After what has been a very strange few weeks of conversation with our Army leaders, the conclusion that has been decided upon is that we will no longer be Salvation Army officers. This fills us with a great sense of grief and profound disappointment. No words to adequately describe all that resides in our heart … More Farewell Post

Martin Thompson recently asked for some recent books that have rocked your world. There are a couple of books that have literally caused earthquakes (and the accompanying devastation!) in my life recently. Here they are: You See Bones by Floyd McClung: McClung outlines his vision for simple, reproducable church planting movements. The whole vision just … More Books for the Revolution

This is snippets of an appendix to Phil Wall’s book “‘I’ll Fight…’ Holiness at War” from way back in 1998. Having talked in the book about the call to mission and pragmatic holiness, Phil addresses officership in the context. The whole book is worth reading, but these thoughts are particularly helpful in the context of … More Phil Wall on Officership (1998)

The best way I can think to sum up what I’ve been saying here is to point to the model of the body of Christ. We’re not made up of individuals, we are in community together. We are supposed to function as a body, as members of each other. I really want to emphasise this … More Thinking out loud about leadership (7) In conclusion…

I am someone who, like almost everyone else, has been under authority, had authority, shared authority and, on occassions, rebelled against authority! I guess its one of those things that’s part of our lives and we all react differently too it and act differently when we have it. There are, of course, different kinds of … More Thinking out loud about leadership (6) Authority

So…in this emerging alternative view of officership, how are officers recruited? What are they recruited for? Answer: they are not recruited. If we go with officers functioning as apostolic overseers or as apostolic workers, these people would be functioning primarily out of an apostolic gifting, spirit given and spirit annointed. If they’ve got it, they’ve … More Thinking out loud about leadership (5) Officer recruitment

I sigh a sigh of relief as I move on from discussion of what I consider to be a devilish doctrine of clericalism to promote and, maybe even to some people, introduce the concept of officership as ‘apostolic’ in function. Let me introduce here, again, my model from the second post in this series which … More Thinking out loud about leadership (4) The officer as ‘apostolic overseer’

Now, having said what I’ve said in the previous two articles in this series, I now move on to something which sits on the nest of these. I propose to you that the concept of clergy should not exist in The Salvation Army. I want to present the problem and an alternative in this post. … More Thinking out loud about leadership (3) Non-clericalised leadership

So, having got the confession and the negative out in the open in where I’ve not been my best as a leader, I want to begin sharing how I see leadership. I will start by stating that I’m saying this in response to how I see things taking shape in the world around us and … More Thinking out loud about leadership (2) Shape and Structure