16 July 2024

Covenant Day: What is it and why is it important?

A photo shows the cadets of the Defenders of Justice session holding up their signed copies of the Officer's Covenant. — The Defenders of Justice on Covenant Day 2024

Integrative Training Officer Major Wendy Stanbury (William Booth College) talks to Salvationist about the sacred moment when cadets sign the Officer’s Covenant.

Covenant Day is often mentioned in passing. What is it, exactly?

Before Commissioning, all cadets sign the Officer’s Covenant. Covenant Day is set aside for them to reflect upon their calling before they commit to this covenant with God.

What is the Officer’s Covenant?

A Salvationist who feels called to become a soldier signs the Soldier’s Covenant. In doing so, they enter a relationship with God that says he will be their God and they will be his people, living by certain beliefs, principles and practices within The Salvation Army.

Salvation Army officers sign this further covenant. First and foremost, they commit to loving God supremely all their days and to making people’s salvation their first priority. The covenant also lists some ways in which they do that: loving the unloved, befriending those who have no friends, clothing the naked, reaching out to people on the margins of society.

Called by God to proclaim the gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ as an officer of The Salvation Army, I bind myself to him in this solemn covenant:

To love and serve him supremely all my days, to live to win souls and make their salvation the first purpose of my life, to care for the poor, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, love the unloved, and befriend those who have no friends, to maintain the doctrines and principles of The Salvation Army, and, by God’s grace, to prove myself a worthy officer.

What exactly happens on Covenant Day?

Before the day begins, cadets spend time praying with their personal support officers in their flats. Then they come into the Assembly Hall for a meeting led by the territorial leaders.

The cadets are invited to kneel at the mercy seat and sign a copy of the Covenant when they’re ready. Each cadet signs it individually. The signed Officer’s Covenant is taken to the territorial leaders, who sign it in witness and pray with the cadet.

Why is Covenant Day so significant to cadets?

Most officers would see this day as ‘the moment’ where they say: ‘This is it. I lay my all on the altar. I give my all to God. I enter into this covenant relationship.’ Much of the preparation and training is building up to this. Commissioning is the exciting and celebratory public witness of the work of God in the lives of the cadets, but Covenant Day is simply about the cadet and God. It’s a special, sacred time. It’s very emotional because so much personal work happens between the cadet and God in that sacred moment.

A photo shows the cadets of the Defenders of Justice session striking heroic poses.

As well as the Officer’s Covenant, cadets also commit to the Undertakings. What’s the link between these two promises?

They’re both about obedience to God. The 15 promises and declarations of the Undertakings are the technical practicalities of what it means to be an officer. For example, what does officership actually mean in terms of your allowance and release from employment? The focus of the Officer’s Covenant is about an officer’s reciprocal relationship with God. The Undertakings are about how this is expressed within The Salvation Army.

The relationship between The Salvation Army and its officers is sacred. This needs to be cherished and preserved as a means of achieving God-given common spiritual purposes. Therefore, in addition to the promises made on becoming a soldier and those in the Officer’s Covenant, a Salvationist is commissioned and ordained as an officer on condition that the following promises and declarations are made:

In response to the call of God, I give myself of my own free will to be an officer of The Salvation Army and to engage in its ministry. As an officer I acknowledge that the fundamental nature of my relationship to the Army and of the Army to me is spiritual.
I understand and agree that there is no contract of service or of employment, nor any other legal relationship between the Army and me. Accordingly, the Army shall have no legal claims upon me, nor I upon the Army.
I understand and agree that although I may expect to receive, and every attempt will be made to provide, allowances according to an official scale, no allowance is guaranteed to me. I understand that any such allowance is not a wage, salary, reward or payment for services rendered but is a means of freeing me from the need to engage in secular employment.
I will observe the orders and regulations of The Salvation Army as issued from time to time. I recognise that the Army seeks to create and administer orders and regulations in a manner consistent with Christian principles.
I declare my belief in the truths of the doctrines of The Salvation Army. I will teach them faithfully and will seek to make my life a reflection of those truths.
I will look to my leaders in the Army to be sensitive to the guidance of God in giving me appointments and responsibilities. I will accept the direction of my leaders under the appointments system, knowing that they will try to place me where I can best advance the cause of Jesus Christ. I will faithfully fulfil all the requirements of my appointments to the best of my ability.
I will trust my leaders in the Army to provide me with opportunities for personal development in order to enhance my service and its effectiveness. I will use responsibly and wisely all such opportunities, knowing that my leaders seek to encourage me, enlarging my vision of all I can become in Christ.
I will expect my leaders to evaluate periodically my progress and personal effectiveness in ministry. I acknowledge that I am accountable to them under God for the mature and proper discharge of my duties. I will accept and act upon formal recommendations for my improvement, knowing that persistent ineffectiveness as an officer could lead to the termination of my service.
Unless clearly authorised by my leaders in accordance with orders and regulations, I will not engage in secular employment, paid or unpaid, knowing that I have committed all my days and hours to Salvation Army officer mission and ministry.
I will respond wholeheartedly to efforts by my leaders to encourage me in the use and development of my creative abilities. I will place any such abilities at the disposal of the Army for the furtherance of its mission, and in accordance with orders and regulations.
I will not seek or encourage any presentation, gift or testimonial to myself, or use my position as a Salvation Army officer for personal gain.
I undertake to account for all monies and other assets entrusted to me and to keep and make available for inspection and audit purposes all records, accepting my responsibilities as a Christian steward of the resources placed under my control.
I will conform to the Army’s requirements regarding the wearing of uniform.
Supported by the pastoral care and respect of my leaders, I will seek to be a worthy minister of Christ’s gospel and officer of the Army. I will avoid in word and action anything likely to injure the body of Christ or that part of it which is The Salvation Army.
Regardless of the date on which I have signed below, I understand that these Undertakings shall apply from the date of my commissioning as an officer of The Salvation Army.

How can we be praying for cadets at this time of year?

Around Commissioning time, pray for the cadets to experience peace – that this is the right thing, that this is what God is calling them to. Pray also for their family and friends who will be at Commissioning – that, even if they don’t profess a Christian faith, they experience something of God.

After Commissioning, pray for the new lieutenants to feel settled, and for all the practicalities of moving and beginning a first appointment. Pray also for the corps who receive them and the corps who lose people who are about to become cadets – this time of year is a period of transition for the whole territory.

What does Covenant Day mean for people who aren’t cadets?

It’s an opportunity for everyone to think about what it means to be faithful and obedient to God. That doesn’t always look like officership. It could be a different form of spiritual leadership. It could be your vocation as a teacher or hairdresser! But it’s about remembering that the Lord is with us. God promises his presence with us and what he asks of us is faith and obedience.