44 – Officer Resignations
My last chapter was written with much heaviness of heart. The Salvation Army has ordained and commissioned many national officers before and after the war. Sadly the majority have resigned for different reasons.
All of us grow weary from time to time in our day to day living as parents, grand parents, husbands, wives, employees and employers. The world today calls this ‘burnout.’ It happens to even dedicated, committed people who feel tired and emotionally drained - tired of giving, tired of doing, tired of serving. He finds that the joy of service is gone. We all know that from time to time, faithful workers of the Lord get weary in well doing. And Satan works very hard to make us give up the good work we are doing.
One day I heard a newly commissioned officer complain that she was ‘burnt out.’ It was on the tip of my tongue to respond to this young lady, that she had not even been lighted! What she wanted was a rest or an easier time. Somehow she had cotton on to this expression ‘burnt out’ and thought it fitted beautifully into her situation. She was longing for a nice holiday. However, there are genuine cases of ‘burnt out.’
People withdraw from officership for a variety of reasons. Some are ‘burnt out’ through over commitment or through unreasonable expectations of others. Some lack discipline, become disorganized and fritter away their time without accomplishing much. In many cases prayerlessness is one of the causes. They fail to maintain a healthy lifestyle and to keep fit physically, mentally and spiritually. All of us need to exercise discipline.
I am always saddened to hear of those who entered officership with no clear sense of calling. To them, officership is but another job or profession. When pressure comes they find they are unable to cope with the demands made upon them as officers. In recent years we have had cadets who could not even complete their two year residential training. Was it made clear to them the meaning of officership? Officership or entering the ministry is a calling not just employment or profession.
Sometimes our leaders are at fault. In their zeal to get nationals, they compromise on standards and spiritual maturity for the sake of numbers. Some have been accepted only after a brief period of soldiership in the Army. They are not spiritually mature. Prospective candidates need to go through a period of training and testing, perhaps as Corps Helpers or assistants in our Social Homes; in other words to get a foretaste of what officership entails. A novice or new convert should not be accepted into the Training College.
There are officers who after some time, struggle with our structure. The Salvation Army is a church and an organization. As such we have our own structure, rules and regulations which some officers find it difficult to comply with. They want to be like our friends in the autonomous churches. Some see themselves as senior pastors of independent churches. One Corps Officer used the designation to describe himself – Senior Pastor and he was the only Corps Officer with his wife as the associate. Some see themselves as miniature Billy Grahams or world evangelists. Running a small Corps is too restrictive for them. They have visions of preaching to packed stadiums of people. They’ve grown too big for The Salvation Army. Egotism grows out of human pride.
I’ve heard of those who claim that they must follow their own heart. Is it safe to follow the maxim “I follow my own heart.”? It sounds religious, but be wary for it might be following one’s selfish ambitions. The heart is not always a perfect guide to follow. Listen to Jeremiah, “The heart is deceitful above all things.” Jeremiah 17: 9. You may be following your own heart, but is your heart following Jesus? We all need regular soul searching.
One of the saddest things I do see in officers is the loss of vision. He may have started with zeal and enthusiasm, but the years have taken their toll on him. Now work has become mechanical, he goes through the motions, carries out his routine responsibilities. There is no more joy in service. The fire has gone out of his life and ministry. He is now weary in well doing.
There is the feeling of hopelessness that things are not going to get better. The officer becomes mediocre. When that happens, the temptation is to give up. Often it takes the form of what Thoreau called, ‘quiet desperation.’ There are people going through the motions maintaining the pretence of a relationship but in reality have become detached emotionally and stopped working; stopped fighting; stopped caring.
Shakespeare uttered a profound truth when he made Wolsey say.
“Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambitions,
By that sin fell the angels, how can men then,
The image of his Maker, hope to profit by?”
The word ‘ambition’ comes from the Latin word meaning ‘canvassing for promotion.’ People are ambitious for different reasons. Pride is one of them. They want to have authority or power above others. Jesus told His disciples, “whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.” Mark 10: 43-44.
One of the preventatives for burnt out is found in the developing of support systems. We are all social creatures who need the support of each other. We need the support of those who will listen and counsel us. Those of us who have been in the ministry longer in years have the responsibility to mentor the younger and less mature officers. Perhaps some of us have failed because we have been too busy. Or have we gone weary in well doing ourselves thus lessening our spiritual influence.
Mentoring works both ways. Younger officers who need support must be humble enough to seek it. Some are simply too proud or too busy to contact a more senior officer for guidance. Effective mentoring can create a positive attachment relationship between two people. To avoid an unhealthy dependence of one on the other space is needed of course. It also allows the mentored to discover himself and develop his own potential, thus leading to spiritual maturity.
Let us continue to pray for the Lord to touch the hearts and lives of our youth that they will offer themselves for officership. Let us pray for our officers too that they will be kept faithful to the vows they have made to the Lord. “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” Matthew 9: 37-38
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