Southern Highlands Salvation Army captain Grant Andrews said he came in yesterday morning to continue counting the money raised from the appeal, when he found the back door jammed open and the screen door ripped off the tracks.

He found the church ransacked and about $2500 missing from one of the offices. A lot of the money stolen was collected from the Red Shield Appeal, he said.

"They obviously were looking for money when they came in," Mr Andrews said.

"From the looks of things they only went through our cupboards and our offices, so they knew what they were after."

Mr Andrews was unsure if anything else was taken.

"We're still counting the money we collected from the appeal, so we're not sure if more was stolen," he said.

Mr Andrews said he was appalled by the selfishness of the thieves.

"It's so disheartening for this to happen when we're trying to help out people, and these people who broke in just want to help themselves," he said.

"They're not taking the money from the Salvation Army, but from people in the community who really need it and they're depriving people from being helped. It's unspeakable."

Mr Andrews said the Salvation Army Church had been subject to a spate of robberies this year, with thieves taking off with books and electrical equipment during the past six weeks.

"We've been broken into at least 10 times this year, and at least two times in the last week or so," he said.

The Salvation Army is now installing a new security system to prevent further losses.

"We don't like to lock up this place like a fortress, but we have to," he said.

"We should be able to leave the doors open for people to use the place as a refuge, but we can't because of these sorts of people who ruin it for others.

"It's ridiculous to have to put bars on a church to keep people out, when our desire is to bring people in."

Police said they had no leads, and appealed for people with any information to contact Bowral Police Station.