My dear Salvationist friends,

Happy New Year! Grace and peace to each of you from God our Father through Jesus Christ our Lord.

As we begin 2025, I am very excited to see how the Lord will use Compass, the Global Strategic Framework, across the world. With its intentional focus on people, mission and legacy, I believe that the Lord will enable us to accomplish great things in his name as we commit to being his disciples and get on with the business of the mission entrusted to our care. We all have a part to play.

This year also marks 160 years since our Founders, Catherine and William Booth, commenced the work of The Salvation Army. What a heritage they have left us. The proclamation of the gospel, the pursuit of the holy life and the desire to love and care for our neighbour. As we celebrate 160 years in 2025, let’s determine that we too will leave a legacy that honours God, builds the Kingdom and ensures we pass on a movement worthy of his name and mission.

Of course, I have no idea what a new year means for you. Some of you may be launching into the new year full of enthusiasm and expectation. Others may be entering into 2025 with a feeling of trepidation or anxiety because of the circumstances that are your reality.

Whatever your personal situation, choosing to prioritize the Lord and your relationship with him is the best decision you will make in 2025.

My friends, we can trust him. He will not disappoint. When I was a young boy, growing up in The Salvation Army, we used to sing this chorus:

I have a pilot who guides me night and day; through cloud and sunshine I trust him, come what may. Dangers may threaten but I never fear; I’m full of confidence while he is near; I have a pilot who guides me along life’s way.

This is the joy of the Christian experience. This promise that the Lord himself is with us, whatever our circumstances, whatever our opportunities, and he promises to remain faithful to us.

My prayer for you is that the development of your relationship with Jesus will remain your top priority. We need disciples of Jesus. The world needs disciples of Jesus.

As we begin this new year, let me share this promise from Scripture, from Paul’s letter to the Romans:

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit" (Romans 15:13).

May God bless you.  

Lyndon Buckingham
General