JAC Online

Leadership Book Review
- Leadership in The Salvation Army

by Commissioner Wesley Harris

BOOKS about leadership multiply upon book shelves as the need for good leaders becomes ever more apparent. Two such books, (‘Leadership in The Salvation Army’ and ‘Man with a Mission’) coming out of a Salvation Army context deserve wide readership.

‘Leadership in The Salvation Army’ is a case study in clericalisation by Major Harold Hill of New Zealand. This is a scholarly work and deals with a perceived tension between the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers and the specialist role of officers in our movement.

The author recalls that in 1978 General Arnold Brown provided for the word ‘ordain’ to be used in the commissioning of officers and the fact that some expressed reservations because of the eccelesiastical baggage the term might carry with it. (Did those of us commissioned earlier than 1978 lack anything essential provided by the introduction of the term? Or was it something cosmetic and in line with a developing preference for ‘churchy’ terminology in the Army?)

Major Hill draws upon an extensive knowledge of Army history as well as practices in other branches of the Body of Christ as he ponders the basic question, what is the difference between the officer and the non-officer? Perhaps he gives too little weight to the enormous influence of local officers in the Army from its inception and the growing authority of non-commissioned employees in our administration in modern times. Be that as it may be, questions about the unique position of officers still remain.

The opinion of this reviewer is that the essential difference is not in character or status but in availability, a readiness to go wherever their service can be best deployed. Availability is what gives officer-service added value. That is one of the many perceptions shared in a book which is certainly thought provoking.

 

 

 

   

 

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