The Salvation ArmyArmée du Salut

Officers Menu Options

“Abide in me. Go and bear much fruit…” Personal Grid for ordained officers—spiritual leaders—within The Salvation Army.

Using your completed Personal Grid as a guide, choose a Menu Option from the list below, in an area that you want to take a "best next step" of growth.

Menu Options are categorized by one of these three icons: 

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Help you grow in knowledge & understanding

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Spiritual & character formation

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Hands-on application & experience

 1. Effective Personal Witness 

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Draw or write your spiritual story from the last six months.

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Keep a journal of opportunities and situations in which you were positioned to share your story, or spaces you put yourself in to do the same.

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Check your social media feed and think about how your walk with Jesus is reflected through what you post, follow, comment or like.

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Summarize your current testimony in three points that could be shared quickly and easily. Share it with three people who haven't heard it before.

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Keep a calendar of how often you meet with non-Christian people.

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Practise the daily exercise of examen, looking for evidence of God at work in your life throughout your day.

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Ask God specifically to place you in situations and give you opportunity to tell your story to someone who needs to hear it.

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Make space and time to hear and listen to the Holy Spirit's prompting in your life in this area.

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Do a prayer walk in your neighbourhood and ask God for courage to share your story with your neighbours, then do it.

 2. Sacrificial Compassionate Mission 

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Invite someone into your home for a meal who you don't have a lot in common with, or who can't return the favour.

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Keep a journal of your acts of service, and the acts of service of which you have been the recipient.

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Do a personal evaluation of your spending habits, considering where you might be more generous to others in need.

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Ask God to help you live simply and pay attention to what he tells or shows you.

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Look at your local news and pray to have kingdom eyes in the space you live in.

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Write a letter or speak words of encouragement to someone others might not say is successful.

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Choose a way to care for yourself regularly so that you can give from a place of rest.

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Personally buy coffee cards for people experiencing homelessness, not as a ministry expense.

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Do a weekly inventory of how your time is spent, looking for a window that might be leveraged to help someone else.

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Pray for discernment to know the difference between the urgent and the important so that you make space to respond to those in need.

 3. Active Engagement in the World 

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Volunteer in a non-Salvation Army place.

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Think of a way to use your resources and facilities to share with others.

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Participate in a community activity that you are not leading.

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Create a web of your relationships and look for diversity.

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Take an inventory of your S.H.A.P.E. (Spiritual Gifts, Heart, Abilities, Passions, Experiences), considering how you are uniquely designed to engage your community, and choose one new way you'll engage this month.

 4. Healthy Spiritual Habits 

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Engage with one of the modules available on www.practicingtheway.com (choose one of: Sabbath, prayer or fasting).

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Book an appointment with a spiritual director (use the $900 territorial grant that is available specifically for this).

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Choose a method of engaging Scripture that you haven't used before (i.e., Scripture writing, Lectio Devina, SOAP, lectionary, etc.).

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Read a new book on the topic of spiritual disciplines.

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Attend a silent retreat.

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Set up a dedicated space in your home as a prayer altar which has prayer prompts and other objects to help increase focus.

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Monitor your social media consumption and look for windows of time that might be leveraged for spiritual care.

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Choose a new spiritual discipline to practise.

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Commit to reading some Scripture every day.

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Track your sleep, eating and exercise routines, and reflect on your care of your body as a temple, committing to one positive change you will make.

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Keep a Sabbath day every week this month.

 5. Healthy Spiritual Community 

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Find a church that meets on a different day or time than your church home and sit under someone else's leadership.

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Join an online study or book study that you aren't leading.

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Connect to a pastoral group or ministerial in your area.

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Plan a small retreat day with some close friends.

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Join a community of practice.

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Download the Infinitum app. Form or join an Infinitum hub and begin integrating the rhythms of surrender, generosity and mission into your shared journey of faith with those in your hub.

 6. Salvation & Sanctification 

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Read a book written by a Salvationist holiness teacher.

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Do some self reflection and specifically take note of which fruit of the Spirit are evident in your life right now.

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Make a list of people in your life who model holy living. Also note the reason you listed them.

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Practise the daily exercise of Examen, looking for evidence of God at work in your life throughout your day.

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Ask a selection of people close to you to help you complete a "spiritual 360," giving them permission to speak into your life and identify where they think you are becoming more like Jesus and where you might need prayer and growth, hold you accountable, ask tough questions and listen to your struggles.

 7. Equipped for Ministry 

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Adopt a learner's mindset and engage with a ministry coach.

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Retake a spiritual gifts assessment.

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Learn three new things from a leader you know who is doing ministry well.

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Read a book on ministry tools and strategies that you haven't read before.

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Take an inventory of what has filled and drained your ministry tank this week. Choose an activity that fills your tank back up and make time for that this month.

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Engage in a Sabbath day every week this month.

 8. Entrusted with Ministry 

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Take an inventory of the things you do in your ministry in a given week. Look for ministry pieces you could entrust to someone else.

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Think of small ways to build leadership capacity in three different people this month and carry them out.

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Do a spiritual gifts inventory with people in your ministry unit (staff, congregation, volunteer team, etc.) to help you understand better what they bring to the table.

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Set up apprenticeship opportunities for someone to shadow the leaders in your ministry unit this month. Have someone shadow you, as well.

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Take time to celebrate the work your ministry unit has accomplished in the past month.

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Reflect on and discuss this question: "What direction are we headed in the ministry I've been entrusted with?"

 9. Stewardship 

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Take an inventory of your spending habits, including where you spend and what you spend it on.

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Commit to borrowing or sharing items with a friend as opposed to buying new ones where you can.

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Do some research on the ethical habits of the stores you commonly shop in.

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Show gratitude and appreciation for volunteers this month, valuing the time they give in ministry.

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Commit to one additional way you can help care for the earth this month.

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Pray for discernment to know the difference between the urgent and the important so that you can use your time more wisely.

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Engage with the "simplicity" module available at www.practicingtheway.org.

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Track your sleep, eating and exercise routines, and reflect on your care of your body as a temple, committing to one positive change you will make.

 10. Discernment & Decision-making 

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Practise the daily exercise of Examen, reviewing the decisions you made and reflecting on whether they were godly choices.

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Take an inventory of all the "voices" that are speaking into your life (both wise and unwise). Commit to turning up the volume on wise, godly counsel.

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Join a study on the wisdom literature of the Bible.

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Read a chapter of Proverbs each day this month, making it the focus of your personal daily devotions.

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Begin using the daily devotional book God's Wisdom For Navigating Life by Timothy Keller. Find someone to begin this with you and discuss what you are learning.

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Review your social media activity and reflect on the level of good discernment you showed or didn't show this month.

 11. Relation to Authority 

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Choose one way to further understand yourself and your responses to others in your life (Consider using personality assessments, such as the Enneagram, SDI, etc.) and commit to completing that this month.

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Set aside intentional time in your calendar this month to pray for the leaders in your life (think church, work, government, international leaders, etc.).

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Invite a trusted leader to observe you in an area of authority you hold and debrief how you use the authority that has been given to you.

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Practise the daily exercise of Examen, considering how you hold and relate to authority.

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Find a Christian who holds a senior position in a secular environment and ask them how they hold their authority in a Christlike way. What principles can you apply from their experience?

 12. Response to God's Call 

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Practise the daily habit of surrender, laying all that you have and are to God as an offering.

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Review your ministry over the past six months, looking for where God has been at work.

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Put intentional times in your calendar to pray specifically for your appointment.

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Set aside time this week to reflect on and renew your Soldiers' Covenant and Officer's Covenant.

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Create a timeline of God's faithfulness as you have followed his calling on your life. Share it with someone.

 13. Beliefs/Values/Behaviours 

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Make a list of things in the DNA of The Salvation Army from its beginnings -mission, practice, history, doctrine-that you most admire and value.

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Explore the doctrines of The Salvation Army. Write them out and what they mean to you.

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Make a list of things in the DNA of The Salvation Army from its beginnings -mission, practice, history, doctrine-that you most admire and value.

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Think about what The Salvation Army uniquely brings to the wider church. Connect with other pastors and see how you might best partner together.

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Write out your answer to this question: "What does it mean for me to be a Salvationist?" Share it with someone else.

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Make a list of things in the DNA of The Salvation Army from its beginnings -mission, practice, history, doctrine-that you most admire and value.

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Think about what The Salvation Army uniquely brings to the wider church. Connect with other pastors and see how you might best partner together.

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Read the book insane: the stories of crazy salvos who changed the world by Nelson Munn and David Collinson and journal what stands out to you.

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Use The Salvation Army's Day by Day resource as a devotional throughout the month. Put its principles into action.

You've chosen your next step for growth, now make sure you connect with those you're journeying with to let them know what step(s) you've decided to take. Then schedule a Connection Point to let each other know how your steps are going. Use the guide on the next page to help keep your Connection Points intentional and on track!

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