Today's Ministry Spotlight: Major George Hood describing how the Salvation Army is an integrated ministry, and the effect that it's having.
We know that the Salvation Army is a church and a charity, so what is it really?
It's really an integrated ministry.Is there a problem with what you do in accepting money from the government?
Some people say we're a charity. Others say we're a church, but the truth is when you're doing it right, there's no difference.
We integrate our ministry and our theology to the point that we want to meet the needs of people and open up their eyes to the truth.
Our practice of accepting government money for contract work.What does most of the money go to?
The important element is that you can't use those government funds to purchase hymnbooks.
There are experiences where government bodies come in and say you have to take this picture of Jesus down or you have to hid these Bibles.
So it's worked out okay. There have been hotbeds of dispute...but by and large...we've been able to accept government contracts, do our work, and not apologize for who we are.
Most of the money goes to reaching out to the poor and the needy.
People need the basic necessities of life.
I would say that the bulk of the funds that are donated to the Salvation Army are used to feed, shelter, and clothe needy families.
We run about 140 residential treatment centers for men and women, helping them to get through addictions.
The story of grace is repeated over and over through hundreds of thousands of men and women.
And of course Christmas.Is there more of investing in people's lives than ever before?
Those are the three primary areas that you can focus on and we do extremely well.
Absolutely.We love what you do, we just wish more people knew that you're on-site first with the most.
We introduced parenting classes, we introduced ways they could budget. Then you begin to see ways that change can start taking place in their lives.
We believe now that you have to fix bad habits and change lives.
If we can really get a family activated in this integrated ministry of social service...that's when we really see lives being changed.
We want to be an organization that's recognized as doing the most good for the most people.
We don't always get the most ink out of it. We don't always get the most television coverage out of it.
It's a healthy debate.
We're not in it to win a contest.
We want to bring the simplicity of the Gospel in a very practical way.
People are suffering. We're looking at it intensely right now in Joplin, MO.
We're always the first ones on site, no matter what the disaster is.
Look at 9/11. People were gone after months. We were there until the very end of that.
We know what we do. We would love to get more press out of it.
But you know what? It's okay.
We don't ever want to be defined by the media as a disaster organization.
Again, as we integrate our services, meeting practical needs in practical ways.
My husband and I have been involved with Salvation Army in the past while being Chaplains with IBSA. We are no longer with the Baptists because of back stabbing and them being judgmental against us. We feel the only one that has the right to judge is God so now we attend a Pentecostal church in a nearby town and are accepted for who we are and are loved. We think you do awesome work & it is godly.
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