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In keeping with some of the changes announced by General John Gowans (R) concerning officership and the training of officers, alternative training methods are being experimented with around the world.
Projects like the Leadership, Education And Discipleship School (LEADS) in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., Leadership Development Programme (LDP) in England, the School For Youth Leadership outside of Sydney, and various Battle Schools are attempting to prepare Salvationists to take on the world.
To this list Canada is adding The War College in September of 2003. This one year, residential training school has as its goal to train this generation’s warriors to win the world for Jesus.
The 12-month course includes two four-month teaching semesters and one four-month placement; the War College is located in Vancouver’s downtown Eastside, the poorest postal code location in Canada, according to Captain Stephen Court.
The War College features an international Board of Reference that includes General Eva Burrows (R), Stacey and Wesley Campbell (revivalnow.com), Commissioner Shaw Clifton, Commissioner Phil Needham, Lt. Colonel Don Copple, Commissioner Wesley Harris, Dr. David Demian (Watchmen for the Nations), and Major Chick Yuill.
These international leaders will be offering wisdom and guidance into the composition and operation of The War College. Between them, they have preached in hundreds of countries, published nearly a dozen books, and seen scores of thousands saved!
Faculty include Captains Stephen Court and Danielle Strickland, Ian and Elaine Gillngham, and Michael Collins.
What can students expect? An intense, transformative, primitive Salvationist training with a post-modern flavor.
Intensity describes not only the quantity of schedule, but also the content of the schedule. Students will be going deep.
Not only will students be transformed by their participation in The War College but the notorious downtown eastside of Vancouver will be transformed, and then, when students return to their corps around the world, those corps and their cities will be transformed.
‘Primitive Salvationist’ is a term describing the massively effective ways of the pioneer salvos in the 19th century who were implicitly obedient to God, who were recklessly bold, who loved God and people with passion, and who served up the Gospel in all its fullness.
And the school will be post-modern in that there will be much ‘deploy and debrief’ teaching, use of cultural windows, learning in pods, mid rash, and student teaching. It will be a spiritual hothouse in which God will help students dream up exciting plans to change the world.
There are two other exciting ways to be involved. One is as a placement unit for the last four months of the training year. Your Salvation Army corps or center could deploy a trained up Salvationist from May through August. The second way is to establish a War College Memorial Scholarship in memory of a pioneering Salvationist in your family, corps, or division, to be awarded to someone in your division.
For information and online applications visit: the warcollege.com or email: info@thewarcollege.com