KANSAS CITY, Mo. —Major Barbara Carroll is a corps officer in the Salvation Army Northland Corps and Community Center in Kansas City, Mo.

Carroll and her husband, Rick, are pastors who lead the congregation and have been in Kansas City for five years. Like the U.S. Army, the Salvation Army moves pastors around; they usually stay three to six years at each assignment. Previously, the Carrolls were in Hutchinson, Kan.; DeKalb, Ill.; Ann Arbor, Mich.; and Duluth, Minn.

This conversation took place at the Northland community center in Kansas City, Mo.

Q: Beyond the bell ringers and red kettles, what is the Salvation Army?

A: The Salvation Army was started in London by William and Catherine Booth.

William Booth was a Methodist preacher, and he wanted to reach the masses — those who were less fortunate, marginalized and on the street.

He started a Christian mission in 1865. Originally, he just wanted to get the message out about Jesus and send them back to their churches. But the churches in England didn’t want those people; they came back to the mission and said, “We need a church.” In 1880, seven “Hallelujah Lassies” and one man came over to the United States to win the world for Jesus.

And here we are.

Q: What kind of denomination is the Salvation Army? Are you closely related to the Methodist church?

A: We have foundational Methodist doctrine. We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments were given by inspiration of God and that they constitute the divine will of Christian faith and practice.

We are a Bible-believing, Christ-centered church.

Q: Do you only help Christians?

A: No. The mission of the Salvation Army is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human need in his name without discrimination. What religion you are isn’t part of the application.

Q: How do you pay for the buildings and the food you serve to the poor?

A: Our major fundraiser is the kettles. That pays for most of our emergency assistance at all eight of our area locations.

All the money from the kettles goes to that, not to the church.

The church has to support itself separately. Our motto is, “Our heart is to God, and our hand to man.”

Q: What kind of emergency assistance do you offer?

A: We interview people who come in and need money for rent, utilities, gas — necessities. Not cellphone bills or cable bills. Booth had an interesting philosophy when he said, “Soup, soap and salvation.”

Soup because when people are hungry, they aren’t going to listen.

Soap because they need to make people feel good about themselves by cleaning them up, and then you can give them the message of Jesus.

People come to us when they are in a crisis —they are about to get their utilities shut off, or they have a baby and no food to feed it. And we can help them with the immediate crisis, but when they get the message of Christ, it changes their life.