Sexuality

Sex and sexuality are complex and often misunderstood issues, which invoke a strong array of emotions.

NOTE: Unless specifically named as a 'Guideline' (eg, 'Guideline for Salvationists: Gay Conversion Therapies'), the items published here do not necessarily represent the official position of The Salvation Army, being the views of their writer/s. However, they are recommended to support individuals in faith-based thinking about these important issues, and assist them with discussing human sexuality openly and honestly.

Guideline for Salvationists: Gay Conversion Therapies

Given the position that same-sex attraction is not ‘rectifiable at will’, and that Salvationists want to be sensitive to people’s ‘social, emotional and spiritual needs’, there is no basis for referral to, or engagement in, any form of gay conversion therapy. The Salvation Army recognises the emotional, psychological, social and spiritual harms that these therapies have caused and will stand against their use in every circumstance.

Read this document - authorised by the Territorial Governance Board in September 2020 - for more direction for Salvationists around this matter:

• Guideline for Salvationists: Gay Conversion Therapies (PDF, 170KB)

Prostitution Talk Sheet

This Talk Sheet covers recent developments in prostitution in New Zealand. It raises concerns about the normalisation of the purchasing of sex as a commodity, but also challenges Christians to think about how the witness of the church can negatively affect prostitutes' impressions of Christianity and Christ.

• Prostitution talk sheet (PDF, 686KB)

Sexualisation and Pornography

• Turning People into Things: Sexxx... and Pornography (PDF, 1.45MB)
• 'We Need to Talk About Porn' (youth article from Firezone website)
• 'We Need to Talk About Porn (female perspective)' (youth article from Firezone website)

LGBTQI+ Issues

• 'Us Not Them', exploring the personal experience of homophobia and The Salvation Army's stance against this, 'War Cry' magazine, 11 August 2018.
• 'Rejecting Rejection', a presentation given by Major Christina Tyson at the Booth College of Mission Thought Matters seminar, October 2017.
• The Salvation Army's Submission to the Criminal Records (Expungement of Convictions for Historical Homosexual Offences) Bill, August 2017.
• United in Love, a news report on the involvement of some Salvationists at the 2017 Wellington Gay Pride event, War Cry 6 May 2017.
• Building Bridges of Understanding, a news report on an open spirituality event for members of the LGBTI community and allies, War Cry 16 April 2016.
• When Words Hurt and Hinder, thoughts on the phrase 'Love the sinner, hate the sin', by Captain Ross Wardle, War Cry 16 April 2016.
• The Bible, the Church and Hospitality, exploring how the church can offer hospitality to gay and lesbian people, by Captain Ross Wardle, War Cry, 22 May 2015.
• News release on a New Zealand Salvation Army 2014 Same-Sex Attitudes Survey.
• Book review: 'God and the Gay Christian' by Matthew Vine (reviewed by Major Harold Hill), from War Cry magazine 26 July 2014.
• Statement by the International Salvation Army on non-discrimination, with comments on international coverage of a June 2012 Australian media interview on homosexuality - October 2013
• Rainbow Wellington and The Salvation Army reach a rapprochement (PDF, 17KB) - jointly issued statements, May 2012
• The Salvation Army and Homosexual Law Reform (PDF, 32KB) - issued on the Authority of Commissioner Garth McKenzie (Territorial Commander), 15 May 2008
• Line in the Sand (PDF, 19KB) What does it mean for Christians to love homosexual neighbours? by Christina Tyson, War Cry, 13 May 2006
• The Salvation Army and the 1986 Homosexual Law Reform Bill in NZ (PDF, 280KB) - a historical record by Major Ian Hutson, 2002, updated 2017