OFFICERS

Salvation Army ministry is supervised by trained, commissioned officers.

 


After two successful years of residential training, cadets are commissioned as captains, and assigned to active duty while continuing their education. Captains are required to devote five years to additional studies.

    • These men and women have dedicated their lives, skills, and service completely to God. Lay members who subscribe to the doctrines of The Salvation Army are called soldiers. Along with officers, they are known as Salvationists.

      Candidates for officership undergo a one year preliminary training course. Then follows an intensive two-year course in residence at Salvation Army colleges. The curriculum combines theory and practice, with an emphasis on cultivation of the spiritual life. The curriculum includes Bible studies, Salvation Army doctrine and regulations, social and psychology studies, public speaking and preaching, church history, community relations, administration and accounting. Practical training includes pastoral care and evangelistic methods.

 


MY COVENANT

CALLED BY GOD
to proclaim the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
as an officer of The Salvation Army

I BIND MYSELF TO HIM IN THIS SOLEMN COVENANT
to love and serve him supremely all my days,
to live to win souls and make their salvation the first purpose of my life,

to care for the poor, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, love the unlovable, and befriend those who have no friends,

to maintain the doctrines and principles of The Salvation Army, and, by God’s grace to prove myself a worthy officer.
Done in the strength of my Lord and Saviour, and in the presence of the Territorial Commander, training college officers and fellow cadets.


 

Photo for Commissioning


    On commissioning they make a covenant:
    Training courses are available for officers wishing to specialize in a particular discipline. Institutes, seminars, and conferences are held to ensure that officers are informed of new and innovative programs and developments.

    Promotion is mainly based on length of service. The ranks are captain, major, lieutenant colonel, colonel and commissioner. The international leader holds the rank of general and is selected by the High Council, which is comprised of commissioners and territorial commanders.

    Salvation Army officers must devote full time to Army work. An officer who marries must marry another Salvation Army. Married captains and majors will individually carry the rank applicable to their own length of service, not that of their spouse. In case of married officers, the conferred ranks of lieutenant colonel, colonel and commissioner will be held jointly. As ordained ministers of the gospel, they are authorized to perform marriage ceremonies, funeral services, and child dedications. They also provide counselling and consolation to the bereaved.

    The Salvation Army provides officers’ living quarters and official transportation together with a monetary allowance. Sixty is the retirement age.

    The Salvation Army also employs lay personnel in clerical, technical, and professional posts.

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