Officer (Salvation Army)

Definition and Meaning

Officer is the title given to clergy in The Salvation Army who are dedicated to preaching, pastoral ministry, and social service. The Salvation Army describes its church organization in military terms: a congregation is called a corps, a member a soldier, a clergy member an officer, and the institution that trains clergy a training college. An officer occupies the same position as a pastor in other denominations, but unlike a pastor, an officer bears a rank title such as captain or major.

Biblical and Historical Background

The Salvation Army took the names for its organizational structure from the military imagery of the New Testament. The principal scriptural foundations cited are "a good soldier of Jesus Christ" in 2 Timothy 2:3 and "the whole armour of God" in Ephesians 6:10-17.

The Salvation Army grew out of a mission founded in East London in 1865 by William Booth, a Methodist minister, and Catherine Booth. When the mission adopted the name "The Salvation Army" in 1878, it also adopted a military-style organization. From the beginning, The Salvation Army commissioned women as officers. Traditionally, both spouses in a married couple are commissioned as officers and minister together.

Practice in Korea

The Salvation Army entered Korea in 1908. Korean officers are trained at the training college (now the Salvation Army Graduate School) and begin their ministry after commissioning (formal appointment as an officer). Commissioned officers are assigned to corps or social welfare institutions by order of territorial headquarters, and they often move to new appointments every few years. This practice, in which a higher body determines a minister's place of service, resembles the appointment system of Methodism. It differs from the practice of Presbyterianism, in which a local congregation calls its own pastor.

The greatest difference from pastors of other denominations concerns the sacraments. The Salvation Army does not observe water baptism or Holy Communion as rites. Instead, it holds a ceremony in which a believer is enrolled as a soldier. Accordingly, Korean officers do not administer baptism or Communion. This sets The Salvation Army apart from most Protestant denominations, which observe baptism and Communion as rites instituted by Christ.

In Korean society, officers are widely known as the people who lead the charity kettle (jaseon naembi) campaign, the year-end street fundraising drive. The charity kettle campaign is reported to have begun in Seoul in 1928.