Salvation Army Open House Welcomes New & Familiar Visitors
October 8, 2021 at 12:30 a.m.
Salvation Army Open House Welcomes New & Familiar Visitors
By David [email protected]
As part of its 100th anniversary celebration this year, Warsaw’s Salvation Army had an open house Thursday afternoon – in cooperation with the Kosciusko County Chamber of Commerce – to give the public a chance to come inside the building.
Envoy Ken Locke said the Salvation Army came to Warsaw in 1921, starting out in a small office in City Hall. The Salvation Army was founded in 1865.
“I think the biggest thing is, the services to people keep growing and changing, too. It’s amazing how they did things which are similar but yet different in how we do it now,” he said. “We had a lot of people say they’ve never been in this building. They live in Warsaw and have never been in here, so we thought we’d do an open house.”
Locke said the Salvation Army has been doing a lot of “thank-yous” to the community this year and the open house was another one.
Major Marc S. Johnson, Indiana divisional commander, is responsible for the oversight of all the work of the Salvation Army in the Indiana division. He and his wife, Major Karen Johnson, were one of the visitors to the open house Thursday.
“I’ve been here since July 2020, so a little over a year. We’re getting to know the work of the Salvation Army throughout the state, but events like this are important to let the community know, No. 1 we’ve been here a long time. No. 2, we’re not going anywhere. We’re still doing what we should be doing,” he said.
The mission statement of the Salvation Army, in part, says their mission is to “preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in His name without discrimination,” Johnson said.
“I always say there’s three words that are really important. All of them are important but there are three that really define the way we do what we do,” he said. “The first two are the last two – ‘without discrimination.’ We help people. If you’re a human being, and you have a human need, we want to try to help meet that if we can.”
The third important word, he said, is the word “and.”
“‘And’ is very important because it means both. You can’t choose one or the other. So, if we only preach the gospel but never helped people, meet human needs, we wouldn’t be the Salvation Army. If we only met human needs and never connected anyone to Jesus Christ, we’re not the Salvation Army. It’s like the head and tail of a coin – you can’t have one without the other. So, we do that in a very loving way to try and be a productive part of the community that really helps people that sometimes don’t have any hope. That don’t have anywhere else to turn,” Johnson said.
He and Karen come up to Warsaw from Indianapolis for worship services on Sundays as they are able. They also have come up for special events like Thursday’s open house, or Ken and his wife Sina will go down to Indianapolis for events.
Johnson said, in Indiana, the Salvation Army has around 250 employees and another 45 officers or ordained ministers.
As for the next 100 years for the Salvation Army, Locke said, “There’s always going to be a need for services to people. That doesn’t go away. I think it’ll be as healthy as it is with the community support we’ve had. That’s really what kept us here. If we didn’t have the community support, the Salvation Army wouldn’t be here. Kosciusko County is a very giving community that way, so that’s really what kept us here. But what the next 100 years will be, who knows?”
Johnson said it’s difficult to imagine what the next 100 years will look like, but, “We need to stay true to our mission statement so that the Salvation Army 100 years from now will be very similar to the Salvation Army of today in that we need to be preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and meeting human need in His name without discrimination. So, human needs, Jesus said the poor you will always have with you, so there will always be human needs to meet and the human condition of the heart will always be there as well. We need to know that there’s hope for our lives physically and spiritually. So the Salvation Army 100 years from now should be doing exactly what we’re doing today.”
As part of its 100th anniversary celebration this year, Warsaw’s Salvation Army had an open house Thursday afternoon – in cooperation with the Kosciusko County Chamber of Commerce – to give the public a chance to come inside the building.
Envoy Ken Locke said the Salvation Army came to Warsaw in 1921, starting out in a small office in City Hall. The Salvation Army was founded in 1865.
“I think the biggest thing is, the services to people keep growing and changing, too. It’s amazing how they did things which are similar but yet different in how we do it now,” he said. “We had a lot of people say they’ve never been in this building. They live in Warsaw and have never been in here, so we thought we’d do an open house.”
Locke said the Salvation Army has been doing a lot of “thank-yous” to the community this year and the open house was another one.
Major Marc S. Johnson, Indiana divisional commander, is responsible for the oversight of all the work of the Salvation Army in the Indiana division. He and his wife, Major Karen Johnson, were one of the visitors to the open house Thursday.
“I’ve been here since July 2020, so a little over a year. We’re getting to know the work of the Salvation Army throughout the state, but events like this are important to let the community know, No. 1 we’ve been here a long time. No. 2, we’re not going anywhere. We’re still doing what we should be doing,” he said.
The mission statement of the Salvation Army, in part, says their mission is to “preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in His name without discrimination,” Johnson said.
“I always say there’s three words that are really important. All of them are important but there are three that really define the way we do what we do,” he said. “The first two are the last two – ‘without discrimination.’ We help people. If you’re a human being, and you have a human need, we want to try to help meet that if we can.”
The third important word, he said, is the word “and.”
“‘And’ is very important because it means both. You can’t choose one or the other. So, if we only preach the gospel but never helped people, meet human needs, we wouldn’t be the Salvation Army. If we only met human needs and never connected anyone to Jesus Christ, we’re not the Salvation Army. It’s like the head and tail of a coin – you can’t have one without the other. So, we do that in a very loving way to try and be a productive part of the community that really helps people that sometimes don’t have any hope. That don’t have anywhere else to turn,” Johnson said.
He and Karen come up to Warsaw from Indianapolis for worship services on Sundays as they are able. They also have come up for special events like Thursday’s open house, or Ken and his wife Sina will go down to Indianapolis for events.
Johnson said, in Indiana, the Salvation Army has around 250 employees and another 45 officers or ordained ministers.
As for the next 100 years for the Salvation Army, Locke said, “There’s always going to be a need for services to people. That doesn’t go away. I think it’ll be as healthy as it is with the community support we’ve had. That’s really what kept us here. If we didn’t have the community support, the Salvation Army wouldn’t be here. Kosciusko County is a very giving community that way, so that’s really what kept us here. But what the next 100 years will be, who knows?”
Johnson said it’s difficult to imagine what the next 100 years will look like, but, “We need to stay true to our mission statement so that the Salvation Army 100 years from now will be very similar to the Salvation Army of today in that we need to be preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and meeting human need in His name without discrimination. So, human needs, Jesus said the poor you will always have with you, so there will always be human needs to meet and the human condition of the heart will always be there as well. We need to know that there’s hope for our lives physically and spiritually. So the Salvation Army 100 years from now should be doing exactly what we’re doing today.”
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