THE Salvation Army's International Moral and Social Issues Council (IMASIC) met at Sunbury Court, near London, with a new chair, Colonel Geanette Seymour. The members of IMASIC are drawn from around the world and meet twice a year, with further work undertaken between meetings. IMASIC supports The Salvation Army as it seeks to influence global trends and events in the economic, social and moral spheres.
In order to maximise its contribution, The Salvation Army has formulated a comprehensive range of international and territorial positional statements that clearly outline its views on major social and moral issues. IMASIC develops international positional statements and reviews territorial positional statements before they are submitted to the General for approval.
Positional statements express the scriptural basis for the statement and the principles underlying it. They are intended to provide information to the public and guidance to Salvationists. While it is understood that individual Salvationists may hold different views on some subjects, official statements made on behalf of The Salvation Army by its officers and those who speak for the movement must be consistent with the stated position.
Although much careful and prayerful thought is given to each positional statement before publication, they are all subject to periodic review. They may therefore be said only to represent the considered view of The Salvation Army on a given subject at a certain point in time.
Approved international positional statements are available online (www.salvationarmy.org/isjc). These currently include statements on Suicide Prevention; The Salvation Army and the State; The Use of Power; Human Trafficking; Abortion and Sabbath Observance.
Report by Major Dean Pallant
Secretary for IMASIC
Photo shows International Moral and Social Issues Council members: (front row from left) Major Aida Ali, Colonel Geanette Seymour (Chair), Colonel Naomi Lalngaihawmi; (back row) Dr James Read (Vice Chair) Dr Roland Stettler, Major Campbell Roberts, Major Lee Kong Yee, Commissioner Kenneth Hodder, Mrs Kathy Tsikirayi, Commissioner William Cochrane, Commissioner Carol Seiler, Major (Dr) Dean Pallant
