High Council
From Sawiki
The High Council elects a new General in the event of a vacancy or prior to the retirement of the existing office holder. It can also remove a General when he or she can no longer fulfil their duties. It is made up of the Chief of the Staff, all active Commissioners except the spouse of the General, and all active Territorial Commanders. It is not a governing body of the Salvation Army, and is regarded as having no continuity of existence between meetings.
Contents |
History
The High Council was established by William Booth in 1904. It originally could only remove a General who could no longer fulfil the duties of office. The Chief of the Staff could call in the Commissioners to vote on the issue, and if they found that the General was not up to the job they would choose his successor. It was intended that in normal circumstances each General would name his successor. However this has happened only with the second General of The Salvation Army, Bramwell Booth, succeding William Booth on his upon his death in 1912.
In November 1928, Bramwell Booth was away from International Headquarters for several months due to illness. He was asked to resign, but refused. On January 8, 1929, the High Council met for the first time and voted 55 to 8 to remove the 73-year-old ill General.
General Booth took his case to courts, and this lost him a great deal of respect. The Proceedings were delayed by the death of Lieut-Commissioner William J. Haines, Vice-President of the High Council, who collapsed during the court hearings and died 45 minutes later.
After over two months of deliberations, the court ruled in favour of the High Council. The High Council met on February 13, 1929, and elected General Booth's Chief of the Staff Edward J. Higgins as the new General of The Salvation Army.
In 1931 the Salvation Army Act of the British Parliament was passed, with the support of General Higgins. The effects of this were that the General lost the power to choose his or her successor, fixed an age limit of 70 for the retirement of the General, and created a trustee company to hold the properties and other capital assets of The Salvation Army instead of the sole trusteeship of the General.
High Councils to elect a new general have been held in 1934, 1939, 1946, 1954, 1963, 1969, 1974, 1977, 1981, 1986, 1993, 1994, 1999, 2002 and 2006.
Who can be a General?
Any active officer of The Salvation Army can be elected, even a Captain. However, no General has ever been elected without being a member of the High Council.
A woman has been elected as General on two occasions.
Despite the Army's worldwide reach, no General has yet been elected from outside of Europe, Australia, or North America, and no non-white officer has ever been elected as General.
How the High Council works
The High Council selects nominees. Each nominee addresses the council, and then the votes are held, in secret. The successful candidate must win two-thirds the votes on the first, second or third ballots. If that does not happen a fourth ballot, which requires a simple majority, takes place.
High Council of The Salvation Army, 2006
General John Larsson was due to retire at midnight on April 1, 2006. The Chief of the Staff issued summonses on December 1, 2005 to all who qualified as members on that date. The 2006 High Council was the largest ever, with a membership of 100.
The High Council members met at Sunbury Court from January 17, until January 19 for a pre-High Council Conference led by the General. The Public Welcome to the High Council took place on Friday January 20 at the Methodist Central Hall in London. This gathering also incorporated a Farewell Salute to General John Larsson and Commissioner Freda Larsson. The High Council convened at Sunbury Court the same day.
On January 28, 2006, Shaw Clifton was elected. He took office on April 2, 2006.
See also
External links
This page was originally imported from the wikipedia page High Council of The Salvation Army. Initially edited by Wikipedia.
