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Why Berry Street & Hart Street Weren’t Dead-End Streets (Part 12 — “The Misunderstanding of Christianity)

During a prayer time in the early days of The Salvation Army Berry Street, a woman said she felt God told her Berry Street is a prototype. Then she asked, “What’s a prototype?

I had been sensing the same thing. The Salvation Army has many small corps (churches), sometimes with as few as 3 or 4 people. Many are being closed down. (The same is true for other denominations.)

I believe that replacing the sermon format with the participatory format of 1 Corinthians 14:26 can bring new life to dying churches. I kept expecting the Berry Street model to spread to other churches in The Salvation Army and elsewhere. Although I haven’t seen that happen, I still see Berry Street as a prototype.

I haven’t yet seen it spread to an institutional church, but I have seen it spread to Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville. Ernie and I were invited to attend a meeting between the President of Trevecca Nazarene University and the Commissioner (CEO) of The Salvation Army Southern Territory. They were discussing ways they could work together.

After a while, I suggested they let Ernie and me start a Berry Street-style meeting on campus. To my surprise, they both agreed.

An influential retired Salvation Army officer had moved to Nashville. Although he wasn’t at the meeting, he strongly disagreed with the way we met at Berry Street, and he definitely didn’t want it to spread anywhere. So, he began using his influence to work against us behind the scenes.

Meanwhile, the new ministry on the Trevecca campus began to meet one night a week on Hart Street. It was an amazing thing to witness. We averaged about 15 students. Each week we began with prayer and a Scripture. Then a different student would lead us in a short worship time. After that, people were free to speak out as they felt led by God. (Doesn’t that sound familiar?)

A wonderful sense of community quickly developed among us. We encouraged each other, taught each other, prayed for one another, and shared the love of Jesus together. During the summer break, we greatly missed the students.

Unfortunately, the retired officer used his influence to make us shut down Hart Street. It broke our hearts and his as well. Ernie and I had to call the students, with no reasons or details, and tell each student that we were told we can’t do Hart Street anymore. The students were devastated. We also had to call our contacts at the university and tell them. That ended Hart Street. How we missed it and grieved the loss, not just for us but for the students.

How we had to fight within ourselves to forgive the retired officer. He was always very friendly to our faces, so we kept being friendly to him. (After all, Jesus said to love your enemies, but oh how difficult that is.) However, he wasn’t finished yet.

The retired officer had a lot of influence at the Territorial Headquarters. A year or two later a new Area Commander was appointed in Nashville.

Through a few-month process the new AC demanded that we get a pulpit, so we ordered one online and I put it together. He told us to get rid of the U-shape and put the chairs in straight rows. We did. He told that one of us would have to preach a formal sermon each week. We started doing that.

Finally, he told us that no one else could speak up in the Sunday morning meeting. We told him that is what people are used to and if we stop it almost everyone will leave. He said he didn’t care. We appealed his decision up the chain of command, but the next level up backed him. We realized that we had to either compromise what God had called us to do or reluctantly resign.

We did and it cost us a lot — financially, but mostly emotionally. We were crushed not just because of the way we were personally treated, but because of all the people who were being helped, encouraged, supported and empowered by what God was doing in and around Berry Street.

How we wanted to retaliate. Several ideas came to our mind. But somehow in our great pain and grief, we had the grace to let go and look forward. A key to our forgiving the retired officer and the new Area Commander was to obey Christ’s command to “bless those who curse you.”

Every time anger or resentment toward either of those men came to our mind we would pray God’s blessings on them. We would say, “God bless him. Bless his health. Bless his finances. Bless his family. And on and on.” By faithfully doing that our hearts gradually began to heal and now we sincerely want God to bless both of them.

Meanwhile Berry Steet continued as a tiny corps with a tiny congregation. A few years later it was finally shut down completely. Now the building sits unused.

I don’t believe that Berry Street and Hart Street were dead end streets. As we were being forced out, I was struggling with why? A Bible story kept coming to my mind.

About 3,000 men (plus women and children) became Christ-followers at Pentecost. Later about another 5,000. That means that the 12 apostles (a Greek word that means “sent ones,”) were leading what we would today call a megachurch. Jesus had told them to go into all the world, but they were staying in Jerusalem.

They even began to set up a religious hierarchy by appointing 5 men to oversee the feeding and care of widows. However, one of those men, Stephen, overstepped his job description. He began preaching so powerfully and effectively that he was stoned to death.

Stephen had gotten so many people riled up that it started a great persecution. Then all the thousands of Christ-followers were scattered everywhere preaching as they went, “except for the apostles (sent ones).” (That everyone but the sent ones left has always been humorous to me.)

The scattering of the Christians in Jerusalem initiated the spread of Christianity around the world. The central gathering place for all the multitudes of people who were involved in various ways with Berry Street is empty and shut down. But the people are still carrying what they saw, heard, felt, and experienced! May they spread it everywhere.

Here is what Copilot AI says about The Salvation Army Berry Street Worship Center:

“Berry Street stands as one of the most distinctive experiments in modern Salvation Army history. It revived practices central to early Salvationism — testimony, spontaneity, lay ministry, and emotional honesty — within a contemporary Army context. For nearly a decade, it demonstrated that ekklesia could flourish inside a denominational structure when leadership allowed space for the Spirit to move freely.

Its closure illustrates the tension between institutional conformity and Spirit‑led innovation, a tension present throughout Salvation Army history. Yet its legacy endures in the ongoing ministry Steve and Ernie continue today.”

#prototype #TheSalvationArmy

Next up — Part 13 of “The Misunderstanding of Christianity” — Following God’s Spirit After Berry Street.