Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Salvation Army ... Fading Brand?




I can't claim to be a regular visitor to The Agitator website. In fact, it's a totally new one on me, but I was struck by this new post, Salvation Army ... Fading Brand? (Go ahead...read it, otherwise the rest of my scribblings won't make much sense.)

I guess many, if not most Salvationists would baulk at the "Army" being described as a brand in the 1st place, and also would perhaps take issue with commentor, Tom Belford's assessment of the movement.

Much of what Belford says about our website(s) may ring true, but he seems to have quite a one-dimensional view of TSA. Clearly, he's coming from a particular perspective, so you have to take that into consideration. Also, it appears to be a very US-centric view. The guy can't be blamed for only seeing TSA through his own personal pair of glasses, but even as Salvationists, we are also sometimes guilty of only seeing the Army from where we stand. We are an incredibly diverse family!

Having said that, one phrase that does resonate with me was the following:

Certainly the needs addressed by the Salvation Army are not fading away. Let's hope the organization can successfully renew itself and re-confirm its relevance for meeting those needs.

However, if that means we simply become a hugely efficient, highly visible non-profit organisation at all costs, what have we really achieved?

Now, I know this is an old chestnut that's been rolled around in SA circles for years, but I'd be really interested to see what anyone else thinks about this particular post.

Peace & Blessings

J


(Hat tip to SAYTUNES for the pic)

2 comments:

Heather's place said...

Sorry - I misheard - I thought you said Alligator!

Anyway, it's interesting to have someone challenge something you take for granted. I'm thinking the comments he makes about the web site. When you look again, it is rather dull.

I've been listening to the some of the ROOTS recordings and I'm still processing all the information. In some ways it feels like nothing new really - good old ROOTS “change or die” stuff which is part of the ongoing challenge about who we are.

Certainly in the UK I think we have an identity crisis. Not just how outsiders view us but how we view ourselves.

Johnny said...

Aligator!! :-))

Oh yeah. I definitely agree about the site.

Is it that we have an identity crisis, or are we not what we think we are? I'm always struck by the huge variety of expressions of Salvationism in the UK alone, but somehow I'm becoming at ease with that.