• What is an Officer?
• Your call to serve
• Your covenant
• Your commission
• More information

     What is an Officer?

“Your days at the most cannot be very long,
so use them to the best of your ability
for the glory of God and the
benefit of your generation”

The idea of a special call from God is at the heart of being an officer. We want as many people as possible to be officers in The Salvation Army, but only as many as God calls to this life—no more, no less. If you’re not called to be an officer, then you shouldn’t be one. But if you are called, then anything else becomes second best.

Every Christian has a calling. One of the most important things we can do is find out what our calling is. We were made by God to fulfil our calling, and gifted by the Holy Spirit for a purpose. Each of us is unique, designed by God, purpose-built. We need to discover our purpose to find our way to fulfilment, effectiveness, and joy.

"There is nothing that beats doing
the thing God wants you to do ."

What’s the difference?

Officership looks like The Salvation Army equivalent to ‘ministry’. Catholics have priests; Anglicans have vicars; Presbyterians have ministers; Baptists have pastors; and Salvationists have officers.

However as Salvationists, we believe in the priesthood of all believers. Every Christian has a ministry as a member of the Body of Christ.

Functionally, the two most important things about officership are leadership and ministry. But in the Army we have leaders who are not officers and officers who are not leaders. And we also have ministers who are not officers and officers who are not ministers. So what is special about an officer?

It is your calling to serve the Lord.