The Salvation Army -- Heart to God, Hand to Men Quiz

Answer: William and Catherine Booth

William and Catherine Booth is the correct answer. William Booth was born in Nottingham, England, on April 10, 1829 and his wife Catherine (nee Mumford) was born in Ashbourne, Derbyshire, on January 17, 1829. They were married June 16, 1855, and were the parents of nine children.

A Salvation Army (Australia) website states that William was "a fiery, impulsive teenager" who became a Christian at age 15 and had a burning passion to reach the downtrodden with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Meanwhile, the same website states Catherine had a strong Christian upbringing and, by the age of 12, she had read the Bible from beginning to end eight times.

They met when William came to speak at her church.

Answer: London

William Booth, a former Methodist minister, and his wife Catherine, founded the The Salvation Army in the slums of London during 1865. However, the movement was not originally know as The Salvation Army. It was initially known as the Christian Mission. In 1878, thirteen years after the Booths founded the Christian Mission, the organization adopted the name 'The Salvation Army'. It also adopted a structure set up along military lines with members known as soldiers, and pastors known as lieutenants and captains, etc.

According to various websites, the Booths intended to preach the Gospel to the downtrodden in the slums of London's East End and direct the converts to other churches to become members. Among the new converts were hard-core criminals, prostitutes and notorious alcoholics. Unfortunately, the new converts from the slums were not welcomed by many of the members of the existing churches. As a result, the Salvation Army was established as a place for the converts to worship and to begin a Christ-centered life.

Answer: Philadelphia

The first Salvation Army unit outside Great Britain was established in Philadelphia, Pa., officially in 1880. However, the first meeting by Salvationists took place in 1879, thanks to the efforts of a fifteen-year-old girl, Lieutenant Eliza Shirley. The official Salvation Army website reports that Shirley had moved from England to the United States with her parents in search of work and a new life. Shirley wrote William Booth telling him of an enthusiastic reception for the Salvation Army, and one year later a group was sent from England to officially establish the organization in the U.S.

A FunTrivia player and Salvation Army captain, who in typical Salvationist fashion wishes to stay anonymous, states the corps is still operating in Philadelphia, and is known as The Pioneer Corps.

Answer: Australia

After Great Britain and the United States, the Salvation Army expanded to Australia with a corps set up in 1881. Almost at the same time, a corps was established in Ireland (Eire). The following year, Canada became the fifth country. After this, the Salvation Army expanded quickly across the British Commonwealth, the official Salvation Army website reports.

According to the Salvation Army's Australian website, Edward Saunders and John Gore led the first meeting of Salvationists in the Land Down Under on September 5, September 1880. They led the meeting from the back of a greengrocer's cart in Adelaide's Botanic Park.

The Australian website quotes Gore as saying, "If there's a man here who hasn't had a square meal today, let him come home to tea with me." From that simple and sincere invitation, the Salvation Army now feeds hundreds of thousands of Australians each year, the website states.

In 1982 the government of Canada issued a special postage stamp commemorating the centennial of the Salvation Army in the Great White North.

Answer: George Carpenter

George Carpenter, a native of Australia, was the first general of the Salvation Army not born in Great Britain. He was preceded by Evangeline Booth and followed by Albert Osborn. Booth was the daughter of William and Catherine Booth and Osborn served for a time as chief secretary of New Zealand.

Overall, Carpenter was the fifth general, serving from from 1939 to 1946 during the Second World War, when the Salvation Army's international headquarters in London was bombed by the German Luftwaffe.

Incidentally, Evangeline Booth was the first woman to serve as general of the Salvation Army.

Answer: More than 30 million people

According to Wikipedia, the Salvation Army helps more than 32 million people every year in the United States, alone. Figures are not readily available for the number of people assisted world-wide, but one can imagine how impressive the number must be.

Helping the destitute and the disadvantaged was a priority of William and Catherine Booth's ministry, and that vision is very much alive today.

Be it through soup kitchens for street people or providing assistance for general citizens who are victims of fires and disasters, the Salvation Army is front and center. The Salvation Army operates a wide variety of facilities, ranging from day care centers for children to nursing homes for the aged. On top of all this, emphasis is placed on spreading the Gospel message that salvation is through Jesus Christ, and Christ alone.

According to the official Salvation Army website, Booth's concern for the destitute masses was cultivated when he saw first-hand the plight of the thousands spurned by Britain's industrial revolution.

In the earliest days of the Salvation Army, Booth established soup kitchens, shelters for the homeless and homes for "fallen girls". Booth also opened up "labour exchange services" through which thousands of unemployed people found employment. He also established a missing persons bureau, after discovering about 9,000 people "dropped from sight in London each year". The list of services started by Booth can go on and on.

Meanwhile, my FunTrivia friend and Salvation Army captain who wishes to stay anonymous for this quiz, informs me that the church/organization is actively involved in anti-sex-trafficking efforts with the aim of rescuing "those who have been sucked into this ultra and absolute depraved wickedness."

"We get a lot of heat for speaking out against abject evil, but our mission remains the same," the captain tells me. "Our goal is to be like Jesus. He doesn't change and we make all attempts to not change either."

Answer: False

False. In no less than four different places in the New Testament, Paul describes believers as soldiers.

In Philippians 2:25, Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, describes Epaphroditus as "my brother, fellow worker, and fellow soldier."

2 Timothy 2:3, Paul tells Timothy he "must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." In the following verse, Paul states: "No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier."

Then in Philemon 1:2, Paul describes Archippus as "our fellow soldier".

Paul also uses term "fight the good fight" in 1 Timothy 6:12 and 2 Timothy 4:7. On top of this, Paul uses the term "warfare" in his epistles.

So the describing of Salvation Army members as soldiers is based on the Bible.

Meanwhile, it might come as a surprise to some the Salvation Army is an evangelical Protestant church, as it is often seen as simply being a charitable organization. However, winning souls to Christ has always been a priority for the Salvation Army.

According to Wikipedia, William Booth described the organization's approach to helping the destitute as being based on the the three 'S's': "First, soup; second, soap; and then salvation."

The words 'Blood & Fire' are featured on the flag of the Salvation Army as well. According to a Salvation Army website, the 'blood' is for the blood shed by Jesus for our sins and the 'fire' is for the fire of the Holy Spirit.

Answer: Joan Kroc

Joan Kroc, wife of Ray Kroc, founder of the McDonald's Inc., bequeathed $1.6 billion when she died in 2002 to open Salvation Army community centers across the U.S. The centers are known as Salvation Army Kroc Centers and her donation is believed to be the largest one-time gift in history.

According to Wikipedia, Kroc requested the centers be housed in world-class facilities and offer high-quality services, including programs involving education, fitness, arts and worship for people from all walks of life, not just the impoverished. The centers are owned and operated by the Salvation Army.

A FunTrivia friend and a Salvation Army captain who wishes to stay anonymous for this quiz, points out some of the Kroc centers have assistance offices for those in crisis.

"The purpose of the Kroc centers is to fill the needs of their particular communities, so each one will have a different focus," the Salvation Army captain states.

Kroc's $1.6 billion donation was used to build and fund twenty-five Salvation Army Kroc Centers in the U.S.

Wikipedia states Kroc's will included significant bequests for a number of organizations, in addition to the Salvation Army. Some of these include:
-- $225 million for National Public Radio;
-- $50 million for the University of San Diego's Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice;
-- $50 million for the University of Notre Dame's Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies;
-- $20 million for the San Diego Hospice and Palliative Care;
-- $10 million for the Zoological Society of San Diego, which runs the San Diego Zoo and the San Diego Zoo Safari Park;
-- $5 million for San Diego's KPBS public radio and television stations.

Answer: More than 125

One hundred and fifty years after it was founded, The Salvation Army operated in no less than 128 different countries, including a number of Islamic countries. Its headquarters were still in London, where the organization started. World-wide membership was 1.5 million people.

The Salvation Army has five zones, each with an international secretary. The five zones, in alphabetical order, are Africa, Americas and Caribbean, Europe, South Asia and South Pacific and East Asia.

The Salvation Army's purposes, according to Wikipedia, are "the advancement of the Christian religion ... of education, the relief of poverty, and other charitable objects beneficial to society or the community of mankind as a whole."

From country to country, The Salvation Army is primarily driven by local people working to make a difference in their part of the world.

"This means The Salvation Army in Australia is distinctly Australian, The Salvation Army in Africa is distinctly African, and The Salvation Army in Asia is distinctly Asian," states an Australian website for the Salvation Army.

Answer: True

While navy blue uniforms are worn in most of the First World countries, Salvationists in other parts of the world wear uniforms of a different color and a slightly different design.

A FunTrivia player and Salvation Army captain who wishes to stay anonymous, tells me Salvationists wear brown uniforms in some countries in Africa, gray uniforms in the Caribbean and some countries in Africa and white uniforms in many of the tropical countries.

"My grandfather wore white for many years while in Singapore," my FunTrivia friend states.

The Salvation Army's navy blue uniforms are very dark.

"Most folks think they are black, until you lay them next to something black and then you see the blue," the Salvation Army captain states.

A Salvation Army website for Australia states there is variation in uniforms around the world because of climate and other circumstances.