It is powerful to decree truth out loud. Here is one that most readers – those who are soldiers –
I will be responsive to the Holy Spirit's work and obedient to His leading in my life, growing in grace through worship, prayer, service and the reading of the Bible. I will make the values of the Kingdom of
God and not the values of the world the standard for my life.
I will uphold Christian integrity in every area of my life, allowing nothing in thought, word or deed that is unworthy, unclean, untrue, profane, dishonest or immoral.
I will maintain Christian ideals in all my relationships with others; my family and neighbours, my colleagues and fellow salvationists, those to whom and for whom I am responsible, and the wider community.
I will uphold the sanctity of marriage and of family life. I will be a faithful steward of my time and gifts, my money and possessions, my body, my mind and my spirit, knowing that I am accountable to God.
I will abstain from alcoholic drink, tobacco, the non-medical use of addictive drugs, gambling, pornography, the occult and all else that could enslave the body or spirit.
I will be faithful to the purposes for which God raised up The
Salvation Army, sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, endeavouring to win others to Him, and in His name caring for the needy and the disadvantaged.
I will be actively involved, as I am able, in the life, work, worship and witness of the corps, giving as large a proportion of my income as possible to support its ministries and the worldwide work of the Army.
I will be true to the principles and practices of The Salvation Army, loyal to its leaders, and I will show the spirit of Salvationism whether in times of popularity or persecution.
I now call upon all present to witness that I enter into this covenant and sign these Articles of War of my own free will, convinced that the love of Christ, who died and now lives to save me, requires from me this devotion of my life to His service for the salvation of the whole world; and therefore do here declare my full determination, by God's help, to be a true soldier of The Salvation Army til I die.
Still on decrees, here is one that officers can add – it is from the officers covenant:
Called by God to proclaim the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ as an Officer of The Salvation Army
I bind myself to Him in this solemn covenant:
To love and serve Him supremely all my days,
To live to win souls and make their salvation the first purposes of my life,
To maintain the doctrines and principles of The Salvation Army, and, by God’s grace, to prove myself a worthy officer.
(from above)… before plunging into the trendiest, biggest, coolest church philosophy, practice, propaganda, I invite you to embrace Salvationism. It is RICH. As we’ve suggested before (we actually guaranteed that it will work!) you might want to study the Orders and Regulations and apply them. But you won’t want to stop there. You’ll want to read salvos on holiness (we’ve got it right), evangelism (nearly matching the Southern Baptists in US conversions even though they are 100 times bigger than us there [not an exaggeration]), mission (unmatched in anything I’ve read), community (for example, Needham), cells (wards), incarnation (slum sisters / Booth-Tucker…), the poor (that’s us), and heaps more. It turns out that we beat the curve on heaps of the trends by a century or more…
We don’t say this as a point of pride but as a corrective. It is like a man married to an excellent, holy, beautiful lady who flirts or even fornicates with other women (except I don’t mean that following Rick Warren is spiritual fornication!). Why on earth would you do that with The Salvation Army?
The only reason I can think is that you don’t know The Salvation Army. Oh, wait, and maybe you need to get sanctified?
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