The Salvation Army in Poland Granted Official Registration as a Church
THE Salvation Army has been officially registered as a church in Poland. It was added to the country's register of churches on 21 June and official confirmation of this step was given by the authorities on 12 July. The recognition followed a long and often difficult process which threatened The Salvation Army's future work in Poland.
Colonel Vibeke Krommenhoek (Project Warsaw Team Leader) writes: 'We knew last year that this would not be an easy task, because of all the strict legal requirements, but we believed this was what we needed to do – to register as a church and not as anything else. The reason for this, as we see it, is that we are fundamentally a church with a social profile, and not a humanitarian organisation with church activities. Secondly, we believed the registration was a priority in order to be effective in our mission and an equal partner with other churches in Poland.
'Many people both inside and outside The Salvation Army have worked and prayed hard to accomplish this result. It has been amazing and wonderful to discover several important people both in the realms of politics, such as President Chirac of France, and religion, such as a number of Roman Catholic bishops (both in and out of Poland), who have been willing, on our request, to question the Polish authorities on their refusal to register us the first time.
'[We] have more than one million soldiers we can call on to pray. Whether they all prayed for our legal challenges in Poland to be solved, I will never know. But some did and this was sufficient, which calls for one more hallelujah! ... We surely give God the glory for accomplishments that serve and extend his Kingdom, but Scripture assures us that the dedication of the believers and their faithfulness to Christ’s mission matter too.'