[This excerpt is from The Chaplain Skillset Series, Vol 1: The Fundamentals: The Why, What, Who and How of Chaplaincy.  The full e-book is available on Amazon.com]

The Chaplain Skillset Series emerged from the vast amount of resources that I have gathered throughout my own quest to become the best minister and professional chaplain that I can eventually be. The goal for this project is simply to share well-respected resources and learned lessons which any chaplain of any faith background and any ministry setting can utilize quickly and effectively. I will speak from my own experiences and from time to time lean heavily upon my own Christian theology to support various chaplain theories, functions and skillsets. Please understand that it is not my aim to offend any reader from other spirituality or religious doctrines. It is the responsibility of every chaplain to develop their own pastoral identity based upon how their life experiences and their own faith informs them. The contributors of this Series will share their perspectives.

The Series will touch upon the primary points which any minister should consider to become a highly skilled and competent chaplain. I am aware that this series may not be exhaustive for all the nuances of chaplaincy, but I will strive for it to be as comprehensive as possible in forming an effective foundation. The Series has a three-fold purpose. It is designed for: 1) individuals who are unfamiliar with the unique field of chaplaincy, 2) for laity or clergy who are discerning whether or not to go into chaplain ministry, and 3) for seasoned clergy and chaplains who simply want to revisit the tried and true skillsets which produce an excellence in chaplaincy. I will always attempt to give credit where credit is due as well as share the many resources which have been helpful in my own chaplain formation.

The Series begins with this initial volume on The Fundamentals. This first volume will attempt to succinctly answer four basic questions: “Why the need for Chaplains?” “What is Chaplaincy?” “Who can be a Chaplain?” and the most practical question for you, the reader, “How is chaplaincy administered? How does it work?” The last chapter will attempt to succeed in “Bringing the Pieces Together” for you through the presentation of three clinical verbatims.

Future volumes in the series will delve deeper into the challenging topics of Developing Skillsets for Handling Trauma and Crisis Situations, Understanding Spirituality and World Faith Expressions, Understanding the Spiritual Assessment, and a volume of essays on the topic on Religious Perspectives of Suffering. Other volumes will review the unique skillsets needed for various forms of chaplaincy such as law enforcement, EMS/fire, workplace, and hospice, as well as look into emerging chaplain specialties such as the new integrative chaplain.

I hope you enjoy The Chaplain Skillset Series. If you sift through and dig out just a few pearls of wisdom from each volume which you can readily use in your own chaplain ministry, then I will consider my efforts to have been worthwhile. May God’s peace be upon you as well as upon your specific ministry.

Chaplain Keith Evans, Editor

Chapter One: Why the Need for Chaplains?

Do you believe there really is a need or place for chaplaincy or chaplains? If there is a need, then is the need only a perceived need for religious people or is chaplaincy supported by solid anecdotal or qualitative evidence? If there is good information supporting chaplains, what makes chaplains needed? I hope to succinctly answer those questions plus many more in this first volume of The Chaplain Skillset Series.

The Widening Gap from Organized Faith

Have you truly considered, “Why the need for Chaplains?” The most current research compiled by the Barna Group (www.barna.org) reveals that 59% of 18-29 year olds with a Christian background have dropped out of attending a church regularly. In 2015, Barna discovered that 25% of unchurched adults are skeptics of God’s existence, labeling themselves as either agnostics or atheists. This trend is more predominant in younger adults who are more educated, racially and ethnically diverse. Across gender lines, females are noted as more religiously skeptical than males. Barna states, “the three primary components that lead to disbelief in God’s existence [by Skeptics] are 1) rejection of the Bible, 2) a lack of trust in the local church and 3) the cultural reinforcement of a secular worldview.” This information led the Barna Group to develop a “post-Christian metric” which looks at multi-dimensional factors to describe “the rich and variegated experience of spirituality and faith.” Spirituality is indeed diverse and is being defined and expressed in many ways. Anecdotal evidence will also reveal that this trend is also occurring throughout all the primary organized faiths: Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, etc.

For ministers and chaplains, this data does not come as a surprise, but as a validation of the changing expressions of faith and spirituality in America as well as across the globe. With this trend, I have found that the topic of spirituality may be the best place to begin any faith conversation. In fact, it might even prove to be quite difficult to find anyone who would not accept the statement that “all humans are spiritual and possess a spirituality, whether they recognize it or not.” If you look around and observe your friends, neighbors and co-workers, you will see individuals who are constantly in search for meaning and purpose in their lives and about situations they experience. With so many of the population not active in a local church or organized faith community, there is a great need for effective soul care to be brought to them in their respective places of work, by their co-workers, friends, and even by professional, workplace chaplains. Chaplains are uniquely qualified to bridge this growing gap in our society which has pushed back against organized religion yet still strives to find meaning and relevancy in their spiritual selves.

More Evidence for the Need of Chaplains

With more and more emphasis on spirituality, spirituality at work, and other faith and spirituality movements, there are less and less individuals sitting in church pews on the Sabbath. This has left a void on who or what becomes a person’s spiritual director, pastor or mentor. It also has left a misunderstanding of what soul care is and what soul care is not.

A definition of spirituality that I espouse and one that has also been widely received and accepted by most in healthcare chaplaincy was proposed by Dr. Christina Puchalski of the George Washington Institute of Spirituality and Heath. She states that, “Spirituality is the aspect of humanity that refers to the way individuals seek and express meaning and purpose and the way they experience their connectedness to the moment, to self, to others, to nature, and to the significant or sacred.” (Puchalski, 2014) Others perceive that spirituality stems from one’s inner consciousness and is the source behind the outward form of defined religious practices. (Guillory, xi) Religion is more strictly defined as how one’s spirituality is practiced within a specific doctrinal or theological context.

In David G. Benner’s text, “Care of Souls,” Benner states, “The soul is the meeting point of the psychological and spiritual. Its care must, by necessity, include both spiritual and psychological aspects.” In the past century there have been great strides in understanding the human psyche. But at the same time, the ‘experts’ have tended to dissect the immaterial self of individuals and divide it up into distinct components (psychological-spiritual-emotional), with each one standing separate and without connection to another. However, there is a growing understanding that this may not be the case. In fact, a dichotomist view of man may have more merit in this context of soul care when you assess how individuals cope with crises in their lives. Benner states that we should “understand soul as referring to the whole person, including the body, but with particular focus on the inner world of thinking, feeling, and willing. Care of souls can thus be understood as the care of persons in their totality.” (Benner, 22) If the public at large are not engaged in a local church or faith/spirituality community, then who assists them in their journey? Most often, probably no one.

The work of psychologist Kenneth Pargament has been especially well-received within the medical field over the past several decades. Pargament has written extensively on the psychology of an individual’s resiliency based upon religion and spirituality as positive coping skills. Pargament’s behavioral theories and review of literature studies can easily be extrapolated to include individuals under any stress. If you have a scientific lilt to your thinking, then Pargament’s The Psychology of Religion and Coping: Theory, Research, Practice (1997) will be a great resource for you.

The same can be said of the enormous work of medical physician and researcher Harold Koenig. Koenig’s extensive work Spirituality and Health Research: Methods, Measurements, Statistics and Resources (2011) and Handbook of Spirituality and Health, 2^nd edition (2012). These more academic tests are replete with many categories of scientific data reviews which support the role and impact of spirituality upon specific physical conditions and mental health issues.

Spirituality has been shown to help a person’s overall resiliency after crisis and stress. The 2011 Balboni Study noted that individuals who have spiritual and religious resources available to them during a time of crisis, such as critical life situations and nearing death itself, these patient’s actually incur less overall medical costs. (Balboni, 2011) I infer from this study that it suggests the individuals became less anxious and more emotional and psychologically relaxed, when they felt more supported and less vulnerable. As this occurred, there was less need for anxiety or pain  medications, which led to the patient’s better comfort and rest, and even increased healing rates because their immune systems improved. When this occurs, the patient will often have a shorter length of stay and better satisfaction with their overall care!

A survey of the American Hospital Association’s database noted a “significantly lower rates of hospital deaths (β=0.4, p<.05) and higher rates of hospice enrollment (β =.06, p<.001) for patients cared for in hospitals that provided chaplaincy services compared to hospitals that did not.”(Flannelly, 2012) The study noted that the results “may be attributable to chaplain’s assistance to patients and families in making decisions about care at the end-of-life, perhaps by aligning their values and wishes with actual treatment plans.” (Flannelly, p. 6)

Spirituality is vastly important to the resiliency and maintenance of emotional well-being and wholeness for individuals while organized religion is being more and more opposed. If this is true, then what or who is the best possible facilitator to assist those in need? From my perspective, the chaplain is the most reasonable bridge builder and available public clergy when much of the population does not belong or attend a church on a regular basis. For the multitude of people with spiritual needs who are also in quest for their own deeper meaning and purpose of life, the well-equipped and skilled chaplain may well prove to be their best spiritual mentor.