Back to Our First Love: A Call to Officers

Back to Our First Love: A Call to Officers

The call to Salvation Army officership is not a job. It is not a career path, or a set of tasks to complete. It is a calling—a life surrendered in service to God through The Salvation Army. I entered this covenant not for the love of policies, procedures, finance forms, or building maintenance, but because I was captivated by Jesus, convinced of His calling and grace at work in my life, and compelled to follow Him.

Yet, if I am honest, I must acknowledge that the weight of administration, compliance, and expectations can sometimes feel overwhelming. The demands are real, and officers are doing their very best to serve with faithfulness and integrity. But in the midst of it all, I ask myself: Am I still living out my first love? Am I still making the salvation of souls and the transformation of lives my first priority?

Dr. John Clifton’s recent piece—Not Employees—was helpful, and I find myself reflecting on what officership is meant to be:
A life of freedom.
Freedom from the trappings of secular employment.
Freedom to love and serve God supremely.
Freedom to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and befriend those who have no friends.
Officership is a privilege, there is no contract of employment, it is a relationship of trust and covenant; I like that!

Although, this does mean if my days are so consumed by finance systems, safe mission paperwork, contractual returns, and compliance reports that I have no time to share the gospel, to pray with people, to sit with the broken, to dream, to take risks—then something has gone terribly wrong. If I do not have time to be with Jesus, how can I truly minister in His name?

We are in danger of falling into maintenance mode—where our time and energy are poured into keeping things running rather than advancing the mission. The answer is not found in working harder or pushing through exhaustion, but in returning to our first love.

Revelation 2:4-5 reminds us: 
“But this is what I have against you: you do not love me now as you did at first. Think how far you have fallen! Turn from your sins and do what you did at first.” (GNT)

What did we do at first?
We prayed with passion.
We read Scripture with expectancy.
We built relationships with people not as part of a duty, but because we loved them.
We took risks for the Kingdom.
We dreamed of what God might do through us.
We pioneered. 
We disturbed the equilibrium.
We looked different, we stood out, we proclaimed Jesus. 

Maybe it’s time to strip things back.

I’m making a conscious decision to prioritise what matters most. Perhaps you’ll join me in being officers who…
Take time to pray. Not as an item on a to-do list, but as the 
foundation of our lives and ministry.
Take time to read the Bible. Not just for sermon prep, but for 
the feeding of our own souls.
Take time to develop relationships. To really listen, to love 
people deeply, to be present.
Be passionate. Let our hearts burn again with holy fire for 
the lost and the broken.
Be dreamers. What if we truly believed that God could 
transform our Corps, our Lifehouses, our communities, and 
our world?
Be people who take risks. Not reckless, but bold. Willing to 
step out in faith, trusting that God is already at work.

Some days, officership will include cleaning the toilet, fixing a door, or filling out finance returns. But those things must remain secondary functions to our primary call.

So, let’s get back to the essentials. Back to our first love. Back to why we said “yes” in the first place. Let’s be who we were called and sent to be.

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