How do our values help us live out our faith?

Major Beverly Baker (THQ) talks to Ivan Radford about acting with integrity.

The Salvation Army’s six values – boldness, compassion, passion, respect, mutual accountability and integrity – were identified about 17 years ago. They intersect in a way that together seeks to describe what putting God's love into action might look like, helping the diverse group of people who serve within The Salvation Army to better live out Kingdom culture.

Acting with integrity involves being honest and transparent in all our dealings with each other and the people we serve, being open about our motives and living out all six values. In today’s inauthentic world, that authenticity stands out.

• Visit Our Values to download the booklet Living Out Our Salvation Army Values, which outlines the theological grounding of all six values.

Why do we have the values?

Our five mission priorities are about what we live out, and our values give us clarity in how we will go about that. Our values can help us reflect Christ’s example through boldness in fulfilling our mission, compassion that uplifts others, passion that fuels excellence, respect that honours all, integrity that builds trust, and mutual accountability that deepens community.

Together, these values enable us to serve faithfully and contribute to an environment where people can experience the transforming love of God. These values can be understood and shared by anyone involved in the many different aspects of our mission, whether they are of Christian faith, other faiths or no faith.

What does living and serving with integrity mean to you?

Integrity is when who we say we are, what we say we believe and how we speak and act, align and don't contradict each other. It’s about being honest and consistent and reliable and trustworthy. It’s closely connected with mutual accountability, because, despite my best intentions, I mess up and am imperfect: if I’m criticising the speck in someone else’s eye when I have a plank in my own (see Matthew 7:3–5), I need to be humble enough to recognise and address my shortcomings. It’s difficult and takes time to rebuild trust when it’s damaged. We’re called to ‘let your light shine before others’ (Matthew 5:16) and sometimes our lamp needs polishing.

What does integrity mean for the wider Salvation Army?

The six values are grounded in Scripture, and work has been done to outline the kind of behaviour that demonstrates the values well, and also the kind of behaviour that clearly goes against the values, to help us be more faithful in our shared life, mission and ministry. People who connect with The Salvation Army need to experience that we are who we say we are, that wherever they are and whoever is representing the Army reflects this in their words and their actions. That’s a big responsibility for all of us.

The values can help give us clarity about standards and expectations of behaviour, even when our motivations are different or when we are at different places in our journeys of faith. Having integrity is integral to that – it’s like letters that run through the centre of a stick of rock. It’s a big challenge in a lot of areas. From our understanding of the character and action of God, the basic standard of Christian behaviour is love. We need to continually be drawn back to understand how God is asking us to live and work together, to help us be faithful to our calling to be God’s people.

5 tips for living out integrity

• Reflect on last year When did your actions demonstrate integrity? What contributed to that? Were there situations where a lack of integrity drifted from who you aspire to be? What did you learn?
• Commit to small wins Building integrity isn’t about grand gestures, but small, consistent actions where you commit and follow through.
• Practise active listening Intentionally listen more to others to build stronger, more authentic relationships.
• Model transparency Even when it’s difficult, commit to being transparent to build trust and a culture of openness.
• Find a mentor Seek out an accountability partner who will challenge and encourage you.