Evangeline C. Booth: A World for God | 1865-1950
“The world for God! The world for God! I give my heart! I’ll do my part! The world for God!” –“The World for God,” a hymn by Evangeline Booth
Biography:
Evangeline Cory Booth was born in London in 1865 as the seventh of eight children. She was raised in an active Christian home. Her parents, William and Catherine Booth, were the founders of the Salvation Army, a humanitarian organization that sought to minister to both the physical and spiritual needs of Great Britain’s most downtrodden citizens. As a child, she played and sang music at her parents’ evangelistic meetings, and she began speaking and working more actively in the Army as a teenager.
Evangeline was well known for her public speaking ability and her genuine care for the less fortunate. When her brother, who led the American branch of the Salvation Army, tried to break off and form his own organization, her father—then-General of the Army—sent her to ease the tension and disband the separatist group, which she did. She became commander of the Canadian branch of the Salvation Army in 1896. In 1904, she became commander of the American branch, an office she would hold for 30 years. She expanded the ministry of the Salvation Army, opening soup kitchens, nursing homes, and hospitals for single mothers, as well as providing jobs for the unemployed and those in prison. She organized the Army’s first major disaster relief work after the earthquake and fire of San Francisco in 1906. This humanitarian aid caused the good reputation of the Salvation Army in the United States to be firmly established. Evangeline also sent “doughnut girls” to serve food to soldiers on the front lines during World War I. Though she never married, she adopted and raised four children, one of whom became a Salvation Army officer.
In 1934, Evangeline was appointed general of the international Salvation Army, head of the entire organization. She was the first woman to hold the office. She traveled all over the world, delivering speeches and urging all manner of people to hear the Gospel. Evangeline served for five years as general before retiring in 1939. She died in 1950 at the age of eighty-four.
Lessons from Evangeline Booth’s Life:
Evangeline spent her life in full service for others in the name of Christ. She accomplished monumental feats in organizing disaster relief, establishing Salvation Army stations around the world, and addressing thousands of people at a time. But she also was faithful in more personal acts: she wrote hymns and dressed like those she served in order to better minister to them. Evangeline was often described as “genuine,” because she truly cared about and empathized with those she helped. It is one thing to serve others out of guilt or feelings of necessity, but the true calling of Christians is to serve others with joy and love because we want to, not because we have to.
While Evangeline did so much to help the less fortunate physically, her greatest accomplishment was the spread of the Gospel. She knew that telling others the truth of God’s Word was the Salvation Army’s most important calling. At her retirement from the office of Salvation Army General, she wrote in an Army publication: “As General, my first charge to you was, ‘Preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.’ My last word to you as General is again, ‘Preach Jesus Christ.’ Preach Christ … as the Supreme Gift to a world lost without Him.”
Evangeline Booth in Her Own Words:
“There is no reward equal to that of doing the most good to the most people in the most need.”
“Who can estimate the wealth of worth caged in a little child?”
“Drink has shed more blood, hung more crepe, sold more homes, plunged more people into bankruptcy, armed more villains, slain more children, snapped more wedding rings, defiled more innocence, blinded more eyes, dethroned more reason, wrecked more manhood, dishonored more womanhood, broken more hearts, blasted more lives, driven more to suicide and dug more graves than any other evil that has cursed the world.”
“It is not how many years we live, but what we do with them.”
What Others Said About Evangeline Booth:
“She created homes for the homeless, friends for the friendless, and jobs for the jobless. Against tremendous odds, she established faith and hope where it had not existed before.” –A Salvation Army commander at her funeral
Sources
Inspiringquotes.us Top 50 EVANGELINE BOOTH quotes and sayings
AZquotes.com QUOTES BY EVANGELINE BOOTH | A-Z Quotes
RenewYourThinking.net Evangeline Booth | Renew Your Thinking
SalvationArmy.org EVANGELINE | Honoring General Evangeline Booth during Women’s History Month – The Salvation Army Western Territory
Christianity.com Evangeline Cory Booth Spent Her Years for God – 1901-2000 Church History | Christianity.com
About the Author
