Diagnosing Christian Formation

The Salvation Army’s ministries, while vast and varying from location to location, can be classified into five ministry areas: teaching, proclamation, worship, community, and service. In each of these areas, we will explore one aspect of Salvation Army ministry that is typically universal in The Salvation Army as a denomination, including the denominational contextual diagnosis and the challenges or risks that appear in many Salvation Army contexts.

Didache – Teaching

Bible study is one ministry that falls within the “teaching” area of Christian formation within The Salvation Army. Group Bible studies are relatively new in Christian history, beginning around the time of Pietism’s Philip Spener and his encouragement of lay-led, small-group Bible studies.¹ Continuing John Wesley’s practice, group Bible study is a regular part of Wesley-associated denominations, such as The Salvation Army. While there is no set or required curriculum or resources for group Bible studies, some Salvation Army congregations use pre-made resources from publishers. Others may choose to do a more inductive form of Bible study.

A primary challenge is the level of congregant engagement in Bible study ministries. In my experience, Bible study engagement is often among those who are consistent in their attendance at Sunday worship and engaged in other ministries throughout the week. Group Bible studies may risk alienating those who are new to the congregation or to this kind of Christian formation.

Kerygma – Proclamation

Sunday preaching has been a long-standing practice in the Christian formation of believers throughout history, dating back to Jesus and the apostles. The proclamation of scripture and the gospel message continues weekly in every Salvation Army church around the world. While the form may vary from location to location, proclamation is central to every worship service in The Salvation Army. Most Salvation Army officers (pastors) choose and develop their own preaching calendars, as lectionary use is minimal within the denomination. During some key seasons of the year, such as Lent/Easter and Advent/Christmas, denominationally produced resources may be utilised by some churches.

A challenge in the preaching ministry at many Salvation Army locations is the busyness of the officers (pastors) who preach on Sundays. Not only are they operating a major community resource centre, fundraising year-round, and leading other community ministries, but they must also make time for faithful study of scripture and sermon preparation. The temptation can be to use past sermons with little adjustment or to rely on externally published resources as a finished product rather than a template for contextual development.

Leiturgia – Worship

Worship development within The Salvation Army is also left to the officer’s (pastor’s) discretion. While they are trained in worship planning, the denomination does not have a set liturgy to be followed other than including key elements such as singing, prayer, scripture reading, an offering, a message, and a response time. Like proclamation, occasional denominational resources for key seasons will include pre-developed worship plans that can be adapted to the individual church. Even so, many church locations develop liturgies of their own – typical patterns of worship that are followed each week.

A risk for many churches is falling into the monotony of a repeated liturgy without consideration of its thematic or congregational context. Even the use of the denomination’s pre-developed worship plans for Lent/Easter and Advent/Christmas poses a risk of following the pattern without contextualising the materials to best fit the congregation. While structured liturgy is appropriate within Christian formation, it must always be done with a contextual understanding and adaptation to best fit the local setting.

Koinonia – Community

Many instances of community within The Salvation Army occur around a shared meal or coffee fellowship before or after the Sunday worship service. Throughout Christian history, community has often been built around the table through shared meals and fellowship. This form of community building is practised in many parts of The Salvation Army world as a casual and authentic means of strengthening Christian fellowship. While some locations may have other fellowship groups, such as an International Fellowship Group, Women’s Ministries, or small-group ministries, sharing a meal is a nearly universal community-building practice.

In my experience, the greatest challenge to community building is the lack of involvement from the whole church community. Many opportunities, such as shared meals or fellowship times, are open to the public and may attract many people from the community who are not associated with the church. Involvement of the congregation is key in these instances to be a witness to the community, but also to connect with those in the local area and to build authentic relationships as part of the overall Christian formation of the church.

Diakonia – Service

Service is the greatest strength of the global Salvation Army. Service within the local community can take many forms, but one that is primary in many contexts is support for those who are unhoused. This service builds community in a number of ways: those who are unhoused receive critical support through food, clothing, and shelter; donors have a cause to support financially as a service to their neighbours; congregants often participate in these kinds of service ministries; and the broader community may also support through volunteer work.

The risk in ministry to those who are unhoused is the temptation to support only the physical needs without addressing the individual's spiritual and emotional needs. As part of well-rounded support, attention must be given to the whole person and the systemic issues underlying the circumstances.

Community Connection

Most Salvation Army locations are very well connected to their local community and context. As both a church and a social service organisation, we have always connected those in need in the community with those who can give of their time or financial resources to support those needs. These connections also extend to local governments and those with policy-making influence to support the most vulnerable.

The challenge of The Salvation Army’s community connection in many places is that we are most known for our service and community building, while our teaching, proclamation, and worship may not be as well known. Minimising these parts of our overall ministry risks mission drift if we become too settled in simply being a social service organisation.

Each of these five areas is key for Christian formation within The Salvation Army, yet each one presents challenges and risks, primarily stemming from the status quo. Many of these practices find their origin in Christian history, yet it is for the church to contextualise them for today’s circumstances. The opportunity for many Salvation Army officers and lay-leaders is to develop teaching, proclamation, worship, community, and service ministries to drive intentional Christian formation and engagement within their own contexts.