WHAT WE BELIEVE (Simplified version)

• God helped good men to speak and write what is in the Bible, so that from it we may learn the way God means us to live.
• There is only one God, and he is altogether perfect in every way. He is the Creator, Preserver and Governor of all things. We should not worship anyone or anything else.
• God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one God.
• Jesus is both truly God and truly human: he has both God's nature and our nature.
• Our first parents by their disobedience, lost their sense of God's favour, and came under the power of sin;
  and because of this, we are all inclined to do wrong.
• On the cross Jesus suffered and died for the sins of everyone, so that whosoever wants to may be saved.
• To be saved we must be truly sorry for doing wrong and trust in Jesus; then the Holy Spirit will make us new people.
• Salvation is a free gift from God. It is received when we believe in Jesus and when we are saved, we know it.
• To keep good we must trust in Jesus to help us, and we must go on doing as he wants us to do.
• Saved people are given the change to be used by God to help him.
  When they have given themselves to him fully, they can be given power to serve him, and be kept from sinning.
  When our bodies die we ourselves go on living in a new and different way. At the end of time Jesus will judge all people.
• Those who have chosen him to be their Saviour will be happy to live with him as their King, for ever.
• Those who have not done so will always be unhappy because they chose what separates them from all that is good and lovely.

A SOLDIER'S COVENANT

The Article's of War, also known as the Soldier's Covenant, are the promises made when becoming a soldier in The Salvation Army. A soldier is a Christian who is committed to the mission of The Salvation Army and has undertaken a specific covenant (or promise) regarding their lifestyle and beliefs.

HAVING accepted Jesus Christ as my Saviour and Lord, and desiring to fulfil my membership of His Church on earth as a soldier of The Salvation Army, I now by God’s grace enter into a sacred covenant

I believe and will live by the truths of the word of God expressed in The Salvation Army’s eleven articles of faith:

• We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments were given by inspiration of God: and that they only constitute the Divine rule of Christian faith and practice.
• We believe that there is only one God, who is infinitely perfect, the Creator. Preserver, and Governor of all things, and who is the only proper object of religious worship.
• We believe that there are three persons in the Godhead—the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost—undivided in essence and co-equal in power and glory.
• We believe that in the person of Jesus Christ the Divine and human natures are united, so that He is truly and properly God and truly and properly man.
• We believethat our first parents were created in a state of innocency. but by their disobedience they lost their purity and happiness; and that in consequence of their fall all men have become sinners, totally depraved. and as such are justly exposed to the wrath of God.
• We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ has, by His suffering and death, made an atonement for the whole world so that whosoever will may be saved.
• We believe that repentance towards God, faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and regeneration by the Holy Spirit are necessary to salvation.
• We believe that we are justified by grace, through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ; and that he that believeth hath the witness in himself.
• We believe that continuance in a state of salvation depends upon continued obedient faith in Christ.
• We believe that it is the privilege of all believers to be wholly sanctified, and that their whole spirit and soul and body may be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
• We believe in the immortality of the soul; in the resurrection of the body; in the general judgment at the end of the world; in the eternal happiness of the righteous; and in the endless punishment of the wicked.
  
  

THEREFORE

• I will be responsive to the Holy Spirit’s work and obedient to His leading in my life, growing in grace through worship, prayer, service and the reading of the Bible.
• I will make the values of the Kingdom of God and not the values of the world the standard for my life.
• I will uphold Christian integrity in every area of my life, allowing nothing in thought. word or deed that is unworthy, unclean, untrue, profane, dishonest or immoral.
• I will maintain Christian ideals in all my relationships with others: my family and neighbours, my colleagues and fellow salvationists, those to whom and for whom I am responsible, and the wider community.
• I will uphold the sanctity of marriage and of family life.
• I will be a faithful steward of my time and gifts, my money and possessions, my body, my mind and my spirit, knowing that I am accountable to God.
• I will abstain from alcoholic drink. tobacco, the non-medical use of addictive drugs. gambling, pornography, the occult, and all else that could enslave the body or spirit.
• I will be faithful to the purposes for which God raised up The Salvation Army, sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, endeavouring to win others to Him, and in His name caring for the needy and the disadvantaged.
• I will be actively involved, as l am able, in the life, work, worship and witness of the corps, giving as large a proportion of my income as possible to support its ministries and the worldwide work of the Army.
• I will be true to the principles and practices of The Salvation Army, loyal to its leaders, and I will show the spirit of salvationism whether in times of popularity or persecution.
  
  
• I now call upon all present to witness that I enter into this covenant and sign these articles of war of my own free will, convinced that the love of Christ, who died and now lives to save me, requires from me this devotion of my life to His service for the salvation of the whole world; and therefore do here declare my full determination, by God’s help, to be a true soldier of The Salvation Army.