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For Such a Time as This?
by Lieut.-Colonel Richard Munn
Reflections on Married Officer Leadership

  

Ecclesiastical Indignity

 

From her very conception she was different.  Born on the grimy streets of London’s east end and encircled by Victorian gin houses and other establishments of ill repute her open air preaching, uniform wearing, drum banging, brass playing, and flag-waving irreverence infuriated church officialdom and delighted the impoverished masses.  She unabashedly discarded the sacraments as ritualistic impediments to new birth in Christ and repeatedly called sinners to the ‘mercy seat’ instead.  She impiously composed new religious lyrics and inserted them onto jaunty music hall tunes, all for singular aim of attracting attention and reaching people spurned by the established church.  The assault incorporated both men and women as evangelists, preachers and leaders.  In the eyes of many, it was the latter gender that added yet one more ecclesiastical indignity to this ragamuffin battalion of embarrassing enthusiasts. 

 

From this inauspicious beginning, The Salvation Army has evolved into a multi-faceted international movement that is well respected for its discipline, pragmatism, frugality and compassion.  The rowdiness of the early decades may have tempered, and yet today’s cast of characters still evokes bemusement, people not quite appropriate for refined sanctuary or reflective academia.

 

 Along the way an interesting thing happened.  As others adopted her ideas and strategies, they became humdrum for her.  What originally seemed so innovative now seems routine.

 

The use of husband and wife teams is a good example.  The effectiveness and sheer novelty of the arrangement is now commonplace to most Salvation Army communities of faith.  It has been that way as long as Salvationists can remember.  Others are catching on.  Small businesses, large corporations, medical establishments, institutions of higher learning – and even the church – are beginning to see that a husband and wife team has something distinctly advantageous to offer. 

 

What’s going on here?  Are the Army’s once distinctively sharp features now camouflaged amidst a more conventional landscape?  Or is the movement poised to incisively engage a culture that is steadily inclining towards to her once avant-garde thinking?  Are the men and women of The Salvation Army ready ‘for such a time as this?’

 

Married Officer Couples

 

The Salvation Army has commissioned and given leadership to both men women since William and Catherine Booth founded the movement in 1865. While William is often recognized as the dominant founding figure, there is no doubt that Catherine had a vital influence upon both him and the theological framework of the Army. Roy Hattersley poignantly writes, “Without her it would have been a different movement, as William Booth, without her, would have been a different man.”  The expectancy that both husband and wife candidates apply together for Officership was thus assumed from the early years of the movement.

 

In most territories today, it is not that The Salvation Army permits – or even encourages – the ordination of husbands and wives; it insists that for either a husband or a wife to become a commissioned officer both spouses have to serve together.  One spouse alone cannot become commissioned.  Both husband and wife must profess a joint calling.  Both are commissioned together.  It is a uniquely identifying feature and theological distinction of the movement. 

 

The resulting fundamental leadership model for its community of faith is the married officer couple.  With 85% of its communities of faith headed by specifically appointed husband and wife teams The Salvation Army has the highest percentage of dual clergy couples of any protestant denomination.  Suffice it to say, the married officer couple is an inherent facet of the culture and organizational framework of The Salvation Army.  Management guru Peter Drucker even describes the husband-wife officer team ministry as one of the reasons for The Salvation Army’s “staying power.”

 

This legacy positions The Salvation Army to speak with some authority on the subject of dual clergy couples.  The denomination has had to wrestle with the pragmatic considerations of implementing dual clergy couple leadership for many decades.  As a result the movement is qualified to share its experiential reflections.   The Salvation Army has hundreds of experienced married officer couples that can offer counsel, insights and experience on the matter.

 

Conclusion

 

Missionally, The Salvation Army is effectively poised to engage a culture that is wrestling with the familial and marital ramifications of fully employed parents.  A healthy married officer relationship can publically model restoration amidst the broken relationship between men and women as a result of the fall.  In this sense it is powerfully evangelistic.

 

Structurally, The Salvation Army is positioned to attract the increasing numbers of couples looking for ministry opportunities together. Ecclesiologically, The Salvation Army is well qualified to contribute towards church dialogue that is now underway concerning couples in ministry.

 

Yes indeed, Salvation Army married officer leadership seems primed “for such a time as this.”

 

Are we ready to say, ‘I do?’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

   

 

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