SALVATION ARMY - who are you? – Part 1

By David Woodbury

Open-air meeting at Auburn C1958.

Recently, the Heritage Centre posted on Facebook an image of an open-air meeting at the suburban corps of Auburn, in Sydney. Having spent my formative years in this corps the photograph piqued my interest and I was able to identify several people in the picture including the then Territorial Commander, Commissioner (Later General) Frederick Coutts.

It started me thinking about The Salvation Army then and now, and pondered on how much things have changed. A question ran through my mind:

Do we today, still have the same strong sense of identity?

As I remember the Army, at the corps level, in the 50s through to 80s it had little doubt about its identity even though some saw us as different, even a little quaint, but an organisation that promoted a brand of Christianity with its sleeves rolled up. It was this uniqueness and action that marked us out from other religious movements. It may well be that the general public was well and truly aware of us in the public space, due in part to our brass bands which would be found in most medium to large corps. 

Most corps operated a comprehensive range of programs and activities for all who called The Salvation Army their spiritual home. On almost every day of the week, there were activities across a broad age range. All this contributed to a strong sense of community within the local corps. There was a strong sense of family with many corps having generational membership. The Auburn Corps had several sets of fathers and sons playing in the band.

Corps Cadet Congress - Sydney C1972.

Corps cadets, Junior Soldiers, Directory all provided sound instruction, training and fellowship for young people coupled with a comprehensive Sunday School program.

Singing companies, junior bands, junior timbrel brigades and SAGALA sections also provided spiritual, social and intellectual participation for young people. 

Home league, evening fellowships and SAGALA sections all provided fertile grounds for evangelical outreach. In some corps, an emergency services unit was a warm area for the involvement of those on the fringe of the corps.

Among all these positives some that needed a clearer and more objective focus. In many ways, we were an over-regulated and at times, legalistic movement. Our preoccupation with the numerous orders and regulations occupied too much time and energy. The reality was that at times, they assumed almost biblical authority which often contradicted common sense.

Drawing by Lindsay Cox

Much debate took place over the length of men's hair, the length of women's skirts etc. During this time an attempt was made to simplify uniform with many corps still having distinctive trimmings dating back to the first half of the century. However, the introduction of festival coats in corps bands was questionable given our mission focussed calling, as was our almost obsessive pursuit of musical excellence which, in some ways, deflected us from our primary mission.

Whatever the strengths and weaknesses of the Army in this period it was a very stable and functional organisation, perhaps, due in large to three distinctive characteristics;
It had standards,

It had structure,

And it had programs

Any organisation, be it commercial or religious needs these three fundamental characteristics if it is to be effective and grow. Right up until the early 80s the Army still had these structures in place. Subsequently, these three fundamentals began to weaken in the mid-eighties and the soldier’s roll went into steep decline. Along with all this went a weakening of our identity.

There were many positive and beneficial programs in that era. Some still exist in certain corps but a mere shadow of what we once were. Some matters needed to be addressed and re-directed. However, as often happens in the world of humanity; when the pendulum swings, it swings too far, and it may well be that we threw out the baby with the bathwater.