Pain and Healing from a Chaplain’s Perspective. Prophetic Prognosis: What and When?

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

Countless times a hospital chaplain will have only a very brief window of opportunity to share with a patient matters concerning forgiveness, eternity, relationship with God in Christ, salvation, and supernatural healing by God. Often a patient gives the chaplain the opportunity to move in one or more of these areas. Then the chaplain will be a part-provider. One prays that God will send other labourers of the harvest to come across the paths of those for whom they have cared, and to take them further.

Even those brief encounters, when a chaplain’s input is merely like a dot on a large curve, the ultimate outcome may be significantly affected by the gradient, which  may become steeper if at that point the chaplain is operating from a “world-view” with an increased hope and expectation.

Our expectations may be limited by denominational or peer group expectations. They may be limited to previous stages of learning, or they may be on a growing learning curve. They will be regulated according to our “operational theology”, which can be skewed by fear or by arrogance, restricted by peer – group anxiety, or by misapplication of Biblical passages.

Healing and Forgiveness as “partners” within the ministry of Jesus, fulfil prophecies such as that of Isaiah 53: 4-5 (ESV)

4. Surely he has borne our griefs

and carried our sorrows;

yet we esteemed him stricken,

smitten by God, and afflicted.

5. But he was pierced for our transgressions;

he was crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

and with his wounds we are healed.

 

Matthew 8: 17 (ESV) uses this in relation to physical healings.

16 That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”

“oppressed by demons” is the better translation of the Greek word daimonizomai in its various forms. At verse 33 the same version (ESV) translates it as “demon – possessed”, but whatever the context might imply the Greek nowhere linguistically requires that translation, which has sometimes been used to argue that Christian believers cannot ever need the type of ministry described in verse 16.

 Within the context of Matthew 8, the quote from Isaiah is fulfilled in healing lepers, a paralysed person, someone with a fever, and people demonically oppressed.

1 Peter 2: 24 quotes the last clause in Isaiah 53: 5 in connection with our forgiveness and with consequences in righteous responses to maltreatment by others, where such responses have a healing effect. In principle, we were forgiven and healed two thousand years before we (ourselves) sinned or became ill. In practice this became true of any one of us, in our spirit, when we came into a personal relationship with Christ. Though eternally forgiven already, we wrestle with the pressure to commit sin until Christ returns. Though healed in our spirit, we continue to suffer the pains of the fallen world, until Christ returns. In the meantime, we are encouraged to grow in a life-style of forgiveness, repentance and reconciliation; and to appropriate healings of our body and mind within this present order. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. (ESV)

 Isaiah 61: 1-4 (ESV) also prophesies evangelism and healing.

 

61 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
    because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
    he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
    and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
² to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,
    and the day of vengeance of our God;
    to comfort all who mourn;...

Luke 4:21 (ESV)

And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

It is evident that the scope of the healing covers spiritual, emotional, material and physical areas.

There are, of course, other theological and practical matters that relate to pain and healing which are worthy of attention, and which help with answering questions that arise out what has been said here.

Reflections on Disorientation and Lamentations

Kate Bradford

Our secular world often sees suffering as a deficiency that requires therapy. An entire industry exists around grief management. By contrast a Biblical world view does not see grief as something to be managed or a problem to be solved. The Bible offers a rich, nuanced exploration that takes us deep into the mystery of suffering and the possibility of new life emerging out of suffering. The Bible offers no techniques but rather suggests that we share one another’s burdens. Eugene Peterson simply describes pastoral work as pain-sharing[1]. To suffer is to experience loss: loss of health, loss of face, loss of a loved one, loss of things, loss of hope, loss of dreams, and loss of relationships. We walk together with those who suffer loss and grief and in doing so the sufferer is dignified and their loss and grief are validated. 

Disorientation

To suffer is to experience profound disorientation. For each sufferer there lies a challenge: to seek to find meaning in their new situation and eventually, re-orientation. The ministry of the chaplain is to accompany such people on this journey.

Chaplains need to be comfortable with the Biblical texts that particularly address the subjects of pain, loss and grief. The primary Biblical texts that deal with grief and loss are the Psalms of Lament, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, Job and the New Testament passion narratives. The chaplain should also have a good working knowledge of several psychological models that address grief and loss. 

Walter Brueggemann[2], writing on Psalms identifies three phases or periods of life:  orientation, disorientation and re-orientation. These phases are not necessarily successive or even related to stages of maturity and once experienced they may occur again a number of times, in any order, throughout a lifetime. The Book of Psalms reflects this as a natural pattern of life, experienced both by individuals and by communities. Brueggemann notes that as people negotiate transitions between the phases of orientation, disorientation and re-orientation, different poetic expressions arise, notably psalms of lament, praise and thanksgiving. For example, moving from either orientation or re-orientation back into dis-orientation gives rise to lament. By identifying these phases and recognising the necessary adjustments that need to take place, people are then able to adjust their expectations and accordingly, come to view different facets of relationships with God, self and others.

Pastoral ministry to someone in a disoriented phase is to hold out an inkling of hope contained deep within the disorientation itself. This is because to claim that there is disorientation is to firstly assume that there was once orientation and that there is a faint hope of re-orientation. Just as shadows in themselves are evidence of light (as it is only by the occlusion of light that a shadow forms), if there is no orientation it would not be possible to become disorientated.

Grief and Loss Models

Psychological models and insights helpfully remind us that grief is normal and periods of disorientation are part of the human condition. The process of adjusting to loss and the accompanying grief takes time and there are healthy and unhealthy patterns of grieving. There are no short cuts that avoid the pain of grief.

Commonly referenced secular models are Kubler-Ross’ Stages of Grieving, extended grieving cycles, and Stroebe and Schut’s Dual Process model. These models engage with people further through the lenses of Bowlby’s theories of attachment, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Erikson’s early social and moral development, the total pain theory, continuing bonds, categories of loss and others[3].

Each of these systems, while not excluding the possibility of God and the reality of sin, are not designed to address humanity from the perspective of the fall of Adam, the promises to Abraham, the exodus of Moses, the kingship of David, the exile of Israel, the wisdom of Paul or the cross of Christ. It is the task of pastoral theologians and chaplains to ask how, or indeed do, these theories fit together with the Biblical accounts of suffering, concepts of faith, God’s loving kindness, and notions of sin, fallen-ness, guilt, redemption, forgiveness and reconciliation

Lament

The Bible approaches loss, pain and grief through another quite different lens – the lens of the lament. These writings unashamedly expose suffering and engage with it. Lamentations assumes a dialogue partner, and that partner is God.  The suffering is presented from different perspectives often oscillating between a human perspective and a divine perspective. Lamentations neither offers an answer to the problem of suffering nor does it explain pain, however it does help the sufferer face grief. Suffering is never presented as random or as an impersonal force, it is seen as intensely personal. Lamentations offers an articulation for suffering and companionship during the time of suffering. It is in suffering that the closeness to God, and distance from God is most clearly seen and keenly felt. 

The intensely personal book of Lamentations is never theoretical. The lament is a cry across a gap that must be negotiated between humanity and God, fallen-ness and holiness, mortality and eternity. An attempt to close this gap, either by a quick theological resolution (over realised eschatology that sees everything from a divine end point) or theodicy (theistic or philosophical explanations of suffering) unwittingly create a disjunction between what is real ‘here and now’ and the lost ‘ideal’. They attempt to close the gap too quickly.

The highly structured lament follows an acrostic pattern (each verse begins with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The A- Z structure guarantees against rushing through, causing both suffer and helper to attend to the suffering. The acrostic device thoroughly covered the enormity of the suffering and the myriad details of grief. The A –Z as it were, covered again and again and again and again (five times) the tragedy until the grief begins to dissipate and its intensity is finally spent.

Walter Kaiser[4] suggests the chapters of Lamentation correlate with perspectives of the suffering representing views from the: outside, inside, upward, overall and finally, with prayer towards the future. Much popular recent pastoral care practice focuses only on the inside view (and this from a psychological perspective rather than a theological perspective) and thus significantly decreases the possibility of helping a sufferer find wholeness. 

In pastoral visitation there is a general pattern to the sufferer led conversations, which closely follows the pattern of Lamentations. The sufferer will usually give an overview of events, and in doing so help put the visitor in the picture.  Secondly, the sufferer will usually share in greater depth their perspective on their suffering if given the opportunity. A skilled pastoral visitor, practiced in empathetic listening skills, helps the sufferer to express their feelings and find words for things, as yet un-named or articulated. Part of the pastoral care will be to help the sufferer to move from the ‘why’ questions that cannot be answered, to a gentle enquiry as to where and how God might be in this situation. Over time the conversation may oscillate between the grief and a catalogue of woes, pain, sin, injustice and unexpected inklings of hope.

Lamentations describes a loss and grief of catastrophic proportions and also suggests a model for those who wish to enter the pastoral work of pain-sharing. Lamentations locates suffering to particular events and gives words to the horrors experienced, the emotions and feelings are not aimless anxieties but connected to real events – a historical memory. Sufferers will tend to orientate themselves toward loss-orientation, or towards a reconstructive-orientation, or oscillate between the two[5]. It is here that the chaplain helps those who suffer to reconstruct their world, incorporating the grief.

The pastoral visitor holds onto the threads of grace and holds out a glimmer of hope throughout by the use of sensitive grace-filled conversation and prayer. Over time (often a long time) a new perspective is formed, very often containing deeply honest reflection and observation about self and others. Slowly a re-orientation begins to take shape. Yet each visit can return to any stage and oscillations are unpredictable. Yet the boundaries of the lament place limits on evil. Suffering – even suffering as terrible as in Lamentations – cannot go on for ever.  

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
    his mercies never come to an end;
 they are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
    “therefore I will hope in him.” (Lamentations 3: 22 -24)

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[1] Peterson, Eugene H. ‘The Pastoral Work of Pain-Sharing, Lamentations’, Five Smooth Stones for Pastoral Work. 1992. pp. 113 – 148.

[2] Brueggemann, Walter. The Spirituality of the Psalms. 2002.

 

[3] For chaplaincy, it is important to recognise that these psychological theories were not developed to reflect on the human condition in the light of Biblical wisdom. This reflection is the task of theology.

[4] Kaiser, Walter C. Jr.  Grief and Pain in the Plan of God: Christ Assurance and the Message of Lamentations. 2004.

[5] Cf Stroebe and Schut,  Health Outcomes of Bereavement, 2007.

 

Chaplaincy: An Eccentric Ministry

Kate Bradford

Eccentric ministries like chaplaincy happen out at the margins of society. By this I don’t mean to say an odd ministry, although it may be that at times, but rather a ministry that happens far from the centre. Much Christian ministry centres physically around a church, a theological college or faith based organisation, but chaplains are sent people who go out to the lost, the dispossessed, the imprisoned and sufferers of many kinds.

Disconnecting from the centre is an inherent danger in any such ministry. So much time and energy can be spent at the periphery that the concerns of the centre may grow strangely dim and begin to fade into irrelevance accompanied by an imperceptible theological drift.

Becoming distant from our appointing organisation is one problem, but to become disconnected from God and his orientating word is a deeper problem that cuts to the heart of the matter. Isaiah perceived this danger acutely when he penned the beautiful words, ‘Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand’.  (Is 64:8)

The earthy, visceral image of the potter working the clay with his bare hands is shocking, stunning, focused. Just as his hands formed the dry land, we too are formed, re-formed, conformed to the likeness of the image of Christ. A lump of clay not centred flings off the wheel[1]. Before a pot can be formed it must first be centred, and then formed from centre.

Career chaplains, volunteer chaplains, lay pastoral care workers must all submit to this centering process as part of their spiritual and vocational formation.  For a chaplain to faithfully offer Christ’s care on a situation by situation basis they need to know the centre out from which they move:  an understanding and experience of a redeeming relationship with Christ together with a centred and settled theological framework from which they respond to differing and complex situations. 

By a theological frame work, a single point of orthodoxy is not being suggested but rather an integrated understanding of a theological view of humanity, God, Christ, sin and falleness, forgiveness, redemption, suffering, the limits of freedom, discernment, faith, hope, grace, love. These Biblical understandings or doctrines, work in tension with each other, modifying, limiting, and holding, as the potters hands firmly steady and guide the process as the pot is formed.

Theological centering provides the starting point and on-going reference point around which is built a rich and textured ministry, based on prayer, study of the scriptures, conscious spiritual formation, compassion, patience, sharing in the suffering of Christ, and wisdom insights from human sciences of psychology and sociology.

Compassionate care, listening and reflecting are guided by underlying theological presuppositions; “There is no view from no-where”. The challenge for each pastoral care worker is to examine, understand and be formed by Scripture because our presuppositions affect the care we give.

Christian ethicist Stanley Hauerwas, who has written extensively on disability and the relationship between medicine and the church observes that as a community we do not regard sin, illness, dis-ease, and spiritual health as we ought. As a consequence many pastoral visitors are not trained theologically to deal with the complexities of ministry, preferring to continue to take listening courses rather than grapple with Christology.

 

“I am not really into Christology this year. I am really into relating. I would like to take more courses in CPE.”  They [Students] are likely to be confirmed in that opinion by being told, “Right, take CPE, after all that is what ministry is ― relating. Lean to be a wounded healer.”… No one really believes that an inadequately trained priest might damage their salvation. But people do believe that an inadequately trained doctor might hurt them.[2]

 

Hauerwas is supportive of pastoral care, however, he is concerned that compassionate care offered is theologically informed, centred on Christ, and does not conform to the things of this world.

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[1] Jeremiah 18:6 – reference to potter working at his wheel.

[2] Stanley Hauerwas, ‘Sinsick’, Braaten, C. E., & Jenson, R. W. (2000). Sin, Death, and the Devil. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing.

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.