SALVATION ARMY - who are you? – Part 2

Significant influences

By David Woodbury

From the 50s through to the 80s significant changes took place both within the community and The Salvation Army. On 5 November 1956 television broadcasts began in Australia, an event that was to impact the community in many ways and change how which we allocated our time. In many respects, TV ushered in the electronic revolution with its computers, mobile phones and other electronic devices making a significant impact on our lifestyles.

It may well be that there other cultural issues were impacting the decline of The Salvation Army but we cannot just ignore the strong influences of the Charismatic Movement and church growth philosophy. The latter may not have been a cultural or theological fit for The Salvation Army in Australia. These influences at the time were not only popular but actively encouraged and promoted by some in leadership and became part of Salvation Army practices. 

During the 1980s officers in the erstwhile Australia Eastern Territory were increasingly exposed to allegedly church growth experts more often than not from American, personality-centred mega-churches such as Robert Schuller, John Wimber, Wayne Cordeiro, Bill Hybels, and Rick Warren etc. Large financial resources were spent on sending officers to some of these centres, mostly in the United States, to learn church growth principles which would, we hoped, reverse the perceived decline in our organisation; a practice that continued for some decades. No doubt some officers benefited personally from the strategy; however, there was no impact on the territory.

If this philosophy had been correct, then our soldier’s roll would have continued to grow, however, quite the reverse is true. From around that time, the soldier’s roll went into freefall. From 13,257 soldiers in the late 1980s, we have declined to 7,880 by 2016 (around 41% decrease). Now while there may be some cultural issues present and given the fact that Papua New Guinea was separated from the Eastern Territory in this period, the decline is still quite dramatic. Like any army around the world, be it military, secular or spiritual, our strength is measured in our enlisted personnel. An army without soldiers is a contradiction in itself.

While this decision, to go down the path of the American mega-church movement, was no doubt taken in the belief that this was a correct decision, however, in hindsight its impact is questionable and it may well be that this influence has not only weakened The Salvation Army but also eroded our authentic identity. The decision to persist with this policy when obviously it was not producing results is quite puzzling and we can only speculate on the mindset behind it.

The Charismatic movement introduced a style of community that in some ways, appealed to more secular standards with an emphasis on entertainment in its services and a bent towards emotionalism. Fluid congregations and church hopping, or church shopping became more commonplace, a phenomenon that was in some ways foreign to The Salvation Army. 

It had a more self-orientated, inward focus with an emphasis on spiritual gifts and one-directional music that focused largely on the relationship between the church member and God. In comparison, The Salvation Army had broader spectrum music that addressed the relationship between the Salvationist and God but also included a call to holiness and an emphasis on the Salvation of others.

Many probably concluded that since these charismatic churches were drawing significant numbers of attendees, this is the way to improved attendance in The Salvation Army. The reality is that numbers do not necessarily indicate God’s blessing and, as with any human institution, good public relations and slick advertising and presentation, can generate a following. While there are exceptions, in some areas today many local Salvation Army corps look, and sound little different to the contemporary church down the road and have lost their distinct sense of identity.

As these influences impacted our movement we became less focussed on soldiership and sought other levels of membership that required less commitment, sacrifice and dedication. With the adoption of charismatic and mega-church philosophies it may well be that we have lost our uniqueness and with it, our identity.

Perhaps it is worth noting that The Salvation Army in the developing countries, particularly on the African content, is growing significantly with a more traditional Salvation Army identity, yet with its own, cultural persona. Are we to conclude that the traditional Salvation Army model, with its unique identity, is no longer workable in western culture?