IT'S NOW OR NEVER; Revitalise the SSO Proviso -1-

Ronald Reagan, while President of the United States, said, 

 “Status quo is Latin for, the mess we’re in”.

Twenty years ago while serving as a reinforcement officer in Sweden the then Chief Secretary, Sweden, lamented that the territory was experiencing the highest attrition rate in the Salvation Army world. It was the army I’d grown up in as a child, believed in and had, at age 40, left a successful career in the airline industry to invest my life and that of my family in. And here I was, back in Sweden observing an army like that of the country, seemingly neutral and unprepared for the onslaught and threat of secularity, modernity and materialism.

The CS’s words prompted me to put my market analysis skills to work, and with the help of a small Mac computer I analyzed soldier, officer and corps attrition rates of every SA territory worldwide. The countries experiencing the most losses did not really surprise me, aside from Canada perhaps. The attrition percentage losses were staggering. The Salvation Army’s active officer numbers were decreasing at an extraordinary rate, running as high as 70% in some countries.

at·tri·tion     -     noun          a reduction or decrease in numbers, size, or strength

The high attrition rate resulted primarily due the number of officers retiring against the dwindling number of candidates and cadets, in addition to a larger percentage of officer resignation.

Observers suggest that the numbers of "ex-pastors" roughly equals that of serving clergy throughout the Western world. This would mean people who have left the ministry number in the upper six-figures, and which would translate as tens of thousands in TSA. Research revealed that factors such as age, education and family relationships as the key contributing factors to decisions to leave the ministry.  The same factors hold true for the army as well.

 For some of the estimated 10,000 ex-pastors from Australian Protestant churches, their transition was a normal mid-career move, voluntarily entered into like many of the role exits described in the classic study by sociologist (and ex-nun) Helen Ebaugh.[23] Some denominations experience particularly high rates of attrition running as high as 80%.

Most resignations and the cause for fewer candidates was that many refused to accept the army's singularly unique policy; we'll tell you whom you are allowed to marry. 

As divorce laws changed making divorce easier to obtain the stigma of divorce was greatly reduced; the shame associated with divorce lessened. Sociologists point to a decline in the influence of religion as a major factor. Women were becoming more independent, with a good education, fewer children and with promising job opportunities outside TSA; it became easier for them to resign, remarry or start again. (approximately 70% of divorces are today initiated by women)

The attrition rate in TSA in the developed world has settled at just over 50%, an attrition rate that’s acknowledged and ‘accepted’ by many denominations. TSA’s attrition rates fluctuate, however, although resignations appear to have peaked, (If Crosses Come; Clifton The Officer) the problem remains to this day, albeit with some glimmer of hope for a turnaround.

(Ret) General Shaw Clifton shared that two principal reasons for leaving officership were:

“Domestics, marital or family issues:(25.29 %)

Marriage to non-officer: 15 (5.8 %)

It is recognized that some officers represented in these figures left officership not wishing to do so, such as those leaving because a spouse was obliged to leave through… a marital breakdown (not every territory has embraced the option of ‘single spouse’ officership) Thus the total of those positively wishing to leave officership is actually well below the (published figure).”

(Many of those who left had no choice due the army's position on marriage/divorce. FSAOF Editor)

Had TSA enacted major, and for the SA radical, changes three or four decades ago they might well have prevented, or at the very least, stemmed the seemingly irreversible losses; thousands of officers and tens of thousands of soldiers deserted the army, God’s army to which they’d sworn life-long devotion., True, many are today faithfully serving God in other churches and fellowships. However, the root of our (SA) problem was that we’d become mired down in adhering to an antiquated status quo.

The army’s regulation required officers to step out for a minimum of two years while separation and divorce proceeding were finalized. During their ‘without appointment’ period many found fulfilling employment that negated the desire and necessity of returning to officership. One can only speculate on how many officers were forever lost by enforcing a regulation other churches deemed un-Christian; excluding one’s own from employment when most needed. 

(Ret) Commissioner Kay Rader in Conversation on Officership in July, 2010, Lexington, Ky. USA said; “Officership is belonging to an elite ‘company of the committed. The fellowship among the officers with whom we may be privileged to serve, is beautiful.”

Sven Ljungholm, Liverpool Birkenhead Corps