A Salvation Army Model Of Worship

The earliest record of a Salvation Army worship service is found in the publications of William and Catherine Booth's London East End ministry that began in the late 1860s. The organization that would become The Salvation Army in 1878 commenced its ministry in July 1865 in a series of tent meetings in the East London district of Whitechapel (Robert Sandall, The History of the Salvation Army, Vol. 1: 18651878 [London: Thomas Nelson, 1947], 37). The format of these early day services was modeled on the "free and easy" nineteenth century Methodist song service. These unstructured services included a combination of extemporaneous prayer, hymns, numerous personal testimonies, and often a concluding sermon. Text: The first recorded example that provides the details of these services are found in The East London Evangelist, the monthly periodical that William Booth first published October 1868 as a record of the "Christian Work Among the People" of his East London Christian Mission. The…