Britney Block- The Salvation Army

The Salvation Army- Brittney Block’s Website Review

One of my favorite times of year is the Christmas season; it truly is the giving season. Why I love it so much is because I love to help others; I love making sure that everyone has an enjoyable Christmas. My favorite way of helping is by ringing the bells; the bells of the Salvation Army. Nothing says you have a servant heart better than standing out in the -5˚F (equivalent to about -20˚C) Minnesota winter, ringing a bell, whose proceeds will never be seen by you. But that is precisely why I love it. I love that an organization can be so outstanding that in no matter what kind of conditions, people will still want to help. Well, when I saw this assignment, I thought to myself, I didn’t think that anyone outside of the U.S. would have heard of The Salvation Army. I thought that it only existed in America.

How naïve am I?

I guess it’s in my narcissistic nature to assume that all organizations are only in existence in America. As you can assume, I was intrigued by this new information. So I googled ‘The Salvation Army’ and the first link took me to their international homepage, a site I didn’t know was in existence. It was on this site that I found new love for my home-town favorite organization.

The Salvation Army’s homepage isn’t what I would call colorful, or bejeweled with pictures. Rather, it has a ‘homey’ feel to the site. All along the right hand side of the site is information just on spirituality; taking you to links on how to increase your spirituality, daily prayers, or pause for thoughts. In the top left corner is the familiar Salvation Army badge; the badge that is known world-wide. Underneath the badge is where the largest picture is found; it is the cover of a book which is titled, “Words of Life.” If you click on the picture, you are taken to a different page, and it explains what the book is about. It is a book full of daily Bible verses. If it wasn’t apparent before, it definitely is now, the Salvation Army is a Christian organization.

After looking at the “Words of Life” page, I shimmied on over to their ‘Missions’ page. I was eager to read what they deemed as their missions and aims. I was surprised to see that they only had four sentences written as their mission. I suppose I was hoping for something more; something a little more extravagant. Here, in a summarized form, are their missions: The Salvation Army is an international movement based on the Evangelical Christian Church. The message they bring is solely based on the Bible, and its ministry is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs without discrimination. After reading these, I realized that they only needed four sentences to get their mission across; they were here to preach the word of God while making the world a better place.

All along the top of the website are different drop down menus. One that caught my eye was the one entitled “News.” I immediately clicked on it and I was brought to a page that was full of the latest Salvation Army news reports. As I skimmed down the reports, I noticed that most of them dealt with helping in a natural disaster. Their main objective was to work as chaplaincy for the victims of the disasters. For example, during the Victorian bush fires, those volunteering with the Salvation Army worked alongside the emergency rescue teams to help aid and assist those affected by the fires. They helped set up emergency accommodation, and afterwards, they were there for the victims in a spiritual sense.

Along with being physically at the disaster sites, the Salvation Army is also emotionally at these sites. I found a report that truly touched my heart. It was report from General Shaw Clinton asking his fellow Salvationists to pray for the Middle East. He divulges into the problems and how it is ripping our Scriptures apart. He ends the message by thanking us for our prayers. It is these reports that show how immersed the Salvation Army is in relations to religion and society. I know I've stated this before, but they truly want this world to be a better place.

Another article that caught my eye was one entitled "World Youth Convention to be held in Sweden in 2010." I proceeded to read the article and it talked about how Salvationists from all over the world were going to be gathering in Sweden to talk about issues we have been discussing in class. Some topics include "Realism", "Idealism", and "Globalisation." Another line that jumped out at me while reading was this, "that Christian holiness is relevant to every human situation, including the major global issues of the day." This shows that the Salvation Army is trying to help change the world through their use of religion.

The Salvation Army effectively uses its website to broadcast to the world what they do and the beliefs that they have. They are a proud Evangelican organization that strives to preach the Word of God by means of helping the people. They will help anyone and everyone; discrimination is a word unspoken by them. The Salvation Army has changed the lives of thousands already, and will continue to do so in the future.

God Bless the Salvation Army.

References:
http://www.salvationarmy.org/ihq/www_sa.nsf