The Salvation Army in Horsham and Crawley

This past Sunday we were thrilled to welcome Shirley Gardner as an adherent-member of The Salvation Army, and a member of our church. We feature here the words she shared with us in her testimony:-

I want start by telling you a bit of family history this morning. When my grandfather was a young man, over a hundred years ago, he was at work, hoeing turnips, in the middle of a field one day, when he heard the voice of God, telling him he was going the wrong way, and knew that he had to change his life. At the time, he was a drinker, he used to drink very heavily, so he signed the pledge, became teetotal, and became a Methodist lay preacher. Soon afterwards he met and married my grandmother, and for most of their lives they were caretakers of the Methodist chapel in their village in Dorset.


Now, being married to my grandmother wasn't easy. Although she was a good Christian woman, she had a very volatile temper. Once, early in their marriage, when she was in full eruption (she was only 4 feet 10 inches tall and my grandfather was over 6 feet) my grandfather, at a loss to know what to do with all this drama, picked her up and threatened to stuff her up the chimney. She begged him not to, and he relented. He always said he would probably have had a much easier life if he had followed through on that threat – but he didn't, he was much too nice a man to do that. He was one of my favourite people, and I can remember him telling me stories about the Old Testament prophets and about Jesus. My father was their only child.

My other grandparents were in the Salvation Army. My mother was the youngest of their 5 children, and in 1923 at the age of 18 she left her home in Dorset to become an Officer. She served on Salisbury Plain and in Mare Street Hackney, as a young Lieutenant. When she was 21 her father died, sadly, and she asked to be posted nearer to home to support her mother, but the Army posted her to the north of England, so she stopped being an Officer and she too did some work as a Methodist lay preacher. She brought Jenny and me up to say our prayers and to be Christians. She was always singing hymns and choruses around the house, and when we sing many of the old hymns here I hear her voice.

While I was growing up I always said my prayers at night, and sometimes during the day as well – depending how the day was going.

When I was 11, Jenny started going to the Salvation Army where we were living, and I went with her. I went out to the Mercy Seat at the age of 13, and I'll always remember that as a significant point in my spiritual life. Then when we moved house – from Goucestershire to Dorset – we both carried on going to the Army, to a new Corps, and I was even a Corps Cadet for a while. I can remember that the Corps Cadets did the meeting one Sunday morning and for some reason I got to do the address. I had to write something about the woman with the alabaster box of perfume who washed Jesus' feet – I was very, very nervous. I stopped going to the Army when I started working hard for exams at school. Since then I have always considered myself a Christian, but not attended Church with any regularity. I believed, but didn't do anything about it – working seemed to take up most of my time.

When I turned up here in Horsham it was with Jenny and Mel – by that time work had finished with me, I was looking for a church to go to, they had moved here and were thinking about transferring from Sutton. I started singing with the Singing Group, so that meant that I was singing with my sister, which I enjoyed.

You might have noticed a theme emerging here. What I've been rambling on about up to this point is that my religion has always been rooted in family, I've believed because I was brought up that way, and followed what my family did, and it's only in recent years that I thought that I should really start taking some initiative where my religious life was concerned. A few years ago, when I started asking difficult questions, two members of the family said 'You ought to go on an Alpha course', so I did. Anyway, to cut the rambling short, the time came when I realised that the Salvation Army in Horsham is my church. I've known for quite a while that I would become a member, but I was waiting until I was perfect before I did so.

Then I realised that it could be a very long wait, so I'm sorry to have to tell you that I'm not perfect yet. I still do things I shouldn't do, and I still don't do all the things I should do, but I'm human, and I'm trying harder all the time, and with God's help I'll be a better human being as time passes, and I'll get better at listening to Him and working out what He wants me to do, and trying to do it. That's all I've got to say, so thank you for listening to me this morning, God bless.

Shirley Gardner