The Salvation Army is a Christian denomination whose stated mission is “to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in His name without discrimination.”

Churches and other faith-based organizations that receive government funds, beware.

In an agreement that will be enforced by a federal court, government agencies in New York have agreed to monitor the Salvation Army to ensure that it doesn’t impose religion on the people its serves through its tax-funded social services.

The agreement just effects the Salvation Army’s social work in New York, but it’s more than a cautionary tale for religious groups in this era of government-backed faith-based initiatives. “With this settlement, government is watching out,” co-counsel Deborah Karpatkin of the N.Y. Civil Liberties Union said in a statement. “It will not fund religious organizations to proselytize to recipients of government-funded social services.”

The agreement highlights one of the issues that is vexing President Obama’s faith advisory council: Should the government require houses of worship to form separate, secular nonprofit corporations to receive tax dollars to pay for social services? Obama’s council was unable to reach consensus, voting 13-12 that there should be such a requirement.

Closer monitoring of faith-based funds is one of the recommendations of Obama’s faith advisory council: “To guard against inappropriate uses of Federal funds, the Government must monitor and enforce the constitutional, statutory, and regulatory standards that follow social service funds.”

The agreement also raises interesting questions about what it means to be the church.