Salvation Army Names Next General
On 1 February, The Salvation Army announced that Canadian-born Commissioner Linda Bond has been elected as its new international leader and 19th General.
The Salvation Army is an international Christian denomination and registered charity, and is one of the largest providers of social welfare in the world. The General directs Salvation Army operations throughout the world from International Headquarters (IHQ) in London. Commissioner Linda Bond (64) will have the title ‘General-Elect’ until she succeeds General Shaw Clifton, who retires at the beginning of April.
The Commissioner was elected by The High Council of The Salvation Army, made up of senior leaders from around the world, which met this week in Sunbury-on-Thames near London. Commissioners Don and Debi Bell, territorial leaders of New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga Territory, were members of the High Council, which they described as a ‘great responsibility and a great privilege’.
Commissioner Bond is currently Territorial Commander of the Australia Eastern Territory. She becomes the third woman and the fourth Canadian to hold the post of General since The Salvation Army was founded 146 years ago. She has 42 years’ experience of Christian ministry and leadership within The Salvation Army in Canada, Australia, the UK and the US.
Since 2008, Commissioner Bond has headed The Salvation Army’s work in the vast Australian states of Queensland and New South Wales. Prior to this, she worked at IHQ as Secretary for Spiritual Life Development and International External Relations. This was her second term at IHQ, where she had previously served as Under Secretary for Personnel in the mid-1990s.
As a Salvation Army officer (ordained minister of religion) Commissioner Bond has served in local corps (church) ministry, on the staff of Salvation Army national and regional (divisional) headquarters, and as part of the training staff for new officers in her home territory of Canada and Bermuda. She also served as a divisional and, subsequently, overall leader of The Salvation Army in Canada and Bermuda. Other appointments have included divisional leadership roles in the Manchester region of the United Kingdom, and as territorial leader in the USA Western Territory of The Salvation Army.
Speaking just after her election Commissioner Bond said, ‘I love the Lord Jesus Christ and pledge my utmost obedience to him. I am absolutely committed to a life of praise and thanksgiving to God. We, The Salvation Army, need to be an Army of praise and thanksgiving to God and we must place our trust in God. We need his Holy Spirit to come mightily on The Salvation Army.’
Once in office, Commissioner Bond will become head of more than one million Salvationists in 123 countries. The Salvation Army also has more than 100,000 employees who between them communicate in 175 different languages. In recent months, The Salvation Army has been involved in relief and recovery work in the aftermath of the Australian floods, a devastating mudslide in Brazil, floods in Sri Lanka, and the Canterbury earthquake in New Zealand.
Under General Shaw Clifton’s five-year term as General, the work of The Salvation Army has expanded into 12 new countries. General Clifton established the Salvation Army’s International Social Justice Commission, based in New York, and the Army’s Centre for Spiritual Life Development in London. He and wife Commissioner Helen Clifton have actively worked to aid the plight of struggling women and children around the world, including mobilising The Salvation Army in a concerted effort against human trafficking. Increasing the role of women in Salvation Army leadership has been of special concern to General Clifton and he has appointed many more women to senior leadership positions within The Salvation Army.
> Read a recent interview with General-Elect Linda Bond