DISCIPLESHIP

PERSONAL AND SPIRITUAL FORMATION

Click on each header to find out more about what kind of leader you are, and what you need to do to achieve the next steps.

God honouring priorities

Living a life of worship and prayer. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Ensuring appropriate care of family and healthy relationships.

I recognise the need for healthy life balance and try to schedule time for regular personal prayer and worship. I understand the need for holistic well-being that balances the physical, emotional and spiritual aspectsI have a mutually beneficial network of friends and family. 

I demonstrate holistic life balance, healthy lifestyle, and time management that honours family commitments alongside my appointment and ministry to others. I maintain regular sabbath and spiritual rhythms of prayer that includes prayer with family and visitors. I invest in friendships with neighbours, people in the community and colleagues.

I avoid over working and ensure others are not pressured. I model healthy parenting and family relationships, including marriage or single life. I signpost resources that offer good teaching/guidance. I notice and draw attention to the temptation to extremes and imbalance, supporting and coaching.

I shape a culture that recognises the challenges of real life, ensuring policies, procedures, processes enable families to thrive in ministry settings. I continue to listen and understand people’s experiences and invest in well being.

Spiritual formation and receiving grace

Taking responsibility for a deepening love relationship with Jesus, through commitment to spiritual disciplines, and receiving ministry from others.

I understand the importance of personal spiritual formation and have begun to explore spiritual disciplines to develop this further. I am part of a community of faith within the body of Christ and have often received ministry from others in this community. 

I invest in my spiritual development and make it a priority in time and energy. I embrace spiritual disciplines individually and with others (including my local corps) to ‘fan the flame’. I build and engage with supportive networks and fellowships. I allow God to minister to me through the ministry of others. I take responsibility to seek and engage in Care and Equip meetings, annual reviews, and accompanied development. 

From my own deepening relationship with God, I provide for spiritual formation in my context with prayer and space to receive grace. I initiate conversations in support/challenge of spiritual growth of others, remembering couples are formed of individuals. I create individual and community relationships of trust, with safe space to speak truth, to be vulnerable, and explore issues. I signpost to support resources. 

I continually engage in the transformation process (Romans12).  I recognise both my position to encourage deep reflective living and my responsibility to influence the spiritual temperature of the territory.  

I demonstrate humility in leadership which enables me to receive grace, forming an environment of honesty, transparency, and accountability for The Salvation Army, that supports spiritual growth.  

Self-awareness and resilience

Seeking feedback, increasing mindfulness, developing our personal wellbeing.

I have a growing self-awareness and am beginning to receive and act upon feedback more readily. I am willing to explore reflective practices to understand my behaviours. I am becoming aware of ways my relationship with God should influence my relationships with others. I notice what energises and drains me and seek to manage this towards a balanced life. 

 I seek to develop emotional intelligence, graciously receive feedback, and engage in self-reflection to increase self-awareness. I commit to reflective practices to deepen my relationship with God and influence how I act. I am aware that the depth of my spiritual life impacts the life of others and changes the community which I lead. I am mindful to my personal wellbeing and life-balance. I create space for those things which feed, fill and energise me.  

I help build a culture of wellbeing, resilience, and accountability, supporting people to engage with wellbeing provision. I support others to acknowledge outcomes of situations and learn from the lessons they provide. 

I advocate a systemic culture of self-awareness and help create a healthy working culture, mitigating impacts of adversity, building capacity for resilience, using qualitative and quantitative organisational data and insights. I ensure principles and resources are in place for wellbeing support and updated as appropriate. 

Personal impact  

Understanding the impact on others of my use of personal power and influence  

I can articulate my understanding of Salvation Army values and behaviours and try to demonstrate these in my interactions with others. I recognise how power and influence can be misused. 

I demonstrate personal confidence, passion and authority, with humility and grace, role-modelling Salvation Army values and behaviours and promoting inclusivity. I am aware of the risk of manipulating others and imposing myself or my personal views because of my position within The Salvation Army. 

I am a role model for my team, acting ethically and with integrityI handle personal information of others in a professional and transparent mannerI take a stand with senior colleagues when it is the right thing to do despite significant opposition or risk. I am conscious of the need to use power with people rather than over people. 

I ensure that policies, procedures, and practices demonstrate proper treatment of others, both internally and externally, being aware of potential unintended negative impact on others. I am responsible for decisions and actions, to ensure they are ethical and can be explained. I use power in a mutually transforming manner, to enable the flourishing of individuals and The Salvation Army. 

Lifelong learning  

Through welcoming developmental feedback and using reflective practice, contributing to self-awareness, personal growth and development  

I seek opportunities to learn new things. I engage in discussion about my personal growth which informs my ongoing development. 

I reflect on my own performance, respond to feedback, and can identify my own learning and developmental requirements. I show commitment to engagement in continuous learning and development. 

I model commitment to lifelong learningI actively seek and apply learning from feedback to adapt my own learning to support my development in maturity as a leader and inspire others to do the same. 

I ensure The Salvation Army develops as a learning organisation, implementing the Valuing People Framework, providing learning opportunities through learning and development provision, including coaching and mentoring. 

Adaptability and time management  

Managing self, existing and evolving situations  

I apply strategies to manage my workload and can change my plans in response to new situations. I am beginning to put in place appropriate boundaries and can prioritise.  

I effectively manage my workload and circumstances and any associated pressure and can adapt to new and evolving situations. I am aware of what is reasonable and know when to decline requests, create appropriate boundaries, and when to choose sacrificial service. 

I manage multiple workloads and can adapt to new and evolving situations with creativity and innovation.  I influence others in the management of their workloads. 

I work to embed adaptability within The Salvation Army and build a systemic culture of effective time management that promotes the importance of a healthy life balance.