Are the Doors at The Salvation Army's IHQ Made of Wood?

I am currently reading, The Celtic Way of Evangelism,” by George Hunter III. I had originally started reading it for a workshop I attended, but I soon discovered that it was speaking to me in other ways as well. Hunter speaks about the reformation in this book. He is making the comparison between imported from Europe churches, (IFE) and made in America churches, (MIA). He is describing the traditions of IFE churches and says that they are lacking compared to many of the MIA churches. One of his major arguments surrounds my comments of the reformation. Hunter says that, “after the reformation the control shifted from Rome to Wittenberg.” The local church still had little say in the day to day operations of their church. Wittenberg now called the shots. Apart from some of the issues that Luther wanted to rid the Christian church of, the protestant church looked much like the Roman church. Wittenberg was the new Rome, making all the decisions, which left the decisions that had should be made on a local level out of their hands.

I have just recently turned in my resignation to The Salvation Army in Harrisonburg, VA. If I would have looked hard I probably could have looked for one of the others that I have written in the past to The Salvation Army. My story looks something like this. I resigned from the Army in Chillicothe, Ohio in 1996. I started working from the SA again in early 1997 in Columbus, Ohio, and the resigned in1997. I wrote one to The School for Officer Training in New York in 2003 after resigning from there. I resigned my soldier ship from The Salvation Army in 2004 after leaving the SA. I started working again for the SA in Virginia in 2006 at the shelter. I resigned there in 2007 and then was rehired a few days later in anther position. I have now resigned from that position.

I have always beaten myself up over my horrible track record with The Salvation Army. I was convinced that this was my fault. I looked around me and I watched other people love their job, but not me I was always unhappy with the SA. I couldn’t place my finger on it until reading chapter three of Hunter’s book. I discovered that the SA hierarchy was unhealthy and allowed for people to do very little and stay in their position. The Salvation Army doesn’t consult the local soldiers when a decision has to be made. They all have their Corps council which acts as a board, but they are a board without any teeth. In most MIA churches if a leader messes up or isn’t living the life a Christian should lead then he might be asked to leave or forced to resign. Within the SA the leader is allowed to carry on as if nothing is wrong. The local congregation has not ability to have their voices heard. They are forced to wait out the storm until the officer does something that is noticed by the Divisional command, and even in those cases he/she might receive some counseling and stay on as the spiritual guide to a church. The Salvation Army is dying as a church and I believe that this is one of the major reasons.

I love The Salvation Army and their ministry. I am sure that is why I keep returning to it time after time. At some point I have to realize that I am not going to change this system of church governance. I am afraid that the only way that I am going to ever be happy with The Salvation Army is to be the General, and then I might be happy. Apart from that I am afraid I am destined to repeat the vicious circle that I call The Salvation Army Vortex.