What Are Chaplains?


Thanks for asking!

I am sort of like a pastor and sort of like a counsellor. I may preach from time to time as a long-term care chaplain but my main role is to be present and available when people need help dealing with the issues of life and death. As a police chaplain I do not preach...ever, and yet I am a spiritual presence in the midst of a community that does not easily let outsiders in. I am there for every ethnicity, people from every religious expression and all who do not identify with any religion. In other words chaplains are there for everyone!

My background is rather unique in that I have previously been a pastor for 14 years and a missionary for 2 more years. Following that season in my life I was invited to be a workplace chaplain where I was a presence on most weekdays in the plant of a window manufacturing company. A few years later I was involved in a couple of other workplaces through Marketplace Chaplains Canada. Hope you're keeping up. During this time I also volunteered as a Chaplain @ Toronto Pearson Airport.  For the past 4 years I have been a Long Term Care Chaplain at 2 locations in Oakville and St. Catharines.

During my time as a pastor I was also invited to be a Volunteer Chaplain with Toronto Police Services, something I have been involved in again for the past 1 1/2 years. I almost forgot...I've had my own Wedding Officiant business called Ministers For Weddings for the past 9 years and in that time I have officiated over 900 weddings. The vast majority of people that I serve are not church-goers and yet the hope is that they see Jesus through my life. Not as some religious zealot but rather as someone who cares for individuals without the underlying quest to have them convert to faith in that same Jesus.

Many in the Church will not get that last part because we have been programmed as church leaders to always have a hidden agenda when it comes to the world. As a Chaplain I talk about my faith when asked to do so. I am a strong proponent of the scripture found in 1 Corinthians that we should be "all things to all men". Galatians 5:22,23 speak of the fruit that should identify believers to the world around them and even to other believers. My background is from the Charismatic stream of Christianity and I would suggest the spiritual gifts talked about and experienced in the New Testament should never be a substitute for lives that mirror Jesus. That never means getting down and dirty like many Christians are doing these days in the name of "grace" but rather living out the Galatians 5 type of follower of Christ.

This is why I believe God has and is opening the door to the marketplace for roles such as chaplains. As the tributes to Billy Graham were flooding in last week it was pointed out that he had talked about the marketplace as being the place God would soon have the Church focus on. There is no disputing that many out there want Christianity silenced but we need to be alert to what doors God is opening. I often work along side psychologists and other mental health professionals and I am more certain than ever that Jesus is the only one who can truly give hope that is forever. On the other hand I also believe God gave us mental health professionals so there should be no conflict between the two. They simply have different but complimentary roles. The problem is that neither group really embraces this truth.

One organization that has embraced this truth is Badge of Life Canada. They have put the well-being of First Responders ahead of personal preferences as they seek to be a resource for healing from stress-related injuries. On April 17th BOLC wants to invite you to a day when the spiritual and the clinical come together. This will be educational for the Church community in the GTA but also for Health Care workers and First Responders who might have questions. It is unfortunate that today we use the term "holistic" for the treatment of individuals but ignore the spiritual aspect. To me that is not holistic because you are denying something based on personal bias or ignorance.

As chaplains we hope to add the "W" in holistic to actually make all resources available to the "whole" person. It's a resource that the majority of people are not even aware of or they have ignored it due to ignorance or preconceived ideas about faith. So my hope is that many of you: Clergy, First Responders, Health Professionals and Others, will take the time to attend on April 17th. Check out the link below for more info.

http://badgeoflifecanada.org/








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