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How Can The Salvation Army Move Forward?
Discovering Simplicity in Complexity
by Captain Pete Brookshaw

Do we trust each other? 

You may wonder why I start this article with such a vague, seemingly innocuous question. Though, think about it for a moment… do we trust each other? 

I’m about to dig deep into the heart of organizational life, so brace yourself. If I push a few buttons, please forgive me.  

Without trust organizations cut themselves off at the knees. Decisions take far too long to make. Leaders in authority hold on to power for fear of what delegating would mean. People on the frontline skip around the edges and produce mediocrity (Though they produce great mediocrity. They are not mediocre in their mediocrity). An organizational system can perpetuate distrust with over-regulation and policies and procedures that produce a great strain on a movement. 

Let me delve straight into what I am about to ask. 

In The Salvation Army do we trust each other? Do we trust Divisional Commanders with their financial budgets? Do we trust corps officers to do their job well? Do we trust employees to make the right decision? Do we trust soldiers in our corps to lead the ministry with skill, passion and integrity? 

If the question is yes on all accounts, then read no further. This article is useless and deserves being discarded. 

Are you still reading?  

When a movement becomes a bureaucracy it is difficult to become a movement again. Rules and regulations become the norm and dynamic, vibrant, apostolic ministry fades into the distance as a mere memory in a movement’s history. Now, transitioning from a movement to a machine is never an intentional desire of those within the movement. The push towards regulation and control is seemingly what happens. Look at the movement John Wesley first began. Look at the first three hundred years of rapid Christian growth, followed by the official establishment of the church in the early 4^th Century.  

Most of this is not intentional. Remember when The Salvation Army began? Ministry on the streets. The drunkard being converted. The prostitute redeemed. The word ‘church’ was not used. We were a ‘mission’. A new denomination was never on the cards. 

But then someone donated some money, and someone had to decide where it got banked. 

Then someone asked a Salvation Army Officer to officiate their wedding, but the Officer was not officially ordained. 

Then someone donated food, and a leader had to find somewhere to store it. How would the food stay fresh? Who will ensure the food won’t make people sick? 

Then Elijah Cadman started wearing uniforms. Others began wearing uniforms. Someone said, ‘Why don’t we create uniforms across the board? Wait a minute who will design the uniforms? How will we pay for them? What distribution channels will we use? Maybe if we buy in bulk we could save? 

The shift from momentum to machine is very rarely intentional. It is what happens over time. We witness the clericalisation of clergy and the establishment of structure. Decision-making now has process, and leaders are held firmly to particular expectations, not just on character, but on systematic processes related to the organization. 

Here’s where trust comes in. Let me make the following assumption:

Movements implicitly trust people.

An organizational machine implicitly distrusts people.

There is a lever where trust shifts from unconditional confidence to conditional confidence. Apostolic ministry when it is dynamic, risk-taking, faith-filled and passionately bold empowers people to ‘try’ and ‘give it a shot.’ Leaders have unconditional confidence in the capacity of its people and there is excitement and faith amongst those serving. When the lever shifts to conditional confidence, for good or bad reasons, the faith wanes, the excitement is hard to produce and the results show it. The apostolic ministry in the midst of conditional confidence is hard work. One can only makes decisions based on certain criteria, they can only spend certain amounts of their budget and they cannot do certain things because of safety, risk, legalities, finance, personnel and authority. The dynamism is lost in the midst of well-founded concerns of administrative process.  

When we move from a movement to a machine, we move from trust to a lack of trust. That’s what it seems to me. It may not be intentional. It may not be ‘on purpose’. It is what happens in bureaucracies. Systems are put in place to support the organization, but become such that they fundamentally suppress that which they attempt to support. 

How do move forward? 

We cannot compromise on safety. We cannot compromise on certain legalities around our work in the world in today’s context. Some of you wanted to hear that. Here’s the challenge… what drives you? Are you driven by a desire to tick the Workplace, Health and Safety Box for the sake of compliance, or is it a means to an end, in order that we could help facilitate innovative, creative, dynamic communities of faith that make a global difference? 

We must push to move from a machine to a movement. It is happening in places. Absolutely. Praise the Lord. We pull The Salvation Army towards recapturing a movement mindset by doing the following:

·                     Making systems lean and not over-regulated

·                     Give Officers and employees greater freedom in financial matters, while safeguarding against corruption/abuse of finance

·                     Push against a silo mentality that seeks to establish successful departments, but rather seek a successful overall organization

·                     Put money where the mission is

·                     Give greater authority down the chain, with a fundamental trust that leaders are capable to do their job and do it well

·                     Flatten the global structure of the Army, without losing the essence of para-militaristic foundations

·                     Stay focused on mission

·                     Narrow the focus of the organization to what really matters

·                     Create one-touch decision making. (I talk to John Smith and he says yes or no on whether I can proceed).

·                     Give prayer a greater emphasis.

There is always more to be said, though let me finish with this. When Jesus was confronted by the religious leaders of his day, they challenged him to recall to them the greatest commandment in the law. Jesus’ answer was surely a breath of fresh air to an over-regulated Jewish establishment that had learnt to make rules and regulations their lifestyle. He responded by effectively saying to ‘Love God’ and ‘Love others.’ This is crucial. Even with understanding the importance of the Mosaic law, Jesus brought simplicity out of complexity. He narrowed the focus and communicated what was of utmost importance. 

May God give wisdom to The Salvation Army in these years ahead, so that we can discern how to create simplicity from complexity, in ways that produce Godly outcomes in an organization yearning to be a dynamic movement that transforms the world.

We can certainly do this.