The highest-ranking black man of the Salvation Army arrived in Bermuda last week as the guest speaker for the divisional congress.

Commissioner Israel Gaither is currently the chief of the staff of the Salvation Army and resides in London, the International Headquarters for the socio-evangelical group.

?The central mission of the Salvation Army is social and ecclesiastical and for each person to understand their worth in the world,? Commissioner Gaither told .

Becoming interested in the Salvation Army when he was a teenager, Commissioner Gaither attended the organisations summer camps and he said he felt he was called to the ministry.

Now, he is an international leader that works directly under General John Larsson.

But a future as a general rests in the Lord?s hands he explained and along with the international leaders and the Lord they together elect the general.

?It?s very similar to how in Catholicism the Pope is chosen. The Lord has his hand on the organisation and the international leaders choose who the Lord would want in that position.?

Commissioner Gaither said most people are not aware that the Salvation Army is actually a denomination and associate the organisation with only helping vagrants to get off the street and cleanup their act.

?We recapture men and women caught up in drugs. It isn?t just vagrants but professionals as well,? he said.

?It touches people in different ways in society and crosses culture and strata of society. It offers people the chance to change.?

Even though the Salvation Army has bases in 109 countries it isn?t a social ministry that forces religion, Commissioner Gaither said.

?Through social and welfare work we help people understand that God loves them.

?Within the ecclesiastical part of the church part of the teaching ministry, particularly in our social ministry, we don?t force religion.

?For example, in Iraq we are helping to restore education and feeding people and providing propane but we?re not standing on the street corner preaching the bible.?

But he said he it is not a bad thing to stand up for what one believes and to stand firmly on those beliefs.

Commissioner Gaither said people should learn and respect all types of religion and people.

?It?s often the gulf of not understanding that separates people. The Salvation Army is the bridge in the community.?