Rector’s Reflections
Friday 7th June 2024
Chaplaincy in the 21st Century
I finished yesterday’s reflections by stating that I think that the Church should do much more to promote the chaplaincy model of ministry. Why do I think this?
To start with, the chaplaincy model is rooted in the practice of Jesus. Jesus went out and about. He had conversations with a wide range of people, and sought to address their physical and spiritual needs. Although Jesus did spend some of his time teaching in the synagogues and in the Temple precincts, he didn’t spend all his time there- his ministry seems mainly to have been that of an itinerant preacher. And although there were occasions when Jesus did indeed address the crowd, his ministry tended to be focussed on individuals. Jesus responded to individuals on a one-to-one basis, respecting the unique context of each particular life. This is why we find Jesus saying different things to different people, according to the need and context. And Jesus was willing to listen to what others had to say. Jesus didn’t seem to have been bothered about meeting numerical targets. His strategy for growing the Kingdom of God seems to have been about helping individuals to grow deeper in their relationship with God, and trusting his Heavenly Father to bless the result. In short, Jesus’ ministry was not based on the parish model or the congregational model. It was based on the chaplaincy model. Of course, we are not Jesus, and the contexts for our own ministry will be completely different from anything Jesus knew back in the 1st Century AD. But having said that, the chaplaincy model helps us to mould our own ministry on the pattern and practice of Jesus. Anything that helps us to re-focus our lives on Jesus is for the good.
Secondly, chaplaincy brings the church into direct contact with the wider world. We are brought face to face with the joys and challenges of our fellow human beings. Church congregations and ministers can become very inward focussed: they see things as churchgoers see things. Also, church congregations tend not to be fully representative of the wider community. Chaplaincy helps us to encounter the world as it really is. This in turn helps to make our prayers, our worship, and our outreach more relevant to the needs of our world, Church life can be a bit of bubble. Chaplaincy bursts the bubble.
Finally, the chaplaincy model is a more sustainable use of resources. There are two main reasons for this. To start with, while chaplains have to be trained and professionally managed, as a general rule they do not need to be priests. There are one or two situations where the chaplain will have to ordained, but this is the exception rather than the rule. A suitably trained lay person can be a very effective chaplain. This is a great help at a time when many churches, including the Church of England, are facing a significant of shortage of ordained ministers. But there is a further reason why the chaplaincy model is more sustainable. The traditional parish model and the congregational model require the church community to fund capital costs (eg a church building) as well as operating costs ( eg paying the minister). The chaplaincy model takes one substantial capital cost out of the equation: the church community won’t have to pay for a building. This might be because the chaplaincy uses existing premises, for example it a chaplaincy based in a school or hospital. Or it might be because the chaplaincy isn’t using any building at all, or is simply making use of local coffee shop or pub, as and when needed.
So I am a great supporter of the chaplaincy model. It re-focusses us on the ministry and practice of Jesus. It gets us out into our communities and away from the bubble of church life. And it is much more efficient in its use of resources. The parish model and the congregational model are resource-heavy and increasingly ineffective in reaching our communities with the transforming love of God in His Son Jesus Christ.
However, these are merely my own thoughts. I wonder what you think?