Prayer Day 6 of 7: Corps and Family Services

“While women weep, as they do now,
I’ll fight
While little children go hungry, as they do now, 
I’ll fight
While men go to prison, in and out, in and out, as they do now, 
I’ll fight
While there is a drunkard left, 
While there is a poor lost girl upon the streets, 
While there remains one dark soul without the light of God, 
I’ll fight-I’ll fight to the very end!”  – William Booth

In 1912 William Booth, co-founder of The Salvation Army, delivered his final and most memorable speech in London at Royal Albert Hall in front of a packed house of 7000 people. He promised to ‘fight to the very end’, which he did.

The Salvation Army is still fighting today, over 100 years later. Our Salvation Army churches (known as corps, due to the use of ‘Army’ metaphor) continue to fight injustice worldwide within our communities.

In Toronto and surrounding area, we have 27 active corps. Attached to many of them are ‘Community and Family Services’ ministries offering programs to local individuals and families ranging from food banks to life-skills to daycares.

Let’s pray today for all of our 27 corps based ministries, staff, and community members (even though there are many ministries, I felt lead to name them all for the sake of our prayer today):

Agincourt, Ajax/Pickering, Bloor Central, Bowmanville, Brampton, Cedarvale, Cornerstone, Corps 614 (Regent Park), East Toronto, Erin Mills, Etobicoke, Georgina, Lakeshore, Markham, Mississagua, Newmarket, North York, North Toronto, Oshawa, Peterborough, Richmond Hill, Scarborough, Warehouse Mission, West Hill, York, Whitby, York Woods, Yorkminster

• 75 full time staff
• 56 part time staff
• 5 corps based daycare programs
• 356 children served
• 54.5 full time equivalent daycare staff

Let’s keep trying to be ‘The Hand of God in the Heart of the City’.

Peace,

Dion Oxford, Mission Strategist