Why The Salvation Army is in Decline and What We Can Do About it!

This may well be my most provocative blog yet. Sometimes things are just painful. If you don't like pain, please turn away now. And this blog comes with a warning; these are my thoughts and my musings, not that of The Salvation Army, nor those of my wife. My children are only 2, 5 and 7, so it sure ain't theirs either. You can blame me if you disagree.

The Salvation Army is in decline.

The quicker we acknowledge the truth, the better.

Stephen Court highlights some sobering statistics in a blog back on January 20th at Army Barmy. Let's look at the facts:

1. Number of Corps
2015 - 15636

2016 – 13826
Decline of 1810 in one year.

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2. Junior Soldiers  

2015 - 385994

2016 – 378881

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3. Senior Soldiers

2015 – 1174913

2016 – 1056722

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4. Soldiers (combined)
2015 – 1560607

2016 – 1435533

Decline – 125074

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5. Officers.

2015 – 26497

2016 – 26675

Before I highlight why I believe The Salvation Army is in decline, we might as well admit that it is. One does not deal with their alcoholism until they admit they're an alcoholic. 

Let me suggest some reasons WHY I think The Salvation Army is in decline and this is the bit that gets controversial:

• We have promoted music over mission
• We have placed the Holy Spirit into the pentecostal don't-dare-go-there basket
• We have created an unnecessary divide between evangelism and social work
• We have failed to call people to follow Jesus
• We have relied on our Public Image, more than our Image-giver
• We have taken our eyes off the radical mission God calls us to, and watered it down to a pew-warming, lovey-dovey envrionment that celebrates mediocority. And yes, I spelt mediocrity wrong, because I couldn't be bothered fixing it. Call me apathetic.
• Hmm... Should I go on?
• We lost sight of the identity of the Army, within the trappings of the Army, and are only now seeking to reclaim the identity that we so quickly dismissed.
• We call people to less than full salvation in Christ.

Maybe I've said too much and maybe the list is incomplete. Maybe we don't need to focus on such things? Maybe I'm being too pessimistic for once. Well, it's difficult to fix a problem you don't believe exists. 

Have a read of this:

Major Darren Elkington offers these provocative, yet insightful words, 'Sociologists would tell us that we are now living in a new age … that the old is gone … replaced by a new reality … that we are no longer living in the age of Christendom … but rather a new era … the post Christian era where every area of life is steadily being divorced from Christian ideals and re-interpreted in humanistic terms. Meaning that for many today, that the things that we cherish: God, Christ, grace, the cross, Easter … the church … is considered meaningless, irrelevant, and for some they would even go as far as saying to believe in that stuff is just strange or bizarre.

Now, like all new ideas … this is all debatable … and it’s certainly not my intention to debate whether or not this is indeed our new reality  … except to say … if it is true … then surely it requires a newness, a freshness, a new way of thinking and doing … Because if we simply continue operating under an old premise … or that this new division becomes no more than just the old division re-badged as new … then my prediction is that this new division will go the way of the old … each year producing less Soldiers, smaller congregations, fewer conversions, less ministry and more closures of corps.   

And so we need to embrace the new … new leadership, a new way of doing, new ideas, news initiatives, new possibilities, and as we do, I don’t believe it means that we have to re-invent ourselves.  This time last year, I arrived in back in Australia after being out of the country for the last 6 years … and what I’ve encountered on my return is a busy army, a diverse army, a social army, a uniformed army, a caring army, a fundraising army, a compliant army … and these are all good things in themselves to be … But God raised us up to be a Salvation Army … William Booth said it best.  This is our speciality: Getting saved, keeping saved, and getting someone else saved, and then getting ourselves mightily saved again and again.' 

 
So what can we do about it?

We need to be The Salvation Army. We don't need more facebook groups celebrating old Salvation Army buildings that have closed down, brass bands that had glory days in the 1970s and social media communities that are designed to have a whinge about the past, the present and anything worthy of trying to better the future. 

Fix your eyes upon Jesus, Salvation Army. God raised us up for more than good music, good social work and a comfortable Sunday morning. We are called to win the world for Jesus. Anything less is an insult to William Booth and a kick in the guts to Catherine. Re-embrace a radical, passionate, courageous faith in Christ, that causes you to substitute what is good, for what is great. Seek first the Kingdom of God. Pray like Jesus is coming back tomorrow. Live like you only have days left on the earth. Commit to sacrificial giving, disciplined obedience and compassionate gospel work.

Come on. Let's change the world.

Repent. Pray. Believe. Radically respond.

Some Salvation Army Stats Between 2001 - 2012 and the Way Forward

The Salvation Army is an active expression of God's mission in the world, and continues to serve many people, through active social and evangelical work. Below are a couple of graphs. Firstly, we see the number of officers in The Salvation Army in both 2001 and in 2012. Please note that the number of officers equal the number of active officers plus the number of retired officers.

The number of Salvation Army Officers, both active and retired as of both 2001 and 2012

Secondly, the below graph is the number of soldiers in The Salvation Army, both as of 2001 and in 2012.

The Number of Soldiers in The Salvation Army as of both 2001 and 2012

What can we make of these Salvation Army stats? Let's have a look. The number of soldiers in The Salvation Army has increased from 1,019,137 to 1,132,823 (up 113,686), an increase of 10.04%. Now, the number of active officers has gone from 17,417 in 2001 to 17,070 in 2012, a decrease of 1.99%.

Here is what I can gather from this data. There are slightly less active officers, and over 100,000 more soldiers. The logical conclusion? Salvation Army officers are probably needing to do more with less! Now, if The Salvation Army hierarchy, does not adapt to deal with more people 'on the forefront' of ministry, officers will have further increased demands on their roles. That's a challenge of leadership, creating a systemically, lean organisation (or rather movement), that continues to empower, equip and bless those who are at the grass-roots of ministry, serving Jesus.

We thank God for an increase over the last decade of soldiership numbers - people who identify as followers of Jesus within The Salvation Army and people willing to the best of their ability, live out the soldier's covenant. Though, we must continually pray and challenge people to step into officership. Why? I believe God still uses officership today, to allow people to fulfil an exciting role within the body of Christ; one of leading, pastoring, equipping, empowering and advocating.

There is more to say. There always is. The number of soldiers in proportion to countries? I would assume, some western parts of The Salvation Army are in decline and thus other parts of the world are growing rapidly. What is the attrition rate of officers? Are the number of cadets being commissioned higher or lower than previous years? The questions go on.

Keep serving the Lord. Make broken lives whole.

Also: What are the greatest challenges facing The Salvation Army?

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