Salvation Army

The Salvation Army is part of the universal Christian Church. However, it has its own governance and rules. The Salvation Army believes in Protestant Christianity and has done extensive work in the area of charity and philanthropy. This international movement is now part of about 124 countries.

Founded in 1865 in the United Kingdom by William Booth and his wife Catherine, the Salvation Army has a large number of people working to meet the goals of this ecumenical organization. People working in the organization have the ability to provide services in 175 languages. Since the establishment is so large it is divided into territories based on geography. It is further divided into divisions to make governance easier. Based on these, there are territorial headquarters and divisional headquarters that manage the affairs of the region. The territories are manned by a territorial commander who is generally an officer with a minimum rank of a colonel in smaller territories. In larger areas the commanding officer is generally a commander.

In 2010, the Salvation Army claimed to have an active membership of 16,938 officers. In addition to this, there were about 9190 retired officers, 1,112,326 soldiers, 189,176 adherents, 39,071 corp. cadets, 378,009 junior soldiers, 104,977 employees and about 4.5 million volunteers.

The flag of the Salvation Army is meant to be a symbol of the war against sin and social evil. The red background is considered to be the blood that was shed by Jesus and the yellow of the start shaped symbol signifies the fire of the Holy Spirit. There is also a blue border that outlines the flag which stands for the purity of God, the Father. The Salvation Army also has a crest which is the official emblem of the organization. The cross signifies the cross of Jesus Christ, the 'S' stands for salvation, the rays on the outside of the circle indicate the fire of the Holy Spirit, the dots indicate the truth of the Gospel and the swords are meant to signify the war.

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