Chaplains as Boundary Riders

By Kate Bradford

Boundary-rider,  noun: a person employed to ride round the fences etc. of a cattle or sheep station and keep them in good order.

Historically, in rural Australia, from the 1860’s there was a solitary occupation – boundary-riding. The boundary-rider was responsible for maintaining the outer fences on sheep and cattle stations (cf ranches), which comprise vast tracts of remote land. The duties of the boundary-rider consisted of riding along the fences on a daily basis; seeing that they were in good order; repairing stretched fences broken by stock; putting out stock from other stations that had strayed in; and keeping the owner’s stock contained.[1]

Some riders lived in shacks out along the boundary that they maintained. Additional tasks of the rider included searching for stock and moving herds and flocks to better pastures. Many boundary riders only came into the station to report in, convey information to stockmen and collect supplies returning back to the boundaries. Life could be very lonely, depending on the size of station and the length of the boundary.

The work of a chaplain has some intense similarities to that of boundary riding. For many chaplains the work is a solitary occupation carried out far away from the supporting religious agency. Some chaplains have the privilege of working in teams. However, even for those chaplains, chaplaincy is one-to-one ministry and each chaplain spends large amounts of the day caring for individuals and families in various circumstances of need and distress. Ideally when alone, a chaplain becomes more available to others, creating space and time around themselves. As the chaplain moves through the institution within which they work, conducting rounds and following up requests, they become openly available to those in need: patients, staff, families, residents, inmates, clients, members, passengers, armed forces’ personnel. It is at this time, when they are riding the boundaries, they come across those who need a visit today. The chaplain ‘touches base’ to sign in or out, collect supplies, convey information to staff or other chaplains, make some notes, and then returns once more out to the boundary.

In a major hospital, with a large multi-faith chaplaincy department, the chaplains from various Christian traditions meet for a short reflection from the Bible and to spend some time praying for the day, the patients, their families and the staff and volunteers. Each day they pray that they would be led to those, throughout the hospital, who need a visit. They also pray daily that God would intervene and help meet the deepest needs of those within the hospital who need a chat, and of those who will visit the chaplaincy office.[2]

For the chaplain to meet people, many of whom do not have a faith community, it is necessary to go out and visit, to be available, and to be generous with time allowing people ‘to be’, to share and explore the things on their soul. Not everyone needs a visit but as the chaplain moves around those who need a chat identify themselves and the chaplain is mutually drawn into conversation. But like boundary riding, if the chaplain did not go, they would neither see the need nor be there to address it. The ‘need’ or the ‘gap’ would simply sit there like a great gaping unattended wound.

The chaplain follows a Lord who searches for outcasts, heals the broken hearted and binds up sorrows. (Ps 147) The biblical image of the shepherd also has similarities to the boundary rider. The Lord is described as gathering lambs in his arms, gently leading those with young, (Is 40:11). Good shepherds are contrasted with bad shepherds who allow vineyards to be ruined and fields to be trampled and become desolate wastelands because the boundaries have fallen into disrepair (Jer 12:10). In such circumstances the flock has scattered (Jer 23:2) and they have been caused to roam on the mountain tops (Jer 50:6). The scattered sheep become food for wild animals all because of the neglect of the shepherd (Ez 34:8).

Occasionally it is noted that these Old Testament verses refer only to the Israelites, not to everyone. There are several verses, however, that refer to the Lord seeking after those who do not seek him (Is 65:1; Rom 10:20) and Jesus himself expressed deep compassion for those who feel without hope or help, and he has a self-identifying responsibility and concern to seek and save the lost. This identity reflected an idea expressed in the book Ezekiel, ‘I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak’ (Ez 34:16). It is within this compassionate framework that the work of chaplaincy happens in places of deep need.

Like the boundary riders, chaplains face isolation, and risk feeling disconnected from a wider community and may become dispirited. There are dangers too, that the freedom of the job and the wide ranging nature of the task – without immediate accountability – opens up the opportunity of becoming a negligent boundary-rider. Such a boundary-rider simply goes through the motions – after all, who really knows what happens in a day? It is only after a time when the fences have not been maintained and sheep begin to scatter and others begin to notice that, ‘it has been a long time since this boundary was really cared for’. Sadly it is often secular work colleagues who notice first.   

The peculiar difficulties around the ministry of chaplaincy cannot be overlooked; chaplains absorb large amounts of stress and grief from other people. As chaplains compassionately care and help carry burdens for other people in crisis, or suffering pain, trauma, loss, grief, loneliness and isolation, these conditions can begin to manifest in the chaplain’s own life.  These things are too big to carry alone. Chaplains need a supportive prayerful Christian community, good professional supervision to provide adequate support, and they need a close and real Christian faith. As with the cost of isolation and the harsh terrain in boundary-riding[3], the cost of chaplaincy and the alien nature of the landscape, in which the ministry happens, is not always acknowledged.

The risks are real but they do not negate the real and wonderful opportunities to care. The chaplain knows that not everyone will feel the need for a chaplain to visit, but for those who feel lost, lonely, scared, without hope or just needing a chat, our government intuitions, in co-operation with religious agencies, who provide chaplains. Chaplains follow a many centuries’ old, heritage of compassionate Christian care, following in the steps of the ultimate boundary-rider, Jesus Christ.

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[1] Australian Concise Oxford Dictionary 5th Edition

[2] The World Health Organisation identifies the necessity and importance of addressing people’s spiritual needs together with physical, mental and social needs in order to provide holistic care. 

[3] See the poem, ‘The boundary Rider’, by Thomas William Heney  http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-boundary-rider/

Faith from the Son of God building Chaplaincy Confidence

The Rev. Lindsay Johnstone, Chaplain, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney

With the dynamics of chaplaincy in public institutions we may easily come to feel dependent, vulnerable, and even restricted. This may be more restraining if, despite the undoubted pastoral value of CPE, we allow ourselves to become unhinged from any agenda other than that indicated by the patient, resident, inmate, student or other client.

Hopefully, the chaplaincy context, when viewed Biblically, can highlight the real nature of faith, authority, commission and expectancy that relates to all Christian life and pilgrimage. This paper looks at the nature of faith. This discussion is not intended to indicate how any pastoral conversation would proceed, but rather to look at some underlying theology in the mind of the chaplain.

Our initial exercise of faith is donated to us – our faith is of or from Christ. This is true also of the faith by which we continue to live as believers.

           
There are three types of faith, which we may call existentialist, natural and supernatural.

Existentialist Faith, a “leap of faith” is a personal decision to be committed to something, even though the thing trusted is believed to be meaningless and to have no rational basis. This is a type of stupidity.

Natural  Faith is faith merely to believe what we pick up with the five senses of sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell. This is a valid type of faith for everyday living within the created order.

It is not, however, the faith that saves. “Seeing is believing” is a description of natural faith.

Supernatural Faith is faith by which we are able to believe the promises and instructions of the Scripture. This type of faith is supra - rational, but it is not irrational, as God would not contradict the laws of nature that he has created. It is just that natural faith is not the faith that saves. This type of faith, referred to in Galatians 2: 20 and elsewhere is discussed later in this paper.

The place of the apostle Thomas in the resurrection account in John 20 illustrates the difference between the latter two types of faith. “Because you have seen me you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (verse 29). Verse 30 indicates that faith in Christ is the response of people who have received the testimony of the Gospels, that Christ has risen from the dead.  Jesus taught that people who depended upon a sign to decide whether to believe would not be given one. A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.(Matthew 12: 38f)

Does this mean that God will never use a vision or a dream to evoke a faith response?

We know from Acts 9 that Paul was given a vision of the resurrected and ascended Christ as a prelude to his conversion. Here, again, Paul was not seeking such a sign. In fact, he would have expected that no such thing would be possible, because in his mind (until that time) Jesus was no more than a blasphemer! The visions in the New Testament come as a surprise to people not expecting them, not as a reward to the arrogance of cynical people seeking them!

The many accounts of Muslims being converted to Christ after receiving a vision of our Lord would seem to indicate a sovereign work of Almighty God to break down presuppositions against belief.

Although God will never use signs to pander to “seeing is believing”,  it is also a fact that God sometimes does miracles anywhere, of healing, or provision, or protection, in any religious or non-religious context - and often these will lead people to commit their lives to Christ. Sometimes God has another purpose, but the result will either be to break presuppositions against faith, or else profoundly to encourage folk who are already living “by the faith of the Son of God”! Baroness Caroline Cox (a member of the House of Lords who regularly visits and reports on countries where Christians suffer acute persecution) reported an incident in July 2000 as told to her by an Indonesian pastor regarding an attack on villages by extreme Islamicists.  About 3,000 believers claimed they heard a loud voice proclaiming from a mountain top, “Be not afraid, I am with you always”, and about a dozen claimed that they actually saw the figure of Christ. They escaped danger in half the time their journey would normally have taken.

If a patient claims to have had a vision or a dream impacting their relationship with Christ, they should not be argued with. They may be telling the truth. A pro-active way forward, depending upon their willingness to talk and listen, would seem to be to encourage them in applying the Scriptures to their walk of faith.

The faith by which we repent and receive Christ’s imputed righteousness is itself a gift from God, and it is the Holy Spirit who reveals and enables this life of faith. Galatians 2:20 –“the life I now live I live by the faith of the Son of God”, The frequent translation “the life I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God” is not supported by the Greek, the transliteration of which would be either “the faith which is of the Son of God”, or else “the faith which comes from the Son of God”. The 1611 KJV (AV) and the Braid Scots Version are faithful to this nuance. We were saved by that faith, and we are supposed to keep living by that faith. Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak… So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.(2 Corinthians 4: 13,18). Of course, the saving faith that comes by “hearing”, results from the Holy Spirit’s joint work of revelation and illumination.

From Ephesians 1: 13-23 we understand that when we became Christians, we were sealed by the Holy Spirit who came to indwell us. That Holy Spirit has infused us with the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. That power enables us to understand and live by the Word of God. Ephesians 5: 18-25 exhorts us to keep being filled with the Spirit and parallels Colossians 3: 16 where we are encouraged to let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly. When we read Ephesians 5: 18-21 and Colossians 3: 16-17 together, we may conclude that we are encouraged by faith to draw on the already indwelling power of the Holy Spirit to apply the precepts of the Scriptures in our lives. The command to be filled is not an exhortation passively to plead (and wait) to be “(re)zapped” or “rebooted” in a new way from outside by the Holy Spirit. Rather we are urged actively and continually to apply the power of the already indwelling Spirit to enable us to appropriate the Bible in our ingoing Christian life.

True supernatural faith will enable us to apply the promises of Scripture without depending upon purely natural evidence of the results. We walk by faith and not by sight. That means, among other things, that when what we pray for does not immediately manifest in visual results, we shall persevere in believing the promise rather than limiting the meaning to what we have already seen!

In conclusion, we are not limited in our ministries by the agendas of institutional administrators nor by political expediency. We have the powerful resource of the Holy Spirit to enable us by faith and not by sight to apply the Sword of the Spirit in relating and in speaking as opportunity arises

Chaplaincy: How to Be

Kate Bradford

Much is written about the role of chaplains.

In literature, chaplaincy is distinguished from other ministries as a ministry of accompaniment rather that a ministry of preaching and formal teaching. Chaplaincy training focuses on sharpening the skills of accompaniment, tequniques around active reflective listening and increasing awareness of self and others – listening is privileged over speaking. Good practice is essential, yet as a chaplain we bring not only our technical skills, but ourselves – we are our role.

We know what a chaplain should do but how do we know what a chaplain should be? Christian chaplains are in essence followers of Jesus. What does being a follower of Jesus bring to the chaplaincy role? Is there anything special about being a chaplain who is also a follower of Jesus? A deeper issue or perhaps the prior question is: how is a follower of Jesus ‘to be’?

In the distilled words of The Sermon on the Mount, Matt 5-7, Jesus imparts wisdom concerning how ‘to be’ by detailing the distinguishing marks of his followers. This wisdom contained within the sermon is the essence of being a comfortable Christian. Such a person is known by God and knows personally the comfort and forgiveness of Christ. Flowing from this is the blessing of a life lived in fellowship with him. A life lived in fellowship with Christ knows the deep truths of the great reversal. The reversal promises to those who cling to God:  the poor in spirit, the mourning, the humble, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the peacemakers and persecuted that they will see the Kingdom of God. They will receive comfort, mercy, inheritance and fulfilment – they see his hand in their lives raising them up.  The followers of Jesus have lives transformed by him. This transformation, in turn enables them to endure persecution, extend mercy and work for peace. Followers of Jesus live truthful lives directed towards God. (Matt 5:1-12)

In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus likens his followers to salt and light, embracing the world and offering a preserving element against decay, and illumination against darkness. Once the demands of the law have been internalised, a follower of Christ is free to inhabit the world. Such a follower does not simply make short sharp forays into the world only to just as sharply retreat back to the safety of the Christian burrow. (Matt 5:13 -16)

The marks of the transformed life are seen in people with integrity that embraces, reconciles, and honours. Followers are to be trustworthy, willing to forgive, to have love for enemies, and to be generous without ostentation. (Matt 5:17 – 6:4)

Central to this passage is Jesus’ teaching on prayer, the Lord’s Prayer. Such prayer reflects a dependant relationship with the Heavenly Father that in turn deeply informs the pray-er’s identity. Religious life is discreet, it is between the pray-er and God, true faith is expressed internally rather than external displays of religiosity. Dependence on God is expressed in other ways: travelling lightly through life, living life in a transparent manner and avoiding duplicity. (Matt 6:5 – 24)

The follower is encouraged to live in the present, trusting God with their needs. Jesus lays the first plank in relationships, stating that there is a need for non-judgemental engagement that acknowledges our own limitations and finitude. Space for discernment remains. There is an expectation that the follower thinks soberly about themselves engaging a degree of self-reflection. Jesus’ followers are to engage openly, yet comprehending that not everyone will be open to them or to the wisdom of God. Likewise the chaplain discerns when to share the things of God and when not to. There are responsibilities when working with the sacred wisdom. (Matt 6:25 – 7:6)  

Jesus’ teaching has shifted subtly from how to be to what to do; when to speak; and where to stand. Chaplains help create a space for people to explore their own questions around belief and meaning. The chaplain responds to these questions leading and guiding according to the Jesus’ wisdom. Christian Chaplaincy is concerned with belief and meaning and the connection with Jesus wisdom: a truth that is beyond a perspectival relativism. Jesus knows that there are many ‘wisdoms’ in the world, but not all are true and not all lead towards his way, truth and life. For some people, crisis, trauma, sorrow, sickness and distress will lead to a time of deep seeking and searching. (Matt 7:7 -14)

Jesus sees truth as being reflected in eventual outcomes, and likens these outcomes to fruit on a tree, or the integrity of the foundations of a building. (Matt 7:13 – 29).

Christian chaplaincy arises out of and has its foundational anchor points in the wisdom of Jesus. Listening and active reflection are the substance of chaplaincy practice but the wisdom of Jesus is the essence. As the chaplain prayerfully listens, they respond depending on the wisdom of Jesus and exercising the discernment of which he spoke – sometimes a time for silence, sometimes a time for speech.

Chaplaincy: Ministry in a Secular Space

Kate Bradford

Difficulties present whenever we try to reconcile evangelical ministry with chaplaincy in public institutions, but acknowledging such difficulties is not the same thing as concluding that these difficulties are insurmountable. Interestingly, concerns are expressed from two opposite angles; not only from an evangelical perspective but also from a secular perspective. From an evangelical perspective, the possibility of genuine Christian ministry is queried because of the boundaries that have been placed around chaplaincy by governmental policies and secular administrations. On the other hand, secular institutions have placed these boundaries around chaplaincy to counter a concern that religious agencies may use chaplaincy as a means of gaining access to these institutions in order to engage in active proselytization.

Chaplaincy literature and scholarship is largely presented from an interfaith perspective with a strong emphasis on psychological and sociological perspectives on spirituality.1 Internationally, evangelical chaplains are not a large group and policies around chaplaincy do not represent any significant input from Christian scholarship from an evangelical perspective.2

Historically, chaplaincy was very much part of evangelical ministry. It thrived under the broad shelter of societal conventions and attitudes that acceded to Christian values expressed in a general dependence on a Judaeo-Christian framework for society. Since the liberalisation both of western society and much of mainline Christianity within these societies, the ‘natural’ place of the Christian message within society was challenged and largely rejected. Through the latter part of the twentieth century, many Christians struggled to find their place within the prevailing secular culture. Consequently, there was an ever present danger of Christians battening down and withdrawing from prevailing secular culture; or conversely losing all distinctiveness by being absorbed by the surrounding culture.

However, the Biblical account contains many examples of ways in which God’s people lived among the nations and engaged with the people around them. These accounts provide clear paradigms for living and ministering as ‘aliens and exiles’.

Chaplaincy provides wonderful opportunities to engage with our culture and with people in need. Additionally, chaplaincy provides a broad framework for Christians in general as they live and work within a secular society.

The entirety of the New Testament is written within the context of Roman rule and the surrounding Greco-Roman culture. The first letter of Peter centres on this theme of living among the ‘pagans’ in an engaging manner. The Old Testament contains five extensive accounts of the people of God living under foreign rule and Israelites working in foreign courts having been appointed to positions in government. These accounts include Joseph, Moses, Daniel, Esther and Nehemiah. Such accounts contain a framework for engagement with governmental agencies rather than withdrawal.

Two governing biblical principles for engagement can be found in Jeremiah 29:5, 7. The first principle encouraged the exiled Israelites to settle and build a life in a foreign land and secondly to seek the peace and prosperity of the city into which they were exiled. The Israelites were encouraged to be involved with the culture. New Testament believers are also to engage with the world around them. They are to love their neighbour as they have first been loved. They follow the God who loved the world so much that he came into the world, his creation, to his people, and this love is expressed compassionately and in a desire to do good to all in word and deed, sharing Jesus’ saving love. Such love and compassion are a response to being formed, reformed and conformed by the Spirit of Christ 3, which is expressed in a heartfelt reverence to Christ as Lord. (1 Pet 3:15) The New Testament urges believers to be in the world but not of the world which follows the examples set by Joseph, Moses, Daniel, Esther and Nehemiah who were immersed in culture and had even undertaken pagan education. The book of Daniel provides some clear guidelines for engaging with the culture around us 4.

Firstly, Daniel and his colleagues received a ‘pagan’ education in Babylonian language, literature and culture. Such an education would have been deeply imbued with astrological and religious beliefs of the culture. By inference, it can be observed that evangelical chaplains also need additional training alongside their theological studies to understand and engage with contemporary culture in order to understand and to discover points of connection. In addition to theology, it is necessary to have a working knowledge of: religious beliefs; culture; psychology; sociology; secularism and generic spirituality.

Secondly, terminology can become a point of conflict – ownership of various words can be challenged. Daniel and his friends lost their Hebrew names and consequently an aspect of their Hebraic heritage was denied. They were allocated Babylonian names connected with the Babylonian religion. Daniel and his colleagues accepted these names. They didn’t quibble over words, or look for points of difference or conflict. Historically, words such as chaplain, chaplaincy, pastoral care, spiritual care, were exclusively Christian words. These same words are now applied generically in secular institutions and some organisations have Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu or even secular chaplains or pastoral care workers. It can be tempting for Christians to feel offended or even betrayed that their words are being used in ways that deny the word’s original intention. Looked at from another way, the shared use of words
provides generous points of contact for a chaplain.

Thirdly, Daniel worked for the government and sought the prosperity of the institutions within which he worked. Daniel’s godly wisdom and guidance were valued and sought by a number of kings and leaders. There is no reason that chaplains should not seek to be actively involved with all sorts of activities and leadership within their institutions and play an active part in multi-disciplinary teams.

However, like Daniel and his friends, the chaplain is unable to become completely part of the system because at points they must differ, most particularly in matters of faith and religion. Eugene Petersen perceptively alluded to this danger when he reminds chaplains not to seek to be a fully integrated professional within the system, and reminds chaplains that they are barely tolerated nuisances by some in the public systems,5 and they can even be objects of derision as has always been the case for those in Christian ministry. The ministry of chaplains should be conducted in a professional manner with integrity. However when chaplaincy seeks to be seen as an official institutional profession (i.e. healthcare discipline), demanding to be taken seriously as part of the institutional structure, then there is a fair chance the content of chaplaincy is also set by the institution. Each chaplain must have a line that they will not cross for in this, their ‘yes’ is as only as good as their ‘no’. Evangelical chaplains respond drawing on a deep well of Christian compassion and biblical wisdom, working through the love of Christ. The chaplain ministers with gentleness and respect, responding to need in prayer with the comfort of Jesus and of the hope found only in his word and sacrifice. (I Pet 3:15, 16). As chaplains encounter people who are struggling with helplessness and hopelessness; deep despair, tragedy and trauma, a spiritual depth is needed. There is much the chaplain can concede but the actual content of a visit arises out of the need of the patient/inmate and the chaplain responds out of the wisdom of their biblical tradition. They can do no less.

Evangelical chaplains, like other chaplains working in multi-faith contexts minister from the depth of their own tradition. Christian chaplains draw on the great wealth of Christian wisdom that has accumulated before them. Stephen Pattison warns against abandoning a 2000 year old tradition for the passing fad of generic spirituality and the eclectic ideas drawn together and labelled spirituality.6

Chaplaincy is a wonderful ministry as we seek to care for, support and love those people who inhabit the margins of our society. Chaplaincy requires a degree of fluidity and flexibility, and desire to connect and be genuinely open with people, yet not to lose the distinctive edge of Christian faith. Unlike parish ministry, chaplains do not control the space or the dominant narrative in the place yet there are wonderful moments where a chaplain can offer to hold open a space for another to explore their own issues around meaning, purpose and deep matters surrounding life and death and eternity.

Evangelical chaplaincy has the potential to provide a template for non-defensive active Christian engagement in many setting, helping Christians to seek peace and prosperity for their own communities and societies.


1 The Journal of Pastoral Care & Counseling, would be a representative publication of the general perspective conveyed in international chaplaincy.
2 Michael Milton, Eugene Petersen, Andrew Purves and Susan Phillips present alternative evangelical narratives that inform and direct evangelical chaplaincy but this perspective is not found readily in mainstream chaplaincy literature.
3 Jeffrey Greenman quoting Richard Foster, ‘Spiritual Formation in Theological Perspective’, Greenman, J. P., & Kalantzis, G. (Eds.). (2010). Life in the Spirit: Spiritual Formation in Theological Perspective. IVP Academic. P.25.
4 The Daniel outline presented is drawn from a series of lectures presented by Vaughan Roberts, in NSW Jan 2013.
5 Eugene Peterson, (1992). Five smooth stones for pastoral work. Gracewing, p.139.
6 Stephen Pattison, ‘Dumbing Down the Spirit’, Orchard, H. C. (2001). Spirituality in health care contexts. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Different Strands of Theological DNA in Chaplaincy

Kate Bradford

Chaplaincy is a ministry that has its raison d'etre in personal encounters. To this end, there is a strong focus on the practical nature of this ministry, thus, a particular focus on operational or practical theology. But to assume in any way, that an operational theology is somehow neutral simply arising out of particular situations; or uninhibited by the weight of formal theology, or does not precipitate from a structural theology, is a mistake. Operational theology, as any theology, is neither neutral or value free. Operational theology either aligns with some theological positions or reacts to others.

Operational theological practices and world views function as visible and invisible theologies. These views arise out of a particular theological context influences by attitudes to Scripture, history and tradition. Operational theology does not exist is a simple form, it is precipitated from both theology and psycho-sociological attitudes. Orthopraxis is underpinned by orthotheologia and orthocardia: actions and attitudes are underpinned by a set of beliefs and emotional commitment to those beliefs.

Chaplaincy training focuses on informing a participants’ operational theology. Any trainee undergoing chaplaincy training has a reasonable right to understand the implications of the theological presuppositions underlying the practical training. This is necessary because there is a troubling assumption that chaplains can undergo a chaplaincy training course involving a high level of: personal disclosure; vulnerability; examination and then modification of pastoral practice through the verbatim method; but not be theologically changed. The training has the express purpose of altering a participant’s operational theology; however operational theology has levers that move a participant’s structural theology. In fact I would argue that often the unstated intent of chaplaincy training is to change the trainee’s structural theology.

Theological assumptions are freighted in within the operational theology; each operation theology represents theological proposition, containing strands of theological DNA. As the participant submits to the program their theology is cracked open. Just as patients are vulnerable and suggestible, chaplaincy trainee participants are also vulnerable and exposed, and the process has unsheathed their theological DNA. During this time of exposure, new strands of theological DNA can be spliced in modifying the theological positions held. This is not necessarily a bad thing as this is one way a Christian grows and changes. But, there is a need for this process to be consciously acknowledged both by trainer and course participant, and the need of separating out the explorations of theological challenges in a less vulnerable environment.

Because of the theological nature of chaplaincy course content, and the potential vulnerability of trainees two opposite problems arise: a trainee may become sensitive to the fact that their theology is being challenged and emotionally pull back from the course and learn very little, or the contrary, complete submersion in the course results in later discovery that they have a number of new unexamined theological beliefs that they did not have before the course, along with new competing loyalties but no avenues to discuss or resolve the discrepancies.

For evangelical chaplaincy trainees, whose identity is in Christ, and seeking to sensitively share the love and hope of Christ through thought, word and deed, a particular training environment is needed. Chaplaincy is a highly specific Christian ministry that requires a theologically safe environment for trainees to participate. Chaplaincy training is vastly different to a doing a Clinical Supervision course or Mental Health First Aid course. Chaplaincy is not a tequnique – chaplaincy is a Christian ministry. I wish to suggest the following safeguards for training in this Christian ministry: 1) Chaplaincy trainers have high levels of training and practice in both theology and chaplaincy; 2) the trainer’s personal theological perspective is clearly articulated and open to examination; 3) the theological positional of authors of course material is acknowledged; 4) opportunities to discuss the theology of an idea, or course of action, in addition to the more subjective theological reflections; 5) the trainer is able to direct trainees to theological resources that help guide the trainees through, formation of new practical theologies, and structural theological changes. In many situations the changes may actually involve loosening unhelpful adhesions between theology and practice, distinguishing between the content of the gospel and gospel practice, respecting boundaries, acknowledging limits and accepting finitude; rather than actually altering structural beliefs.

Such training guidelines would provide a higher degree of transparency, and greater safety for the participant as they enter the immersion process of being a chaplaincy trainee, the end point should precipitate in greater transparency, safety, comfort and hope for the suffer the chaplain seeks to help. Chaplaincy remains a ministry that has its raison d'etre in personal encounters.

CPE Needs a Refocus

David Pettett

The Clinical Pastoral Education movement has taken great insights from psychology and is faithfully teaching how these can be used in a pastoral context. The person not trained with these insights is likely to say what can be the most inappropriate things to the hurting person. The desire to justify God or just to bring words of comfort can lead to well meaning people doing the opposite of what they want to do and actually bring more pain. CPE use of psychological insights can help the carer be more appropriate in their caring. But a problem has developed. The movement has lost its roots in biblical Christianity.

CPE teaches a right emphasis that the Chaplain needs to be sensitive to where the person they are ministering to is at. This is normally a hard place, a prison cell, a hospital bed. This is not the place to proselytise and it is not the place to teach, rebuke, exhort. It is the place to listen and to empower. And yet the CPE movement has missed the point that the Christian Chaplain brings with them the greatest empowerment this world has ever known. They bring the message of Christ who alone can save. In fact the way the movement has developed, “Christian Chaplain” is an oxymoron. The CPE movement has succumbed to a Universalist theology. It teaches that the role of the Chaplain is to help the person in need find meaning in their own hard place. This “meaning” is whatever the person wants it to be. So the Chaplain is not to speak of Christ for this will distract the person in need from finding their own meaning. Rather than helping people find God, this approach shapes God to fit wherever we want him. It invents a god to mean whatever we want it to mean.

This emphasis evacuates Chaplaincy from all meaning. Pastoral care arises out of the compassion of Christ. This is his compassion shown to the world ultimately in his atoning death and resurrection. This compassion brings reconciliation between God and man. True Chaplaincy brings this compassion into the hard place. Using the insights of psychology the Chaplain will sensitively bring this compassion in such a way that the person in need will hear it and understand that it is only Christ who can bring meaning to their suffering. The Chaplain who does not do this is failing as a Chaplain, for the only true Chaplaincy is Christian Chaplaincy that speaks of the reconciling work of God in Christ.

The CPE movement has failed because it stops at psychological insights. It does not go on to do the hard work of working out how to bring the reconciliation of Christ to a suffering person who may never have given Christ much thought. While it might allow talk of God, spirituality or prayer, it refuses to allow the possibility of speaking of Christ, who is the human race’s only comfort.

How then does the Christian Chaplain bring the emphasis of the unique reconciling work of Christ into the pastoral encounter in a way that will empower the person being ministered to?

The Chaplain first needs some basic theological insights. These are what God has revealed in His word:
1. The nature of man: Created in the image of God. Fallen. Redeemed in the life, death, resurrection, ascension and second coming of the Lord Jesus.
2. The nature of God: Three persons, one God: Father, Son (fully God and fully Man) and Holy Spirit.
3. Christian Eschatology: expectations for life – despite suffering in this world God is in charge and will bring all things together in Christ putting an end to pain and suffering, bringing a new heaven and a new earth. Persevere, there is reward.

These points of theology give the Chaplain a starting point and a clear understanding of what is going on in the human condition.

The value of a human life is that people are created in the image of God. A person is not valuable because they have done good things or that they are a good person. Human value is not even in that a person is loved by God, as valuable as that love is. The suffering person does not necessarily see, and rarely feels, the love of God in their suffering. The unique Judaeo Christian understanding that humanity is created in the image of God is the one thing that declares the value of each human being. (This is another reason why the CPE movement has failed. By welcoming people of other Faiths, which do not share this understanding of humanity, into its colleges, the movement has lost the very reason as to why it is important to bring the compassion of Christ to people. They are worth it because they are image bearers of the Creator.) The person in need is helped to see that even though they may not feel loved by God, though they may even question the very love of God itself, they are created in the image of God and therefore have deep value.

If a person recognises they’re valued because they are created in the image of the Creator, they may well then ask the question as to why an image bearer should then be suffering. The Christian Chaplain’s insight that suffering has entered the world because of humanity’s fallen state, because of man’s rejection of the rule of God, will show the dichotomy humanity lives with: bearing God’s image but out of fellowship with God. Only the Christian Chaplain can bring the reconciling work of Christ to bring any sense of hope to the suffering person.

Without this biblical perspective on life God becomes who you want him to be or he is shaped into something he is not. And that is no help to anyone.

My argument is that a biblical understanding of the human condition, of who God is and of where the world is heading is the necessary basis for bringing real compassion and empowerment to suffering people in a hard places. Pastoral ministry that relies only on psychological insights into the human condition and does not bring a biblical understanding is not pastoral ministry as Jesus brought it to those he encountered in their suffering and it is not the legacy Jesus left us.

It is time for the CPE movement to refocus and do the hard work of teaching pastors how to bring the compassion of Christ into a hurting world in a way that respects the dignity of the human person created in the image of God.

Christology and Theology of Chaplaincy

Kate Bradford

Christology is the way of speaking about Jesus. This can be explicit or implicit, low or high Christology. As a broad Christian discipline, Christology seeks to explain the relationship between theology and anthropology.

At a particular level it explores the relationship between the human and divine natures of the historical person Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, or the Anointed One. To hold a high Christology is to focus particularly on the divine attributes of the Christ, to hold a low Christology is to focus on the human attributes, or cheap benefits of Jesus’ ministry. Christology can be expressed in terms that differ depending on the perspective of the commentator; as such a view can be either from above or below.

In addition to various points of view a Christology focusing objective and subjective frames may be employed. However, Christology whether high or low, is always discussed to some extent from ‘below’ or within the subjective frame as it is a view from a human perspective. Humanly speaking no exhaustive Christology can be formulated, but rather tends towards a position based on ‘evidence’ concerning the Divine, contained within the texts of scripture as recorded in the Old Testament (OT)and New Testament (NT) of the Bible.

It is important to note that there are a number of Christological positions formulated that do not rely upon the Bible as an authoritative source. There are other redactions of the Biblical material with other disciplines. Examples of these would be found in feminist or liberation or post-modern Christologies or even much more broadly there are Islamic, Buddhist or atheist Christologies. The point here is that every human holds a Christology of some sort.

The implications of these various Christologies for the Theology of Chaplaincy are foundational. Behind all chaplaincy work every chaplain operates from either an implicit or explicit Christology. Whatever Christological position a chaplain holds this position will set the chaplain’s deep agenda.

At a cosmic level Christology explores the relationship between God the Father and his role in creation and then entering the created order. (John 1,Col 1, Heb 1, Phil 2) At a local level Christology focuses on Jesus’ earthly ministry (Synoptic Gospels), the nature of his ongoing relationship to humanity and the particular intimacy that he shares with his followers.

Christology has two concerns; who is Jesus Christ in himself, and flowing from this, what is Jesus Christ for us? However to press these category differences too far is to begin to artificially differentiate between his nature and mission.

For Christian chaplains there are huge implications that flow from our understanding of Christology and our internalized positions. Jesus tells his followers that they are salt and light; yet immediately tied to this is the possibility that salt can be bad or lose its saltiness and likewise light can be poor or even hidden. From this we can derive a view that it is possible for Christians to hold poor, bad, dull, misguided or undeveloped Christologies that will negatively affect the ministry/witness of the Christian. It is quite possible, for these underlying beliefs often remain unarticulated or even unacknowledged but never-the-less powerful and formative.

What a chaplain believes about Jesus in himself and his function will direct the focus and emphasis of their chaplaincy work. The theories of functional Christology are tied to views of the atonement. These views seek to explain how it is possible that imperfect, incomplete human beings can relate to a perfect and complete God, and how this is made possible by the God-man Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

Of course there is a second conversation to be had after this conversation. The second necessary conversation is: how is the Chaplain to be in the world. Most chaplaincy thought and theory is around the second conversation while ignoring the implications, importance and dependence on the first conversation.