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General Shaw Clifton, international leader of The Salvation Army, announced today that the membership of the High Council, the body which elects the Army’s worldwide leader, has been expanded to include all officers holding the appointment of Territorial President of Women’s Ministries.
‘This is an important moment for The Salvation Army,’ said General Clifton. ‘Although the number of members that will be added to the High Council is relatively small, this decision is a strong affirmation of the equal role that women leaders play in the Army’s worldwide ministry. The inclusion of these leaders in future deliberations of the High Council is consistent with both our theology and our history, and I am simply delighted.’
As a consequence of this change, the next meeting of the High Council will see a male/female ratio of almost exactly 50 per cent of each. In fact, it is likely that the number of female members will, for the first time in the Army’s history, actually exceed that of men present.
Consistent with the Salvation Army Act 1980, the change was approved in an electronic vote by more than two-thirds of the Army’s active commissioners and it was verified by The Salvation Army’s solicitors, Slaughter and May. A formal amendment to the Act was made through the General’s signing of a Deed of Variation.
