Feb 2010: Bruce Smith

Photo: Church Army

Bruce Smith, National Director, Church Army 

Recently Jane Harris-Zsovan spoke with Captain Bruce Smith, 54, National Director of the Church Army, about his more than 35 years in the Church Army in Canada as well as evangelism in the 21^st Century. 

How did you get into ministry?

Well, I joined this thing called the Church Army in September ’74. My Anglican minister in Victoria, B.C. didn’t know anything about the Church Army, but he handed me a magazine his daughter had given him and said, “Bruce, this sounds like you.”  It was called The Crusader, not the most appropriate name these days. We have since renamed it The Candle.

Why would he think you might be a good Church Army candidate?

As an older teenager, 16 or 17, I just knew God was trying to get my attention. I tried to get into the Scriptures the best I could. I didn’t get far.  But my minister would meet with me on Monday mornings. He would just let me rant and after I finished, he would talk.

Was he your only spiritual mentor?

Well, I had wonderful parents and my grandfather was a lay reader for 50 years. He was killed by an automobile when I was 16. He was 88, but he was healthy as an ox. His lifestyle seemed so clean to me and my life was anything but that. And in my college experience, I wouldn’t have lasted very long if it wasn’t for the other students.

How did you go from reading a magazine to signing up for a lifelong ministry? 

I never really applied to join the Church Army; I enquired. Then I got a call from the National Director who said he was going to be in Victoria the next week and he wanted to meet with me.

That meeting convinced you to join The Church Army? 

It wasn’t a Damascus Road experience, but I knew I was called. It was as clear to me as it was to those folks in the gospel when Jesus said ‘follow me.’ 

You then entered training?

Yes. It was two years in those days, in Toronto. After that, I was sent to Saint John, New Brunswick to work in a small orphanage. I wasn’t much older than some of the kids because a few of them were 18.  Then, the Bishop also appointed me as jail chaplain and I ended up going on the ships, too. That was in the days before the Saint John Seafarers' Mission was established. I ended up staying in Saint John for 13 years and I was very happy. Then I got a call to go to Toronto as Assistant Director. I became National Director in 1996.

When did you move the Church Army National Office and College to Saint John, New Brunswick?

We closed our college in 1996 for a year and a half so we could re-evaluate the need for the college and the purpose of the Church Army in Canada. We concluded that we did need to maintain the college. In 1998, we re-established it in Saint John as Taylor College, in thanksgiving for our previous director, Ray Taylor and his wife, Dorothy. We brought the national office to Taylor College six years ago.

Where did the Church Army start?

In England. William Booth, who founded the Salvation Army, was approached by the House of Bishops in England. They wanted the Salvation Army to become the social services branch of the Church of England. Booth declined, but a number of Anglican clergy, including William Carlile, held to the idea of having a personal relationship with Jesus, and were doing similar work on the east side of London. Carlile banded them all together and they called themselves the Church Army.  It’s because of them that we have a Church Army.

How did the Church Army get from the east side of London to Canada?

In the early days the Church Army sent out teams, who got nicknamed Joy Bringers. These joy bringers were sent out in response to invitations. In Canada, wherever there was a shortage of clergy the Bishop would ask a Church Army guy to go in.

Where do you work in Canada?

We are in nine out of ten provinces [not P.E.I.] and all three territories.  We have about 140 people. Some of them would say they were retired, but they don’t know the meaning of the word. And a good number are also ordained.

In this Diocese, people know the Church Army. We’re also well known in Southern Ontario, Algoma, and in the Arctic Diocese. But there are so few of us in Canada that you could put us all to work in response to pressing needs in Toronto. We value invitation, but we have also taken the initiative to launch projects in response to urgent need. 

Is the need growing?

The need is growing in countless ways. Visible needs are growing for missions like Street Hope. But telling the simple good news in churches is a mission field of its own. You can go to church for decades and never be presented with the simple truth that Jesus gave his life for you.

Who invites you into a community?

Invitations usually come from the leadership or a group in the community. The most dramatic request we’ve ever had came from the mayor of The Pas. He said, “I have literally seen people grow up and die on the streets of the Pas.”

Tell us about some Church Army in Canada Ministries.

Street Hope, our largest, is in its 24^th year. Initially, Street Hope was for youth, but that mandate has expanded. Many of the people we work with now have prison backgrounds or are coming out of addictions or prostitution.

We have Street Hope in The Fraser Valley, Moncton, Peterborough and Victoria. The Pas, Manitoba has a similar ministry, but it’s called the Northern Gateway Community Chaplaincy.

Reed Fleming, Director of Formation, who oversees the college here in Saint John, has, in his own time, planted an Uptown Cafe Church, and ministers to people living in boarding houses. We’re very committed to seeing that type of work multiply.

Dancing Waters is a very gentle ministry in Tyendinega, Ontario that teaches “tomorrow doesn’t have to be like today.” It’s run by a Mohawk gentleman who came to our college. After graduation, we placed him in an Anglican church where he did a lot of good work. But his passion was to go back to his home reserve. He and his wife are both raising their own salaries. 

We also have a worker in Nain, Labrador. There’s little physical evidence of hope in Nain. Only two people come to worship. Suicide has always been a big problem.  But he believes stubbornly that things are going to turn around. He goes where people are because no one is going to come to talk to you if you are sitting in your office. So he spent the fall building five houses so he could talk to the labourers.

We also have a marvellous guy who just graduated and is in Kugluktuk, which used to be called Coppermine. He got there in March, and he’s in his 60s. He has no intention of quitting.

You’re affiliated with Church Army International, which includes Church Armies in Africa, Australia, Barbados, Canada, Jamaica, New Zealand, United Kingdom & Ireland and the United States. Does that broaden your ministry?

Yes. We can send staff to countries like Australia, Great Britain and South Africa. We also train Jamaican students for Jamaica and we have begun work with Malawi in Southern Africa and Fiji and Vanuato in the South Pacific.

Is there a common quality in those who work in the Church Army?

I think so. You have to have a real conviction that Jesus makes all the difference in a person’s life and that Jesus wants to make that difference and that no one and no community is beyond hope. This year, a lot of our students are in their late 40s and early 50s. They made a big decision to come here. Some sold their homes to come. They always have people they have been working with on their minds during prayer time. Our big challenge is to find people that have that kind of passion.  Canada needs evangelists with wet eyes, bent knees and broken hearts. 

Do you have to be Anglican to join?

We are no longer solely Anglican. We crossed that little bridge in 2004. At that time, we had people politely knocking on the door who weren’t Anglican and asking if they could join the Church Army. So, we expanded. 

The Church Army does not take a stand on controversial issues in the church. Why? 

We are very careful not to get involved in the controversies because we’re commissioned to do the work of evangelists. When we get involved in controversies, they can take all of our time. Our previous director used to say, “When we’re not fishing, we’re fighting.” 

Does Taylor College supply all candidates?

Yes, with a couple of rare exceptions. It’s not a college like any other. This year, we have 8 students and we can house a maximum of about 20.    

It’s three years of training. Students are sent outside in ministry from the time they arrive. In the summer, they’re sent out again. While they’re not in class all the time, classroom work is challenging. They need to find ways to deal with changing culture. What I learned in the 70’s, for instance, would not necessarily work today.

I hear some changes will be coming in 2010?

A name change is on the immediate horizon, and we look forward to announcing it shortly.