Having talked a lot about being a Christian and church life, perhaps I also need to point out some salient issues involving chaplains. When I was a chaplain for the Bella Vista Police Department, I knocked on one door and introduced myself as a chaplain. The person at the door questioned my introduction, and asked pointedly, "What’s a chaplain?" People know about pastors, ministers, priests, etc., but sometimes they do not know about chaplains–this, although chaplains are in the proceedings of our Congress, at both the national and state levels, in our fire departments and police departments, throughout our military, our hospitals and in many of our other institutions. So, what is a chaplain and what does he/she do? The term "chaplain" is a rather enigmatic term applied to religious leaders assigned to an area that is different from a church organization. Just like any other profession, chaplains must meet certain qualifications in order to be certified. In general, in order to be an endorsed chaplain–e.g. one recognized by an appropriate governing organization–in the military, hospitals, law enforcement, etc., a person must first obtain a college degree, a graduate seminary degree, be ordained and then complete four units of […]
