Celebrating emergency services work since 1866
- simoneworthing
- Jun 12
- 3 min read
The Salvation Army is preparing to celebrate its 160th anniversary!
In recognition of this upcoming significant anniversary on 2 July, The Salvation Army International Headquarters has created eight short videos chronicling the vast and varied mission of the global Salvation Army over the past 160 years.
The first video was released last week and looked at The Salvation Army as both a church and a charity.
This week, the second video highlights The Salvation Army’s emergency relief work.
This heartbreaking yet inspiring video focuses on the Army’s response to the tragic Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami of 2004. This tsunami resulted in one of the largest natural disasters in recorded history, killing an estimated 228,000 people across 15 countries.
The Salvation Army provided emergency relief in the form of food, temporary shelters and medical aid, as well as emotional and spiritual support to those traumatised by the sheer scale and loss of the disaster.
Hope in action since 1866
The Salvation Army’s earliest relief work dates back to 1866. A cholera outbreak took its toll on London’s East End population. Against a backdrop of poverty and unemployment, the effects were devastating. In response, The Salvation Army (then operating under the name East London Christian Mission) distributed food and clothing.
From this point onwards, The Salvation Army has aided those affected by natural disasters, wars and emergencies all over the world.
The Salvation Army will be there before, during and after a disaster strikes, supporting the long-term recovery of communities around the world – including Australia, through The Salvation Army Emergency Services (SAES) teams.
Watch the video below to learn more about The Salvation Army’s emergency response in Indonesia and Sri Lanka.
To learn more about the International Emergency Department Services of The Salvation Army International, click here.
More to come
The six other videos will be released weekly, focusing on social justice, education, modern slavery and human trafficking, healthcare, development and women in leadership.
The videos will be published on:
If you are commemorating this anniversary in your territory or region, we’d love to know what you have planned. Please email IHQ-Communications@salvationarmy.org.
On social media, you may wish to use #SalvationArmy160.
Jesus with skin on
Daryl Crowden, General Manager SAES, reflects on why, as a church, The Salvation Army is so involved with emergency services.
“I think it’s for the same reason as I do it,” Daryl explained. “During my 24 years as a Salvation Army officer, I had numerous opportunities to run a corps, to preach and to run what I guess most people would consider the normal model of Christianity and mission. But when I started doing this kind of stuff, when I got to sit with people at their worst and not necessarily pray with them, not necessarily talk about Jesus, but just be, it was like, as someone said, a framework of ‘being Jesus with skin on’. I believe I have had more opportunities just to be that, more opportunities of genuine relationship and connection with people in this world than I did as an officer. My style of ministry is reflected in this work and it’s also why The Salvation Army does it.
“Our roots are about sitting down with people in crisis – the messy people, the chaos – and bringing, even if it's momentary, sense out of that for people. And I think that’s why The Salvation Army does it.
“I can't give statistics of people who go to the Mercy Seat, but I can tell you stories of people who walked away lighter, not necessarily because they got a voucher, but because they got half an hour of someone's undivided attention. And I think that's Jesus in the crisis centres.
“And for me, personally, although I’m not sure everyone in The Salvation Army would agree, we have volunteers that are both committed Salvationist Christians and not Christians, but whether they profess Christianity or not, the same effect happens. People walk out of that place knowing that someone cared for their life. And it gives me that opportunity to sit with people who don’t profess religion or like church but want to be part of what Jesus did.”
