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Please enter your name, email and zip code below to sign up!
Please enter your name, email and zip code below to sign up!
Please enter your name, email and zip code below to sign up!
Please enter your name, email and zip code below to sign up!
Please enter your name, email and zip code below to sign up!
Please enter your name, email and zip code below to sign up!
Please enter your name, email and zip code below to sign up!
Please enter your name, email and zip code below to sign up!
Please enter your name, email and zip code below to sign up!
To preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in His name without discrimination.
At its heart, The Salvation Army is a church. This foundation is what motivates us to do the work that we do. We love God and serve others because of His love for all. That’s where our mission comes from – to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet needs in His name without discrimination. Because, we want others to come to know God’s love too. These are our marching orders.
We’ve been around since 1865, originally called the East London Christian Mission. An itinerate pastor named William Booth started the organization as a grassroots effort with boots on the ground in London. He didn’t have buildings, but he did have a dedicated following who saw desperate need among the poorest of people and took to the streets to offer help. Booth referred to the organization as a volunteer army, because of the way they operated and served. As the organization grew, he used military-style rankings to describe the hierarchy of leadership. Leaders adopted a uniform apparel that mirrored military styles. Their mission was to serve others in Jesus’ name, meeting not only their physical needs, but also their spiritual needs. Booth described their work as providing “soup, soap and salvation,” eventually changing their name to The Salvation Army.
Today, the mission is the same and we’ve kept the Army structure. Our officers, or leaders, are ordained pastors.
Our basic unit of service is a Corps Community Center, which encompasses our church and social service programs for a community. In the Northeast Ohio Division there are over 37 Corps Community Centers. In communities of need where corps offices are not located, Service Extension Units are there. They are volunteer branches of The Salvation Army which provide temporary emergency assistance. In our division alone, there are 124 Service Units. We also have specialized centers such as Camp NEOSA and the Ray & Joan Kroc Community Corps Center. In Northeast Ohio, there are 3 Adult Rehabilitation Centers, or ARCs as they are commonly known. These residential drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers have helped thousands of people to reclaim their lives.