General urges Salvationists in Dunstable, United Kingdom, to be bold, compassionate witnesses

The Salvation Army’s international leader, General Lyndon Buckingham, has urged Salvationists to remain bold and compassionate witnesses in a world he described as increasingly marked by toxicity, division and uncertainty.

He spoke on Sunday 14 September at a celebration service marking the 140th anniversary of Dunstable Corps (church) in the movement’s United Kingdom and Ireland Territory. He acknowledged the faithful service of the corps and directed the congregation’s attention to its role in the present. “We are now the witnesses here in 2025 in Dunstable,” he said. “Amidst the backdrop of increasing uncertainty, violence, hatred and people becoming increasingly vocal and unkind, Christ calls us to be in the world and be different: counter-cultural, radical.”

The General took his message from Hebrews 12. He urged the congregation not to withdraw in the face of social challenges but to step into them as agents of hope. “The world, though it might not want to admit it, needs us right now,” he said. “This is not the time for us to shrink back, to hide, to circle the wagons and just look after ourselves.”

He said the mission is expressed through practical action and compassionate living, not only through words. “It is the practising of these principles and not the reciting of them that turns communities around,” he said. “It’s the giving of ourselves fully to it that brings transformation.” He tied this emphasis to doing the work itself, as the source frames it (Colossians 3:23).

The anniversary events began the day before, on Saturday, with a concert at the local shopping centre by guest choir Una Voce, which also led a musical celebration for the congregation.

At a Sunday afternoon praise party, Commissioner Bronwyn Buckingham, World President of Women’s Ministries, spoke about Compass, The Salvation Army’s new Global Strategic Framework. She encouraged Salvationists to look forward and quoted Isaiah 43:18-19 from the Good News Translation.

The weekend also commemorated the Salvation Army’s long history of serving the Dunstable community through food banks, family support and community programmes. The celebrations outlined a vision for the corps’ future as a beacon of hope.

Source: Read the original report