Lieutenant - 1930's to present

On May 1, 1947 the General decided that the rainbow colours on all of the ranks combined had to go. He decided that all Officer ranks would conform to the standard red trim that is seen today.

The Lieutenant’s trim of today looks very different from the Lieutenant’s trim of the early 1940’s which had yellow braid encircling it.

The current Lieutenant’s trim consists of a black braid encircling a red epaulet with a silver star in the center.

The lapel insignia consists of two silver “S”’s on red patches which are placed on each lapel of the tunic.

Lieutenant is the rank received upon commissioning and ordination after having completed two years of training at the Training College.

The duration of the rank of Lieutenant is five years.

The shape of the red patch was standardized in 2011 based on the shape of the patch used in the US Territories. By 2015, a red enamel pin  (red patch and silver “S” combined) replaced the red felt patches and silver “S” pin.

In 2001, the General decided to eliminate the rank of Lieutenant as a Commissioned rank, and all Cadets upon commissioning and ordination were given the rank of Captain. In 2008, that decision was reversed, and the rank of Lieutenant was reinstated.

From 2001 to 2008, the rank of Lieutenant was a used to denote a lay person who was engaged in full time ministry – but not ordained/commissioned.