Shaw Clifton
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General Shaw Clifton (born September 21, 1945 in Belfast, Northern Ireland) is the General of The Salvation Army. He succeeded John Larsson as the 18th General on 2nd April, 2006. He has the academic qualifications LLB(Hons), BDTheol(Hons), PhD and AKC(Theol).
Clifton was commissioned as an Officer of The Salvation Army on July 5, 1973. His first appointment was a British Territory Corps in Burnt Oak, North London, England in July, 1973. He went briefly to continue his officer studies at International Headquarters in October, 1973, before being appointed to Zimbabwe, initially to the Mazowe Secondary School and then to the Bulawayo Corps as Corps Officers.
He returned to the United Kingdom in 1979 to take charge of the Enfield Corps, North London. In June, 1982 he became the Legal and Parliamentary Secretary at International Headquarters. In May, 1992 he became Divisional Commander in the Durham & Tees Division of the United Kingdom Territory with the Republic of Ireland. He would serve in that post until 1995 when he became Divisional Commander in the Massachusetts Division of theUSA Eastern Territory for a couple of years until he was promoted to Territorial Commander of the Pakistan Territory for the Salvation Army in 1997. In 2002, he became the Territorial Commander for the New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga Territory.
In 2004, he made his move back to United Kingdom Territory this time as Territorial Commander until he became General-elect for the Salvation Army on January 28, 2006.
He is married to Commissioner Helen Clifton (nee Ashman), who was born in 1948 in Edmonton, London. The two have been married since July 15, 1967. In the course of their travels together, they have always encouraged full participation by men and women in the church. They have three children, Matt, John and Jenny (Collings). Matt and Jenny are officers in the Salvation Army.
Commissioner Helen Clifton is World President of Women's Ministries and has been a Salvation Army officer since 1973. In 1984 they jointly edited a book 'Growing Together' about marriage and family life. [1]
[edit] Views and politics
Clifton has maintained a close interest in the connection between Christianity and social ethical issues. He has helped to shape current Salvationst stances on issues such as abortion, war, race and ethnicity, gender, marriage and family life, euthanisia, human sexuality, pornography.
He is known for writing and speaking on the practical possibility of living a pure and holy life in the secular world, by divine indwelling and grace. He draws upon the writings of the Reformers, John Wesley, William Booth, Catherine Booth, Samuel Logan Brengle, and Edward Read.
Clifton advocates a role for churches in social action, not just in social service, important though this latter is. Such a role should be a non-party role and it is not for the churches to tell believers or members how to cast their vote.
As world leader of The Salvation Army Clifton is actively working for heightened awareness of, and greater opposition to, human trafficking.
| Preceded by John Larsson |
General of The Salvation Army 2006 – present |
Incumbent |
