William Booth

Life

Booth was born on April 10, 1829, in Nottingham, England. He lost his father at an early age, and as his family's fortunes declined, he reportedly worked as an apprentice in a pawnbroker's shop. He served as a Methodist minister before resigning from the ministry in 1861. In 1865 he and his wife, Catherine Booth, went into the slums of East London and began evangelism. The Salvation Army commemorates July 2, 1865, as its founding date. Booth died in London on August 20, 1912.

Ministry and Accomplishments

Booth believed that the poor who had flocked to the cities as a result of industrialization needed not only the gospel but also food and care. The group, which began as the East London Christian Revival Society, was renamed the East London Christian Mission in 1868. In 1878, when the name "Volunteer Army" was proposed within the mission, Booth changed "Volunteer" to "Salvation," and the name "The Salvation Army" was adopted.

The Salvation Army adopted a military-style organization. Booth held the title of General, and military terminology was used throughout: churches were called "corps," and baptized members were called "soldiers." As the so-called "three S's" of soup, soap, and salvation suggest, the movement combined evangelism with relief for the poor. Booth argued that the unemployed should be given fair work and decent housing, and that the poor also needed banking and legal assistance. By the time of his death, The Salvation Army had reportedly spread to 56 countries. It is also said that in 1904 King Edward VII of the United Kingdom received him and commended him for his labors.

Influence on the Korean Church

The Salvation Army in Korea is said to have originated in 1907, when Korean students studying in Japan attended evangelistic meetings Booth held during a tour of that country and asked that a mission be sent to Korea. The following year, in October 1908, the British officer Robert Hoggard (Korean name Heo Ga-du) and his wife, Annie Jones, were sent out, and the mission in Korea began. By 1916 The Salvation Army in Korea had grown to 78 churches, 87 officers, and 4,800 members. This work continues today in The Salvation Army Korea Territory. The year-end street Salvation Army red kettles are the best-known Salvation Army activity in Korean society. The Salvation Army in Korea also honors William and Catherine Booth as co-founders.

Assessment

Booth is credited with bringing both evangelism and social care to the urban poor whom the established churches had failed to reach, and he has sometimes been called "the prophet of the poor." However, his unconventional methods, such as street evangelism, reportedly met with opposition and criticism in his day. Today some conservative Christian media outlets in Korea criticize the modern Salvation Army for having lost the evangelistic identity Booth emphasized and for having become more like a charitable organization. The Salvation Army, for its part, maintains that combining gospel proclamation with social service is its founding spirit.