“Like a mighty army moves the church of God” may be the blueprint in a familiar hymn, but it has not always been observed. In fact, someone wrote a parody of this particular verse of “Onward, Christian Soldiers,” and it runs like this:
Like a halting caravan
Moves the church of Christ;
We are feebly faltering
Toward our timid tryst.
We are all divided,
Many bodies we,
Kept apart by doctrine
And lack of charity.
Careful, Christian pilgrims
Walk in doubt and fear,
With the cross of Jesus
Bringing up the rear.
source J. Vernon McGee