Meet the Officer – Auxiliary-Lieutenant Sandra Mortimer

1. What is your current appointment, and what do you find most satisfying about it? 

The beautiful, challenging Outback and Northern Territory town of Katherine is where I serve. The corps provides two meals a day plus shower and laundry services five days a week. We work alongside six other TSA mission expressions onsite and regularly have more than 100 community members using our centre. We have a strong worship expression every Sunday night, and some great community engagement outreach activities such as the lost kids stand at the annual Katherine Show, and a huge Christmas Day lunch every year that has up to 40 volunteers helping out. Supporting volunteers is one of the most satisfying parts of my role. They are needed, and many of them need the connection that serving brings them.

2. Away from the appointment – if that’s possible! – what do you do to relax or unwind? 

My husband and I have two eight-year-old Labrador dogs – one black and one brown one. When I walk in the door after work, nothing can switch my brain into relax mode more than my dogs being overjoyed to see me. I try to walk and swim and I will read anything, including the back of a tin can. So, really enjoying good modern novels of positive topics, when I’m disciplined enough to get off my iPad screen, is a great way for me to unwind.  

Sandra serving the Kstherine community during the Top End floods in March.

3. What’s a favourite Christian song and why do you like it? 

I have many but can’t go past the modern day setting of the Prayer of St Francis of Assisi: ‘Make me a Channel of Your Peace’. I love some of the modern Christian YouTube clips and also value the traditional Salvation Army Song Book. I want to sing about Jesus, or with words directly from the Bible. I like songs that remind me of what Jesus has done by forgiving my sin and putting me right with my creator God, for a life beyond this one. 

4. If you could have a good talk with a biblical character apart from Jesus, who would it be and what would you talk about? 

I think I’d like to get to know the Apostle Thomas. He’s the one who asked Jesus to prove he really had come back to life. I like his bravery and willingness to ask what other people may be thinking. I would talk about doubt with him and why doubt is okay with God and is the flip side of faith. 

5. If you were talking to a group of Salvationists and they asked if you recommended officership or not, what would you say? 

I would first share the final command of Jesus to his disciples recorded in Matthew 28, verses 16-20. This reminds us that everyone who follows Jesus is asked to ‘Go and make disciples’. This is not just for church leaders or ordained people, it’s for all of us.

However, like me, if The Salvation Army is a movement that you know and love, there is a place for you in full-time ministry today. Please pray about it and speak to a trusted leader in The Salvation Army to explore options for full time serving. You will find a fulfilment in serving. I do not regret one day of my now eight years as a late vocation auxiliary-lieutenant in The Salvation Army Australia. You are needed. God will go before and you will have lots of support to be the best you can be as a Salvation Army officer.   

More information on Salvation Army officership can be found here.