WEA Secretary General Thomas Schirrmacher and Global Ambassador Efraim Tendero (right) with Bronwyn and Lyndon Buckingham, the Salvation Army’s new international leaders.
World Evangelical Alliance Secretary General Thomas Schirrmacher and Global Ambassador Efraim Tendero were present in person as the Salvation Army publicly installed Lyndon Buckingham as the 22nd General of this famed international organization in London on Sunday, September 3.
Consistent with Salvation Army tradition, Bronwyn Buckingham, as the General’s wife, also received a new title, becoming World President of Women’s Ministries.
The three-hour worship event took place in historic Regent Hall, on Oxford Street in the heart of London, where the Salvation Army was established by founder William Booth in 1882. After the service, Schirrmacher and Tendero were among the first to congratulate the new General and President of Women’s Ministries and to offer their support.
Buckingham and others in the worship service emphasized their commitment to expressing the Salvation Army’s spiritual message along with continuing its world-renowned relief and social-service work.
Schirrmacher said he shared these words with General Buckingham: “As CEOs, we always have to get our own house in order. But let’s do this quickly, as we need our main time and energy for the most amazing job that exists—fulfilling Jesus’ legacy by bringing the gospel to all and working toward a peaceful and just world.”
The Salvation Army became part of the Evangelical Alliance movement very early in its history and continues to collaborate closely with the World Evangelical Alliance, especially as both organizations have representatives to the United Nations in New York and Geneva. In most nations, the Salvation Army belongs to that country’s national evangelical alliance.
“The Salvation Army has been a stabilizing factor for evangelicals for the last 140 years, responding to people’s physical and emotional needs while keeping in the midst of its work the message that Jesus is the only way to the Father,” Schirrmacher stated.
“It was a great encouragement,” Tendero added, “to hear several platform participants at the gathering stress that the Salvation Army is a Christian mission. I believe that God will use the Salvation Army in a significant way under the Buckinghams’ leadership to fulfill the Lord’s Great Commission.”
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