I’m learning to see those moments of interruption as chances to be present, listen and maybe even help in a way I hadn’t planned. After all, the interruptions might just be the very thing that matters most.

It’s February, the month in which the Canada and Bermuda Territory intentionally focuses on officer recruitment. It’s also the month in which our communities celebrate matters of the heart. How fitting that we set aside this time to think about officership, and those who may be considering it, as officership is fundamentally a matter of the heart.

While I grew up hearing about The Salvation Army’s Self-Denial Campaign, it wasn’t until 2016, when I first came to serve in Papua New Guinea (PNG), that I saw it lived out in action. One Sunday, as our corps officer introduced the campaign, he set a fundraising target, calling each of us to give up two weeks’ salary toward meeting this goal. My

During this self-denial period, pray intentionally for those who are serving in supported territories around our Salvation Army world.

We share the beliefs of this creed with believers over many centuries, and we share them in our day with Christians from many different cultures. In a highly individualistic culture such as ours, this is most significant. 

King Jesus was born, metaphorically, in the bleak midwinter, against the backdrop of a cold and calloused world.

I think it’s this idea—that we can change for the better—that brings people back to the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, Christmas after Christmas.

I want to be an 80-year-old “brigadier” sitting across the table from a new officer, reminiscing about the “glory days” and offering them proven advice because I have three kids who love Jesus and love The Salvation Army. 

In 2018, our territory conducted a complexity study, and one of the critical recommendations was to implement software and systems that would streamline processes and make work easier for our front line. Hope is on the way—we have been working behind the scenes to bring Workday, a human resource software program, online. Workday is a one-stop shop for managing a company’s workforce, including payroll, timesheets, benefits and more.

November 22 is National Housing Day. As a community, we can use this opportunity to reflect on housing as a human right, what that means to us and how we can help make it a reality for all.