2 March 2024

Belonging and Believing: The survey results

As part of Belonging and Believing: The Big Conversation, Salvationist shares the headline findings of the Membership Working Group’s survey and conversations.

The Membership Working Group is exploring how the UKI Territory can shape discipleship within The Salvation Army in this territory. From September to November 2023, people were invited to take part in a ‘listening phase’ that aimed to support this dialogue.

There were 1,587 responses to the online and paper survey, as well as conversations between 328+ adults in 18 focus groups and 259+ children and young people in 22 focus groups. The focus groups came from seven divisions, the Territorial Advisory Council and Territorial Music School.

While these represent a broad range of perspectives, as with any listening exercise, there will be other voices and demographics that are not included in these findings for a number of reasons.

The themes emerging from the analysed information emphasised the following as particularly important to a sense of belonging at The Salvation Army, and how this is experienced through actions and feelings:

Feeling included and being allowed to be involved.
Feeling accepted just as you are, without judgement.
Feeling welcomed and being greeted by name.
Feeling valued and seen for your unique self and gifts.
Feeling in one’s spiritual home through a sense of community, connection, calling, and relationship with Jesus/God.

It was felt that these approaches should be for all regardless of membership or uniform status, which can both be a barrier to belonging. The approach to people identifying as LGBTQ+ was seen as exclusive and contrary to feelings conducive to a sense of belonging.

The top themes to arise from responses in the survey and focus groups included:

Membership

Not being a member caused feelings of unbelonging, as did adherency over soldiership, which was seen as being looked down upon as unworthy, or a second-class membership. The tiered system of membership was criticised as alienating both in its hierarchical nature and consequences. Lack of membership/soldiership precludes other aspects of involvement, such as being part of discussions, fellowship through activities, serving in outreach and belonging to sections.

Uniform

This tied tightly into membership requirements. Many described uniforms as a barrier to belonging, especially if they felt called to play in the musical sections but were excluded because of their lack of uniform. Those not in uniform reported feelings of unbelonging, being ignored and being treated differently or as inferior. Uniform wearing was seen as encouraging elitism, while coming out of uniform was associated with ungodly behaviour and feeling or being treated as tarnished.

Corps

The culture and structure of the individual corps affected feelings of belonging. A few participants noted that they felt they belonged at a local level but not at a wider, denominational level. Others felt like they only belonged at corps where there was less focus on formal membership, while some described power imbalances which meant roles, access and a sense of belonging were controlled by a select few. There was also a sense that the Army’s wider hierarchical structure was negatively impacting belonging, and this included a lack of willingness to encourage young people into leadership roles.

Being unvalued

Some participants described either being made to feel like they weren’t good enough to fully belong to a corps or that they were restricted by their own sense of lacking.

LGBTQ+

Many felt that people identifying as LGBTQ+ (especially people who are same-sex attracted) are unable to belong due to being restricted from soldiership and officership by virtue of their sexuality (if not celibate) as well as being unable to marry within a corps. Although there are variations across settings and it was acknowledged that many corps can be welcoming and inclusive on a local level, the overarching international position was seen by many respondents as one of exclusion and unbelonging. Some expressed sadness or disapproval at loss of soldiership due to sexuality, both for themselves and in solidarity with others. Responses also documented sentiments of not being accepted, valued or welcome, and some felt they had to hide their same-sex attraction.

Exclusivity

These included general calls for greater inclusion as well as feelings of being or having been excluded, usually due to negative experiences. These were commonly related to the existence of cliques and being outside of the ‘in group’, leading to feelings of exclusion and difficulty in making friendships. These cliques were often linked with people having been in the Army for a long time. Feelings of exclusion were exacerbated by an elitism around being in the band, songsters or other sections; uniform wearing; and membership. Other themes include disability and accessibility, and not being able to participate.

Unwelcome

Respondents described experiences of themselves or others feeling unwelcome. These were most commonly linked to the other issues raised (LGBTQ+, sections, uniforms, cliques) as well as new issues: not being welcomed by people at the corps, children not being welcomed, not being able to use one’s talents or gifts, and reserving seats.

The following were the most popular themes associated with belonging to Jesus and being his disciple:

Behaviour and the practical application of faith by trying to live like Jesus, reflected through actions and words, especially through love and caring for others.
A personal, faith-filled relationship with Jesus. Seeking guidance and to be close, especially through practices such as prayer, contemplation and worship.
Deep and intentional Christian fellowship to navigate the challenges of life together, sharing experiences to support and encourage one another.
Intentional efforts at learning and spiritual growth to develop in maturity as Christians, for example through Bible study and discussion with other Christians.
Spiritual experiences and listening to the Spirit.

Formal membership was seen as secondary to religious practices, spiritual experiences, and a personal relationship with Jesus. The following were seen as most valuable to discipleship and membership within The Salvation Army:

Discipleship for all (not just members): communally through Bible teaching (through courses and preaching) and opportunities for discussion or to ask questions; as well as individually through Bible study, prayer and reflection. Corps leaders were seen as essential in supporting and enabling discipleship.
Supportive relationships were crucial, especially for decisions about membership, in which officers, corps friendships and family relationships were indispensable. Mentoring, small groups and fellowship were also seen as invaluable to discipleship, accountability and encouraging people in their faith journey.
Calling and spiritual experiences were essential to membership decisions, while membership was seen as an expression of faith and one’s relationship with Jesus.
Respondents desired a culture of acceptance and love regardless of where people are on their faith journey, allowing them to be involved in all aspects of corps life.
A Salvationist family and a sense of duty were strong influences on membership.

Secretary for Mission Lieut-Colonel Drew McCombe comments:

‘As the Membership Working Group has journeyed together over the past year, we have been reminded of our need for Holy Spirit wisdom as we move forwards. While these results will help inform the Membership Working Group’s recommendations – which will go to territorial leadership this summer – this weekend and these results are all about listening. Listening is the greatest form of respect we can give to one another. We will be making space over the weekend to lament the times when we have got things wrong and to hear from God about how we can do better.’