We are
discussing 12 essential qualifications for local officers, and this is the
third and final list of four, all of which are lifted straight from “Orders and
Regulations for Local Officers”.
Qualification #9: The Local Officer wears full uniform
Wearing
uniform opens so many doors for The Salvation Army that are closed to other
branches of the Church. Even wearing an
informal identifier such as a red shield on a tee-shirt or a lapel badge on a
business suit can create amazing opportunities.
Just today I was talking to a Salvationist
who went straight from the Sunday meeting to lunch in a restaurant wearing her uniform. Even thought she felt a little self-conscious, she was delighted about the impact it had on
other diners and how it opened up conversations.
Modelling
the use of good uniform wearing is a key leadership component of the local
officer’s role. Of course, there are
various types and levels of uniform for varying occasions, and many of our new
converts, especially those who have not been exposed to many formal situations, need
to be shown how it’s done.
Qualification #10: The Local Officer has no dishonourable debts
Here we
are referring to overdue payments, skipped rents, etc. Given the nature of the problems of the people
we (profess to) reach out to, the least, the lost and the last, we should
expect a high degree of dishonourable debt amongst our new converts.
And in
fact, in our social programmes and in the corps that are effectively reaching
out to this sub-population, this is the case.
One of the things we work with them on in the early months and years
after conversion is resolving these debts.
For the
sake of the organisation it is important that these matters are dealt with
discreetly and promptly, and all the more so if there may be a chance that the
convert may become a local officer in the not-too-distant future.
When a
local officer and his corps is dragged into a legal dispute it creates a great
deal of pain, and sometimes corps do not recover from it. It's best to avoid it before it happens.
Qualification #11: The Local Officer has a “stewardship” way of
thinking
When we
became soldiers of The Salvation Army, we signed up to this promise:
“I will be a faithful steward of my time and
my gifts, my money and possessions, my body, my mind and my spirit, knowing
that I am accountable to God”
As for
Qualification #8 in my last post, if you are not 110% sold on this idea you
should seriously consider handing in your commission.
For
some Salvationists, stewardship is a value that is deeply embedded. But do not be fooled; stewardship is not the same as
meanness.
I have
heard of many cases of meanness being practiced in the name of stewardship that
has prevented God’s work going forward.
I have heard of evangelistic efforts being prevented in the name of
stewardship; I have been told of pastoral care being curtailed in the name of
stewardship; and I have witnessed social needs remaining unmet in the name of
stewardship.
Stewardship
means spending money on the right things; it does not mean refusing to spending
money. And the right things are those
that will take Jesus to the unsaved, will build up the spirituality of the
soldiers, will deliver compassionate care to those in hardship, and will drive forward the agenda for social justice. These
things we should never be mean about.
Qualification #12: The Local Officer lives to the highest moral
standard
The
role of the local officer includes being a model for the soldiers of the corps
to live by. What does the “highest moral
standard” look like?
Let’s
go back to the most basic expression of our commitments to God in the context
of The Salvation Army, the Soldier’s Covenant.
ü
Living
by the values of the Kingdom and not the values of the world (Article 2),
ü
Christian
integrity in every area of life (Article 3),
ü
No
thought, word or deed that is unworthy, unclean, untrue, profane, dishonest or
immoral (Article 3),
ü
Christian
ideals in all relationships (Article 4),
ü
Upholding
the sanctity of marriage and family life (Article 5),
ü
Abstinence
from alcohol, tobacco, other drugs, gambling, pornography, the occult, and anything
else that could enslave (Article 7).
Something to think about
- What is your attitude to uniform wearing? Are you the type of Salvationist who
wants to get out of uniform as soon as possible; or do you seek
opportunities to wear Army identifiers to open up the conversation about
Jesus?
- What is your view on stewardship? How do you walk the line between
meanness and wrongly spending God’s resources?
- Do you live to the “highest moral standard”? If not what areas of your life will you
need to change?
- You can use the Soldier’s Covenant as a daily
inventory to check in with God to make sure you are on track. Go to the Soldier’s Inventory at http://www.largedocument.com/4/05b189fa/The_Soldiers_Inventory.doc
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