Things happen when institutions listen...

Something amazing happened this week. The Bank of England, one of the country's oldest institutions, listened to the voices of 35,000 people when it changed its plans not to feature any women on banknotes and announced Jane Austen will appear on the next £10 note.

Things happen when institutions listen to the voices of the people, or as in our case, its share-holders…

MANIFESTO OF NOMINEE FOR GENERAL

The issues that face The Salvation Army today are unlike any others that previous High Councils have faced. The world is a far far different place from the one that existed when General William Booth started the Christian Mission. It is markedly different from the world in which Evangeline Booth wrapped herself in the flag in front of a hissing crowd.  It differs even from what it was when Generals Gowans and Larsson were in office.  And the rate of change is only accelerating.

The world today expects a level of behaviour from leadership that is markedly different to expectations in days past; expectations in the workplace, the marketplace, the government and in the church. And if the behaviours do not meet the expectations, the repercussions are inevitable.  These expectations all condense down into one simple but deep concept:  accountability.

Accountability is necessary. It is fundamental. And it has gone missing from the leadership of The Salvation Army.

It is one thing to maintain confidentiality about certain matters. Everyone understands and respects the need for privacy in certain personal matters.  But the secrecy and lack of transparency that has developed amongst the leadership of The Salvation Army at all levels is troubling. Platitudes no longer work. Blindly saluting the flag and marching forward no longer work. Silence is unacceptable.  Our officers, our soldiers, our adherents, and our donors – they expect our leadership to be upfront and forthright about issues. Honest answers are needed. Explanations are expected. Where transparency lacks, distrust grows.

I want Salvationists to have far greater involvement in the running of The Salvation Army. The present system, in which key decisions are made in secret by a small number of people, is unsustainable in the modern world. Most Salvationists do not understand the administrative running of their own organisation. They know not who makes what decisions nor the reasons why these decisions are made.  We must find ways of opening up the decision-making process if we are to develop an informed and involved membership capable of helping The Salvation Army to address the challenges of an information-literate world in which the qualities of inclusion, accountability and transparency are held to be more precious with virtually every passing day.

I will make Transparent Governance the key target of my Generalship.  I will make the following information freely and easily available via the internet:

The Salvation Army Act 1980

The constitution of The Salvation Army

The process by which officers are promoted to higher ranks

The workings of the High Council

The trusteeship of The Salvation Army – members, election, responsibilities

The “cabinet” model of leadership – both internationally and in territories.

Consistency is another area where the leadership of The Salvation Army has not led well. Yes, we are a church, but we must also operate with a fair and consistent set of standards for all. The policies and procedures for one must apply to all, and where there are exceptions, they must have documentation for the exceptions also. We all understand that there are differing legal requirements specific to the locations where The Salvation Army operates which may cause variations in the content and application of the policies and procedures, but the underlying principle must be maintained. For too long, capricious leaders have denied benefits, support and proper procedures to those that have displeased them personally. And the underlying reason, again, is that the accountability has not been there to keep the leadership in line.  I will initiate a review of all our policies and procedures, to ensure that they are robust enough to provide consistent guidance and protection for operating in the modern world.

The Salvation Army consists not only of those who would wear the red on their shoulders. It would be a mistake indeed to think that it is only the officers who make The Salvation Army what it is. The lack of respect shown to the soldiers, adherents, employees, volunteers and advisory board members is becoming epidemic. No officer should mistreat, demean, dismiss, degrade or otherwise debase any non-officer. The leadership is accountable to take action when reports of such abuses are received. Sadly, too many times, the leadership locks step and huddles into the red-epaulet club.  A deafening silence from Territorial and international leaders has been the response to several recent appalling abuses, even when those abuses have been detailed to them personally.

Accountability means that when there is an issue that must be addressed, then the leadership steps up and addresses it – not with platitudes or well-crafted press releases that use many words to say nothing – but with well-reasoned, scripturally-sound responses. Will all of the stands be popular? No. In fact, many may be quite unpopular. But Christ did not call us to be popular – He called us to be salt and light.

In order to create a culture of accountability for the future we need forums that check power at all levels.  We will introduce empowered committees of soldiers of all ages and officers of all ranks who can provide a broader range of views to decision makers, and show a respect for the principles of checks and balances.  The evidence is clear that this kind of transparency leads to improvements.  We will move from a culture of control to a culture of empowerment.

To address past concerns, I will establish an internal enquiry into standards of pastoral care within the organisation, particularly focusing on appropriateness of pastoral response to issues of historical abuse and other matters raised at Territorial level.  We know that improvements result from being honest and open about failures in the system, and by confronting them.  I will also re-open the discussion about introducing an Ombudsman for officers who feel they have a grievance that is not being adequately addressed by our leadership. 

And we will not be afraid to apologise.  We must sadly accept the reality that The Salvation Army has been the instrument of hurt to many many people.  In recent times some Territorial Commanders have been brave enough to apologise on behalf of The Salvation Army to those that have been hurt.  In the wider world, other churches have apologised, even governments have apologised.  This General of The Salvation Army will not be afraid to apologise where abuses come to light.

We must have a change to our leadership structure;  it can't continue being based essentially on age and length of service.  As many a past Commissioner and even General has commented - if they had been given the job when they were twenty years younger they would have had the energy and the drive to see it through.  There is also a real danger that the current system is inherently designed to self-replicate:  the only candidates who are likely to have survived the system long enough to reach high office are those who are suited to precisely that system, and therefore they cannot see the need to change or to modernise or to become more accountable.

We must see a change in the style of leadership too.  We find ourselves inheriting a situation where gradual change will no longer get the job done - a series of dynamically led step changes is required.  That will require bravery.

Financially, the leadership must become accountable to the soldiers and to those who donate monies and materials. This accountability must be provided by means of external accounting and auditing firms. No longer is our internal accounting and auditing sufficient to answer questions. We must bring in external auditing to address our financial accountability.  It is not enough to do the right thing, we must be seen to do the right thing.

The world is changing, and while Christ calls us to be in the world but not of the world, we are accountable to reach the world. And to reach the world, The Salvation Army needs to be culturally relevant. In some areas there have been forays into relevance – most often on the technological side of things. This is good, but it is not enough. We must learn again that, like Jesus, we need to sit with the tax collectors and the prostitutes, the riff-raff and the downtrodden. Not many of those people were found in the temple. I will allow the vision to expand. We should not hold on to the icons of our past so tightly that we cannot grasp the new.

The Salvation Army is one of the most heavily centrally-influenced churches in the world, but it is to our detriment that people all over the world feel the need to imitate what are essentially English Victorian musical styles.  Music is one of the key media we utilise, both in our worship and our evangelism, but it should not be the only one, and it should be set free from the shackles of the past.  Mission should come before music.  The Music Ministries Unit at UK THQ is no longer fit for purpose, they have failed to provide a lead in engaging with modern musicians and musical styles, and have effectively strangled most other art forms.  As it appears that many Territories around the world take a lead from UK music, I will abolish the Music Ministries Unit and replace it with a Creative Arts Dept, as already exists in Australia, with a clear mandate to embrace and support all arts in the service of the Gospel.  Furthermore, these arts should embrace local diversity and culture wherever possible, to empower our soldiery to communicate with their peers in the manner Frederick Booth-Tucker adopted when he landed in India.

We must regain our "whosoever" identity.  At the moment we sing it but we don't enact it.  We have managed to make ourselves so exclusive, over so many decades, that we don't even notice we're doing it.  We have found all kinds of ways of making it impossible for people to "belong".  We discriminate against people on the basis of membership, gender, sexuality, clothing (uniform), the type of music they prefer, and all manner of other unimportant issues.  We've even developed our own language (terminology) to help us exclude the uninitiated.  John Gowans wrote "You've got to conform to belong, we've all got to sing the same song" to illustrate the conflict in the musical Hosea, but we seem to have made it become reality.  We must return immediately to being the church that truly welcomes all and can find a place for everyone.  And yes that does mean addressing the LGBT issue directly.  We must once again become the inclusive church.

As you seek God’s guidance and direction, you are individually accountable to ask the hard questions, those that get to the true character of the next General. We need a leader who has the utmost integrity and who has the bravery to take on these massive challenges.  We will only be as good as our leadership. And if our leadership fails us, then The Salvation Army will soon cease to exist as the powerful force for God and for good that it once was.

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