Ballington Booth
From Sawiki
Ballington Booth was the second of eight children born to Methodist minister William Booth and his wife, Catherine Mumford Booth. From birth, Ballington was devoted to a life of religious work and service to his fellow man. When Booth was eight years old, his father founded the Salvation Army in London. His experience in watching this organization grow embued in him a sense of man's obligation to others. His entire upbringing was aimed at preparing him for a life of religious work and serving in the ranks of this new form of Christianity.
William Booth determined very early that his young son would grow to serve and lead in the evangelical mission he founded in 1865, and he trained Ballington in the ways of this "new religion." After secondary school, the young Ballington Booth studied at the Nottingham Theological Seminary. However his mother, believing that higher education caused young people to rebel against the church, forced him to return home.
Booth began preaching to awestruck crowds on street corners during his teens for his father's Salvation Army open-air meetings. His imposing 6 foot 4 inch frame, compelling voice and musical abilities appealed to all audiences. Frequently, after preaching on the corner, he would end the session by bringing out his concertina and playing for the crowd.
At 23 he attained the rank of Colonel and was placed in charge of the Salvation Army officer training programs. When the organization expanded he was placed in charge of the movement in Australia.
In 1886, he toured parts of the United States and Canada, preaching along the way. Later that year he married Maud Charlesworth and in 1887 his father, General Booth, assigned the couple to America in an effort to reorganize and strengthen its division in America. They newlyweds did not anticipate that in less than a decade, they would grow to love their adopted country so much that they would become U.S. citizens and eventually leave the Salvation Army to start their own mission "for God and Country."
Maud Ballington Booth was born Maud Charlesworth, the youngest daughter of a prominent barrister who gave up the law to become an Anglican priest. During her preparation for religious confirmation, she accompanied her mother to a Salvation Army Holiness Meeting, and heard a compelling young man, Ballington Booth, speak for the first time. His passionate speech about serving and saving the impoverished masses deeply stirred the idealistic young school girl. They would marry when she reached the age of 21 and almost immediately set sail for the United States.
Despite, or perhaps because of her small stature, Maud Booth too became a compelling speaker, and spent the voyage evangelizing her fellow passengers. One of the first class passengers, Chauncey Depew, chairman of the New York Central Railroad, heard her and invited her to the first class salon to discuss her mission and work. The relationship lasted for decades to come and Mr. Depew provided enormous amounts of support to the Booth's mission.
Upon arriving in New York, the Booths set about reorganizing and re- energizing the American Salvation Army, making it one of the most organized and fiscally sound units of the organization. But, a disagreement between Ballington Booth and his father, General William Booth, over the "Americanization" of the Salvation Army would lead to the resignation of Ballington and Maud Booth of their commissions in the Salvation Army.
Removed from their posts, but unable to turn their backs on their adopted country, Ballington and Maud Booth announced that they would start a new organization. With the backing of several influential politicians and religious figures, "God's American Volunteers" made its debut on March 8, 1896, but it quickly became known as the Volunteers of America. The mission was to "go wherever it was needed and do whatever work came to hand".
Both Ballington and Maud Booth succeeded beyond anyone's dreams in their quest to help others. They turned around a public hostile to the idea of street corner preachers, built the organization's membership, and kept it on sound financial footing. Under Ballington Booth's leadership, Volunteers of America added social service programs such as day nurseries, food pantries and affordable lodgings for working men and women. The organization flourished as those in need found refuge and strength in the institutions.
