, but the contact with people stands central.
On the face of it people from the villages came for the value of the meeting with its different aspects, but another reason could have been the personal contacts during the day and being given a personal invitation for the meeting. It could be that they felt welcomed in a more personal way because of the calls at their house. The different focus between the officers’ experience and the public might not differ as much after all, if it was the personal contact that actually was the reason that made people come to the meeting.
Conclusion
Looking at this long period of Salvation Army history and having got more insight to the value and extent of it, I am even more amazed by the silence about this work in official documents. I have been through the territorial leaders’ reports to IHQ[30] and only found statistical information on the number of outposts apart from the report in September 1966 from Commissioner Kaare Westergaard. It is at the end of a little paragraph on economy for the whole territory:
However, as the economy no longer is dependent upon meetings as was the case previously, the tendency to cancel meetings, cease visiting outpost, discontinue War Cry sales etc. is becoming very apparent with the expected consequences for our evangelical work.
Here we are at the economy track. For those doing the work the outpost ministry became too expensive, for those having the overview other reasons were implied as the lack of economic necessity. But at least here is recognition of the evangelical work hinted.
From the officers’ letters the main aim has been on evangelism and pastoral care to the extent that this focus even could be a cure against tiredness. The fundraising was there as a ‘welcomed byproduct’ or as a trivial necessity or as a burden. The letters naturally only mention the positive experiences, but it must have been hard work – long travels, visiting every house and I am sure not all were as welcoming as the old couple, arranging for meetings sometimes starting the day trying to get the school house or prayer house heated[31], not knowing where to stay the night[32], getting stuck with a lot of War Crys that were not sold. In spite of the challenges of the ‘outpost war’ this work stands out as something of high value in the officers’ recollections of their life.
There seems to be quite a gap between the corps officers’ own appreciation of ‘the outpost war’ and the one that was present in the leadership.
My own conclusion based on the officers’ need for telling about this special work and hints people gave of this not being recognized, is that the ‘outpost war’ in spite of its imposing name and it being an expression of Salvation Army core values –‘to preach the gospel and meet human needs without discrimination’ – was not given the credit it deserved as being of great significance for the Salvation Army’s work, at least it seemed not to be given a great focus publicly. The special ‘outpost corps’ were small corps with few soldiers and they were, from what I have gathered, mostly used as training corps for young officers. Many officers were sent there straight from Training College as their first appointment. The traditional way of showing appreciation for an officer’s work has been to move them to a bigger corps, or greater responsibilities very often administrative positions.
This structure of hierarchy
might have blinded the organization so it didn’t recognize the vast importance[33]
of the ‘outpost war’ and therefore the ‘silence’ in official documents[34].
There might be other reasons to which I am blind.
Notes supporting the article:
(Featur image: An example of district evangelisation in the Swedish Territory)
[2] The figures from these years, 1910, 1920, 1930 etc, were chosen to see the development long term apart from the pioneering period. I got all the information from Lt. Colonel John Bjartveit who in his retirement has been in charge of the Salvation Army archives.
[3] The work she told about concerned tours to the district on her bike visiting small villages, selling the War Cry, collecting money for the Army’s work, having public meetings at night, staying in people’s homes and sharing devotions and pastoral care with the members of the household. These tours would often be from Monday to Friday, being home to lead meetings and services at the corps during the weekend. This work was especially prominent before World War II and just after. She had fond memories of the many contacts with people during these years.
[4] This expression has been and is still used for this particular work especially by officers.
[5] The rescue schooner, Catherine Booth, operated from 1900 – 1930 along the coast line of northern Norway following the fishing fleet at the fishing seasons at Lofoten and Vest Finmark in order to help rescue fishing boats and fishermen in hard weather. The crew were officers and soldiers who when at land held meetings and devotions at different places along the coastline.
[6] The booklet contained rather substantial financial statements and a small report of the work during the year.
[7] Weekly paper published since 1888 from the Salvation Army. I chose to look into a year’s papers every tenth year 1890, 1910, 1920 up to 2000.
[8] Children’s Paper, The Young Soldier published during a number of years weekly, bi- weekly or monthly from the Salvation Army. I chose to look through a year’s papers 1930,1940 and 1950
[9] Territorial Commander in Norway 1972 -75
[10] The questionnaire was called ‘A questionnaire concerning officer service’. There were nine questions all together. The first seven were yes/no questions or just to underline the possibilities: 1) Man/woman 2) How long time have you been an officer 3) Age 4) How did you meet the SA followed by a number of suggestions closing with ‘something else’ 5) Are you first generation Salvationist? 6) Are you a child of officers/soldiers? 7) How many generations have your family been in the Salvation Army? 8) How did you experience the calling to officership? Question 9) What sort of experiences have you had with outpost work? A) Was it part of your childhood? B) Have you as an officer had responsibility for outpost work? People were asked under A) to tell about their experiences of meetings, devotions, of the officers who came, which impression they made on the person and his/her family. What sort of role did the officer have for the people at the outpost? Did they consider the officer as spiritual adviser, evangelist, fundraiser, ‘minister’, musician/entertainer? Was the officer somebody people trusted or looked forward to get a visit from? Did it matter if it was a man or woman in the role they had and the expectations that was there? Did you or your family consider yourselves as belonging to the Salvation Army? Under B) People were asked to tell about experiences at the outposts. What sort of program? Meetings for children/youth/adults? Conversations and pastoral care? Fundraising for the Salvation Army’s work? The homes that showed hospitality during visits and the contacts with the members of the family or household. Were soldiers enrolled? What sort of value did you consider the outposts gave to your own ministry? (The translation into English is mine)
[11] The questionnaire was sent out in January 2009 with a deadline at the end of February. Together with the questionnaire I had written a letter explaining my interest in the outpost work.
[12] At the time the questionnaires were sent out I was in the territorial leadership and number of the officers might have felt compelled to answer. All questionnaires were anonymous and I had enclosed a stamped addressed envelope with my name on. Nobody else saw the answers and I did not have a clue who were behind the answers apart from the few signing the letter with their name.
[13] Konfirmasjon og erindring, Universitetet i Oslo 1993
[14] Interpreting Women’s Lives, Personal Narrative Group 1989: 261
[15] In Oral History the researches use interviews and dialogues, collecting people’s memoirs or have focus on stories that have been passed over from one generation to another, a recollection of tradition. Mostly this material is documented by being taped during the interview.
[16] Paul Thompson 1982: The Voice of the Past, Oral History. Oxford University Press p. 100-103
[17] Thompson p. 102 -103
[18] 1 is 80-90 years old, 4 are 70-80 years old, 1 is 60-70 years old, 1 is 40-50 years old
[19] Thompson p. 113
[20] Between 60 and 70
[21] I cannot give credit to her wonderful New Norwegian language, so it is a summary and not a direct translation.
[22] From different questionnaires I can see that young people from the outposts sought out the Salvation Army when they moved to town for further education or for visits.
[23] Meetings are the Salvation Army expression for worship. There is a tradition in the Salvation Army in Norway for a special weekly meeting, called ‘fester’. It is a religious meeting with songs, sermon, witnessing, but people are sitting at coffee tables and there will be a raffle to raise funds. There is no good English word for that concept. There is a distinction in the reports between meetings and ‘fester’.
[24] This might have stopped at the same time as the private car became general commodity, even for officers
[25] The local support from the prayer house might have lessened so they needed money for running costs
[26] The essence of the officer’s covenant and commissioning is to preach the gospel and to meet human need, “to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked and to love the unlovable”.
[27] There are presently three corps in Bergen, historically Bergen 1 used to be the bigger corps there.
[28] ‘Den unge Soldat’ was not published as regularly as ‘Krigsropet’ and therefore not as regular a feature.
[29] It might include what I explained as ‘fester’, these with coffee and raffles, but I doubt that this was on regular base as they are mentioned separate from the meetings.
[30] International Headquarter in London, which has the central administration of the global Salvation Army. The territorial leaders have to write a rather substantial annual report concerning the work in the territory. I have looked through the reports from 1950 to 1968.
[31] I have heard stories from the officers about ice cold building that had to be heated
[32] One of the letters have a longer story about this, of course with a happy ending, another stated short answers with points like a diary simply stating ‘Slept in the hall on a bench’.
[33] This is my interpretation based on the letters with small remarks of the joy of meeting people 30 – 40 years later telling them how much a special meetings or visitation in their home had meant for them and their families.
[34] There was efforts to gather material on the importance of the outposts by Commissioner Einar Madsen, Territorial Commander from 1985 – 88. According to his son he made statistics on many subjects, among these a detailed statistic on recruitment of officers with a focus on where they originated from. This statistical material, I am told, showed that a very high percentage came from the outposts. Unfortunately, these statistics have disappeared.
Salvationist viewpoints 