Promoting Chaplaincy

Lindsay Johnstone, Chaplain at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney

How do we encourage people, especially in churches and Christian organisations, to support chaplaincy? How do we make chaplaincy intelligible from a Biblical perspective? How can we do so in a manner likely to evoke inner impetus rather than action locked into a sense of obligation?

This paper is primarily concerned with the context of a Christian audience. However, if promoting the work for the sake of a government grant or for business sponsorship, or support from a community club, we shall want to make sure that pragmatic considerations do not (accidentally) neutralise the Scriptures. Quoting the Bible, however briefly, with integrity and in context adorns the Gospel of Christ.

When the work is being promoted in an overtly Christian assembly or group, then we shall not want to leave the hearer believing that our “good works” are autonomous from or supplementary to the Gospel message.

Because church services and related meetings operate with the expectation that the people attending include both Christians who are needing to be taught or reinforced in the outworking of Christian beliefs and also people not yet converted, we shall want folk to hear Christian care taught in such a way that it supports a Biblical understanding both of how we enter the Kingdom of God, and also how works of Christian care relate to eternity and spiritual salvation. We also want to lower the risks of wrongly arousing guilt on the one-hand or of reinforcing smugness and self-righteousness on the other when motivating and encouraging support for our ministries.

With regard to Ephesians 2: 8-10, we know that the good works God has prepared beforehand to be done by people saved through faith are themselves manifestation of the faith which is “not of works”. They are not done legalistically, so, therefore, they have the character of faith (being itself given to us by God). We want to promote understanding that there is no modular split between the eternal and the temporal.  Separation of Christian performance from the Gospel runs the risk of a new “evangelical law” producing guilt complex or self-righteousness when specific practical actions are being promoted. Because of our carnal nature, it is surprisingly easy for this to happen, but we thank the Lord for his forgiveness and mercy!

How to motivate through the Gospel focus

When motivating Christians to do anything, including supporting chaplaincy and pastoral care, it could be useful to reflect on and apply the model adopted by Tim Keller, Senior Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York when he is preaching generally -

(a) In every text of the Scripture there is somehow a moral principle. It may grow out of because of what it shows us about the character of God or Christ, or out of either the good or bad example of characters in the text, or because of explicit commands, promises, and warnings. This moral principle must be distilled clearly. b) But then a crisis is created in the hearers as the preacher shows that his moral principle creates insurmountable problems. The sermon shows how this practical and moral obligation is impossible to meet. The hearers are led to a seemingly dead end. c) Then a hidden door opens and light comes in. The sermon moves both into worship and into Christ-application when it shows how only Jesus Christ has fulfilled this. If the text is a narrative, you can show how Christ is the ultimate example of a particular character. If the text is didactic, you can show how Christ is the ultimate embodiment of the principle. d) Finally, we show how our inability to live as we ought stems from our rejection of Christ as the Way, Truth, and Life (or whatever the theme is). The sermon points out how to repent and rejoice in Christ in such a way that we can live as we ought.[i]

All motivation of Christians and exhortation to do any good work will stay close to the Gospel if these four truths are always kept in mind.

1                     There are things we are supposed to do.

2                     Of ourselves we are unable to do them, or especially in the manner God intends.

3                     Christ has done them and succeeded.

4                     As we reaffirm our relationship and destiny in connection with Christ, and in the power of the Holy Spirit, we are enabled to do what God wants us to do.

Pastoral care and chaplaincy, along with practical and prayerful support for this ministry, can, in this way,  be presented as increasingly facilitating within the present age foretastes of the joy of the age-to-come.

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Christ-Centered, Gospel-Motivated Sermons

kellerquotes.com/christ-centered-gospel-motivated-sermons/

Keller Quotes – The words of Dr. Timothy Keller 30 Apr 2012

Chaplaincy ― A House Built on Sand or Rock?

Kate Bradford

Several years ago our house underwent and extension. One day, during the work, I looked down on the new foundations from a deck above. The foundations were set down into the ground, with heavy duty plastic providing a damp course, long steel reinforcing bars wired together to form piers that in turn supported long hollow reinforced beams resting across the space. Over the reinforced bars were laid large sheets of welding mesh.  It seemed obvious though, that no matter, however important foundation might be, no-one can inhabit foundations. Foundations simply provide the base on which the dwelling is built.

The building work came to a halt as we waited for the council engineer to arrive and certify the integrity of the foundations; this was a necessary process before the entire sub-structure was entombed in concrete.

As boring as foundations might seem certification of them is vital, all the more so, because once the concrete is poured and the dwelling built, it becomes very difficult to check the integrity of the sub-floor.

Likewise any view of Christianity, that comprises only foundations, and returns again and again to re-lay foundations (HEB 5:12, 13), is a difficult faith to inhabit, it can be uncomfortable, rigid, conforming to rules, cold and draft-filled, and exposed to and unable to withstand the elements. A faith such as this misses the point that foundations exist to be built upon. The ministry of Chaplaincy like many ministries happens within the dwelling, that space built upon the foundations.

Christianity in essence is a hospitable faith, a dwelling into which we can run; a safe refuge.  A place into which we invite others; a shelter from the storm. At its core chaplaincy is the exercise of hospitality, an invitation into this space. Hospitality forms the basis of the day to day work of chaplaincy; a broad description of the theology employed at this level is practical theology.   

When Jesus spoke of a building a house he did not question the need for a house, but rather he asked what was under the house, sand or rock. (MATT 7:24,25; LUKE  6: 46,49) Once the house is built and the sub-floor concealed from view, it can be difficult to know the quality of the foundations until the integrity on the base is tested in some way. In Jesus’ parable this testing came by way of rain, floods and wind.  

As chaplains it is reasonable to question the foundations of our practical theology and ask on what does it rest: sand, waiting to be washed or blown away or deep bedrock gripping tightly to the base? The foundations Jesus referred to in his parable were hearing his words and doing his will. Evangelical chaplaincy ministry takes Jesus’ foundation seriously when constructing a practical theology, as these practices should be founded the Word of Scripture (1 COR 3:11). This Word has been studied and imbibed, and while we do not inhabit our creedal statements, our systematic theology, Biblical theology or narrative theology, they together form and articulate our faith, and provide boundaries with-in which we faithfully practice our Chaplaincy.

Chaplaincy ― A Word in Season

Kate Bradford

Words

Christian Chaplains are followers of the incarnate Word, the One who shares their humanity. Chaplaincy, as a Christian ministry is never separated from the incarnated Christ or his inspiring Word.   The chaplain enters the suffering of another: being, listening, hearing the pain ― yet without the spoken word it is possible that the chaplain has entered a conspiracy of silence. Chaplaincy is an offer to care in thought, word and deed.

Only when the chaplain’s offer is accepted does the chaplain have the privilege of sharing someone else’s journey; and it is true that there are no answers without first hearing the question. And even hearing the question does not guarantee that there will be answers, but to believe that there is no answer – nothing that could ever satisfy – is a betrayal of the trust that has been placed in the chaplain.

Ecclesiastes 3 tells us there is a time for silence; however this silence is paired with a time to speak.  Silence and speech are not simply quantitative, either absent or present, but rather they are qualitative ― nuanced with awkwardness or companionship and infused with coolness or warmth. There are biblical passages that warn against the excessive use of words and it is true that the wrong thing should not be said, but Scripture contains no injunction against speech containing kind, gentle and gracious words that bring comfort and healing.

Perhaps the right kind of speech does not always come easily or naturally but this is not the same thing to say that the right words cannot be learned.

We speak to care for another; not to simply disseminate information or display our knowledge, neither to dominate nor command the conversation. At this point theological training is inverted. Unlike the critico-analytical method where a case is stated and then argued for, when the chaplain responds to another person’s words, there is a scarcity of words – words – skilfully placed into the conversation just at the right time.

These pared back words are placed with the same careful timing of an orchestral triangle-player, who following the score, plays the single note with precision at just the right time. The triangle player does not fumble; he or she plays decisively with the all the skill of a percussionist and has engaged critically with the theory of music long before this moment.

In the same way for the chaplain critical-analysis has been used to engage with the biblical text forming the background to a chaplaincy encounter. The structured thought behind the scene allows a seemingly incidental conversation to have structure with the aim of opening out a space to allow someone explore their own spiritual world and elucidating truth.

Conversations

Pastoral conversation may endeavour to be diffuse; work in a mist; deal with paradox; to illuminate; to elucidate; working deftly with words so that they are felt physically in the body and in the tap into a spiritual (poetic, or perhaps parabolic) dimension. The selection of language is not arbitrary, but serves to point to a reality beyond that that can be seen or felt; ideas and thought are juxtaposed against each other to pries open another layer of reality. We use language to open this space to allow more time to explore or ponder matters of faith. As we work in this area our words are operating as retractors that are keeping open a space between the physical world and world of spiritual ideas or concepts.

We begin with the person’s present reality: in the real not the ideal[1], being careful not to fuel unlikely expectation. Like a surgeon presented with a tray of instruments, the chaplain carefully selects the one or two words that will gently cut through to a spiritual space at just the right angle.

We stay with them in the present watching their cognitive and emotional responses. We seek to slow the process down with the aim of opening up a vertical space[2]; using oblique language rather than opaque. We attempt to slow things down and help people feel. We do not want to cut to the chase or cut to the quick. We use language to cushion, not shock. This is a very different method to that of the evangelist who aims to cut to the heart of the matter wishing to startle and disorientate the listener, confronting them with a new idea.  

The conversation moves forward only one step at a time accommodating chaos, fragmentation and discontinuity that the sufferer feels; moving forward only as much as necessary, each new word or concept takes energy to comprehend. This can create a dissonance between feelings and cognition.

By contrast to some forms of proclamation, hospital chaplaincy attempts not demolish props of various beliefs or meanings before first seeing the patient safely resting on another. Removing hope, even a false hope without replacing it with anything else may drop someone into an abyss.  Deconstruction has with it the responsibility of not leaving an ‘empty house’ but to be actively involved with reconstruction. Images of support and reconstruction are found in the One who has suffered and understands suffering, the One who is willing to walk with people through the valley of the shadow of death, the One who offers his yoke, the One who lays down his life in order that another may take theirs up.

Christian Chaplaincy offers the possibility of extending an offer to an invitation into the future. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. Rev 21:4

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[1] Working with ‘the real not the ideal’ was an idea that I first heard in a lecture in Sydney by Dr Susan S. Phillips, American Sociologist and Christian Spiritual Director.

[2] Eugene Peterson introduces the vertical space, in his article ‘Teach us to Care and not to Care’, in  The Crisis of Care: Affirming and Restoring Caring Practices in the Helping Professions.  Susan S. Phillips, and Patricia Benner, eds. 1st ed. Georgetown University Press, 1995.