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.

----      
2. Junior Soldiers  

2015 - 385994

2016 – 378881

---- 
3. Senior Soldiers

2015 – 1174913

2016 – 1056722

----

4. Soldiers (combined)
2015 – 1560607

2016 – 1435533

Decline – 125074

----    
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.

A Prophetic Word for The Salvation Army

I am no prophet.

Though, I have a word on my heart, for The Salvation Army.

Let it grip your heart and inspire you in 2015.

I pray that you would let the Holy Spirit's wisdom be upon you as you read this word, and let God give you a sense of its credibility and trustworthiness.

(I probably need to say it for someone reading: My views, thoughts and opinions come from Pete Brookshaw and not from The Salvation Army).


A Prophetic Word for The Salvation Army

The Salvation Army is restoring its focus. It's learning its identity again. Innovation is springing up from unlikely places. Salvation found in Jesus is becoming central once again. Holiness is getting a facelift. There is a growing, renewed faith-expectation within its officers, soldiers and friends of The Salvation Army. Some are saying, 'God has only just started with The Salvation Army!' Others are suggesting that, 'God is doing a new thing.'

See, God is the one who brings streams in the wasteland and it is in that place of wrestling with God in the desert, that God teaches tenacity and perseverance and can recalibrate a wrong direction.

One could say, the direction of The Salvation Army, at times, has been slightly askew. Maybe not by much. Though, if for 40 years you walk 1 degree off course, you understand the implications. In what way has The Salvation Army been off course? Good question. I suggest, we find ourselves off course from God's original intentions, when we care more about the status quo than we do about the transformative power of the gospel. I suggest we are off course, when we inherently embrace traditionalism as opposed to giving thanks for our tradition; when the useability or otherwise of our Corps buildings encapsulates our missional imagination; when trivial theological debates cause dissension and when contemporary church expressions of missiology wrongly redefine our salvationist identity.   

2015 is a big year for The Salvation Army. As we celebrate 150 years, would it be, that God is saying, 'Are you ready? Are you ready to embrace all I have for The Salvation Army?' It seems the Holy Spirit is stirring up Salvationists around the globe to recommit to their covenants and stay steadfast in their following of Jesus and helping the hurting and broken. In a world, that seems to 'have gone mad', the Lord is rising up a holy, loving army, that will represent to the world a Jesus who can bring peace into the midst of the madness.

Our God is boundless. No limits. Boundaries do not contain God. Now, if we have the Spirit of Jesus living inside of us, we live in a paradigm that is boundless. Many have said to me, that 2014, was something liken to walking up hill with a chain around your ankle. It was a difficult year, and yet some saw some great Godly outcomes. As we embrace 2015, we take hold of a year with boundless opportunities. We worship a God without limits. We believe for healing from a God who can heal. God has no financial debt too difficult to repay. There is no mission that is too arduous for God. There is no mountain that cannot be moved.

Get ready Salvation Army. Put on faith like a uniform. Be sure of what you hope for and certain of what you do not see. God is about to answer unanswered prayers, and bring fulfilment to broken dreams. This is a time of favour and a time of blessing. God is using the challenges that The Salvation Army have faced in recent days to build our resilience, right some wrongs and realign our focus.

The best days are still ahead for The Salvation Army.

This year, many Salvationists will see that.
  
The word is BOUNDLESS.

_____________________

Two BIG Posts you will want to read:

• Top 100 Leadership Tips
• 50 Salvation Army Officers I Admire...