William Booth's calling in life was to serve God and others. His obedience to the Lord and to the people of London stands as an example for all Christians today as we seek to follow and obey God with our actions and our lives ...
In the mid-1800s, the poor people in East London were suffering terrible living conditions and poverty. Their lives seemed to get steadily worse as the rest of London saw better jobs and livelihoods. Many people gave up trying to live righteously, began abusing alcohol, and fell into immoral living.
William Booth, a preacher in England, had given his life to Christ as a teenager. He wanted to obey God, no matter where God called him. As it turned out, God called William and his wife, Catherine, to the East End of London where people lived in great poverty with little hope.
Without any financial support, William and Catherine followed God's calling and began preaching, setting up soup kitchens to serve daily meals, and to provide other services to help the people live more hopeful lives. But they had a difficult time getting through to the people there and their help was not always welcome. William and Catherine felt discouraged but trusted God to show them what to do.
One day, Peter Monk, an Irish prizefighter, attended a meeting where William was preaching. Even through Peter enjoyed fighting and was not a Christian, he didn't like it when a rowdy crowd began to mock William and shout at him. He firmly calmed the crowd and soon became a follower of Jesus. He was an example to others and an encouragement to William.
The Booths' obedience to continue serving the people on the East End was not always easy. Not everyone was happy about their presence—bar owners began to lose money as people stopped getting drunk and started following the Lord. But after one year, the Booths had 60 new Christians helping them reach people for Christ.
They called their ministry "The Christian Mission" and William believed they were fighting a war against sin. They began to use military terms, referring to William as "General." After a time, they changed their name to the Salvation Army, and the ministry helps people in more than 120 countries, sharing Jesus' love while providing health care, education, and disaster relief.
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