Illustration by Charity Ellis
A Childhood Memory
People in Western society increasingly seek spiritual nourishment in places outside of traditional religious venues.1 In our age of rapid cultural, political, and social transformation, the role of spirituality and religion is both a driver of change and a response to change. This reality has significant implications for religious leaders and organizations, especially in the institutions that train and form those leaders. The education and formation of spiritual caregivers are in flux because religious and spiritual needs are here to stay, but the landscape of how to meet these needs is shifting. We think that forming chaplains amid these realities is urgently necessary work—and an endeavor that pulls in two directions at once: staying anchored in what is true and what has always been true as well as an ability to grow, change, develop, and even flourish. The importance of education and professional development is central to living within that very real tension. As such, the holistic formation of chaplains today is complicated in ways that differ from theological education in the past.
Chaplains have existed and will exist in many contexts throughout Western society;2 this is true despite their existence in so many places being “largely invisible to most Americans.”3 The training and formation of chaplains, and indeed the practice of chaplaincy, provides unique insight into means of spiritual care outside of traditional religious contexts.4 The history of chaplaincy stretches back to the late Roman Empire but continues to grow and expand into different contexts. Chaplains provide spiritual care in specialized and diverse settings, as those called into the world to bring the peace and life of God into places where traditional religious institutions do not (or cannot) exist. Chaplains’ “ministry of presence” is a sign of God-with-us, Immanuel, in a broken world.5 Although chaplains have existed for centuries, their use has exploded in the last hundred years, and especially in the last two decades. The same is true of programs that educate chaplains. In the early 1990s, fewer than five chaplaincy track theological education programs existed in the US. Now there are dozens.6 This growth underscores the importance of programs that nurture holistic formation in support of hands-on ministry.
From the very origins of chaplaincy, chaplains inhabit a liminal space because they represent a particular faith tradition in a nonreligious (secular) setting. Chaplains minister out of their own religious or spiritual background in the “everyday” space of those under their care—whether in a hospital, a place of business, the military, a university, a secondary school, or other nonreligious space. Chaplains, unlike traditional parish pastors, get to do life—both the joys and traumas—with their “parishioners,” who may have deep faith or no faith commitment at all. Chaplaincy is a vital part of God’s mission in this world.7
Chaplains are often present with individuals at times of great need. Crises, trauma, and despair most often occur outside of immediate religious contexts but are very common in military, hospital, and workplace settings. Development and education—academic and practical—that go beyond traditional religious formation equip chaplains for complicated and varied ministry settings. Ordination and traditional theological education, particularly in the context of like-minded individuals—historically the standard for clerical practice—may not fully prepare chaplains for the diverse and complex needs of those they are called to serve.
The education of chaplains is best when it accounts for these realities as well as the particular needs of the contexts in which chaplains will minister. The preparation of chaplains includes many of the traditional elements of pastoral preparation but will necessarily also differ from parish pastoral development. This distinction does not require replacing traditional subjects, but it does mean that some emphases and balances may need to shift to go even deeper in some areas. Here, we highlight several areas of deepened pastoral formation for the work of chaplaincy.
The work of chaplains in secular and multifaith circumstances necessitates an approach to spiritual formation that emphasizes the development of a whole person who can care for other people as whole people. Chaplains must have deep pastoral identity and grounding in their own faith—a grounding that is sharpened and deepened as they work day-to-day among individuals of many different faiths and of no faith. The location of chaplains within these contexts creates meaningful opportunities for ministry even as individual chaplains minister outside of the structures of their own faith traditions. Chaplains must be mature in their faith, developed over years of in-depth personal—and affective (as opposed to only cognitive)—growth, which is often honed through praxis and hands-on experiences. Theological educators must take this into account as they develop programs that prepare individuals for this kind of ministry. Personal and theological depth, as evidenced by traits like appropriate self-awareness and respect for others, is crucial, not a nice add-on.
The liminal context of chaplaincy has significant implications for chaplain education. Because chaplains, by definition, provide religious and spiritual care in a secular context,8 they may experience competing norms and expectations between sacred and secular responsibilities, identities, and vocations that are not present in the same way in parish ministry settings. Ministers often have less positional authority or power in these contexts; their credibility is built relationally rather than as a result of hallowed status or position. To be able to minister in these complicated organizations, chaplains need strong relational and interpersonal skills to establish rapport, build consensus, and gain buy-in.
Chaplaincy work encounters a high concentration of care in extreme circumstances, such as relational fragmentation, sickness, death, and trauma, outside of a framework that understands these tragic realities in light of ultimate things. Indeed, the inevitability of extreme circumstances is one of the reasons why secular organizations continue to employ chaplains. These are difficult ministry circumstances that require specialized and deep formation. This development begins even before formal ministry education, continues during that education, and ideally extends through a chaplain’s professional life. We address each in turn.
Theological Education for Chaplains
Theological schools best serve students when they consider the contexts in which their graduates will minister. For a growing number of graduates, this includes chaplaincy contexts. Chaplains may require different concentrations and emphases within theological education than those preparing for parish or congregational ministry. Particular skills, competencies, and attributes become more important in chaplaincy contexts than in others. These are initially developed in theological education contexts, especially through the acquisition of new knowledge, but are further honed through years of praxis and whole-life integration.
Preaching, for example, is a necessary part of chaplaincy, but it occupies a smaller percentage of ministry opportunities for a chaplain than for a traditional parish minister. In fact, the style of communication differs in distinct ministry settings. A congregational pastor frequently ministers to large groups of people through preaching the Sunday sermon; a chaplain also preaches but has more opportunities throughout the week to engage individuals in an intimate fashion, including through Bible studies, counseling, and one-on-one interaction. The ministry of counseling is central to the work of chaplaincy due to the intersection of high incidences of trauma and the importance of relational ministry. Communication is vital to chaplaincy ministry, but the style of communication and venue may skew in a different direction than parish ministry.
Much theological formation and practical competency go into each of these acts. What could seem on the surface quite simple—speaking about sacred texts or talking someone through their personal problems—requires deep development to do well. Years of studying biblical languages, theological truth, and homiletical prowess undergird good preaching; similarly, deep development knowledge of theological truth, human behavior, and counseling techniques lie below effective counseling. Much of the knowledge and skill acquisition in this development occurs during formal theological education, but true competence requires extensive field experience and practice. This praxis can be built into courses of theological education as important outworkings of knowledge acquisition. Both cognitive-heavy, classroom-based learning and affective-centered, praxis-oriented education are needed for the holistic development of ministers. Theological education that incorporates each type of learning situates its students to become lifelong learners who continually develop their skills as religious leadership practitioners.
Chaplains need to be educated for an angle of approach toward religious and spiritual matters that facilitates their care of a wide range of people. Worshipers have indicated a broad openness to religious matters by their very presence in a sacred space even if denominations differ profoundly on points of doctrine and practice; individuals for whom chaplains care come from a variety of faith backgrounds, with diverse, or perhaps no faith commitments at all. Individuals that chaplains meet by and large have less interest in the minutiae of a particular faith tradition’s theological positions; they tend to be much more interested in the big questions of faith whose answers are shared across broad segments of religious traditions, but whose application is immensely important in traumatic contexts. Does God exist? Is he good? If so, why did he allow this to happen? Systematic theology is vital to pastoral preparation in this context. Chaplaincy ministry necessitates the shaping of pastoral identity and a theology of suffering (theodicy) to help address these questions. Deep theological training equips chaplains to minister appropriately, but praxis-oriented education enables chaplains to facilitate better conversations around ultimate things at acute moments in a person’s life.
The formation of chaplains through theological education does not consist solely of gaining cognitive information, like principles of theology, or of learning skills, like preaching. It involves the intimate work of internalizing values, engaging with one’s own finitude and woundedness, and ultimately “be[ing] transformed.”9 Put another way, a task as simple as conducting a funeral requires much more than delivering a eulogy or relaying condolences. A truly effective—and pastoral—approach will involve affective competencies like empathy and emotional intelligence. Chaplains care for whole persons, out of their grounding as whole persons. The competencies to do this cannot be taught in the same manner as cognitive information; they can, however, be developed over the course of a practitioner’s life.
Professional Development for Chaplains
At its best, theological education forms students to desire lifelong learning as faithful stewards of their ministry calling. Because of the specialized nature of chaplaincy, theological education alone will not prepare chaplains for all the contingencies they will face. The specific place, or places, in which a chaplain practices matters enormously and can contribute to that ongoing formation, but the spaces of practice are not the primary locations of that development. Ongoing professional development is crucial for chaplains and takes at least two forms. Continued formal professional development of a decidedly practical nature helps shape competent chaplaincy practitioners. Self-development is also an important piece of continued professional development. Each facilitates further holistic growth as a ministry practitioner and greater efficacy in the particular contexts a chaplain works.
Some chaplaincy education and certification programs, such as Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE), already address the reality that continued professional development is necessary. Such longstanding programs offer a variety of courses of study. The value of such a program is that it is longstanding, standardized, and offers curriculum and support to students who are undertaking the study.
Self-development outside of an educational program is also important. Staying up to date on current research that is relevant to chaplaincy, understanding shifts in American culture and society that affect the people for whom a chaplain cares, and cultivating one’s own faith commitments and practices are all aspects of such ongoing formation. Chaplains may also, though, delve more deeply into the intricacies of the spaces in which they practice. A chaplain working in the financial services industry may need to stay up to date on current practices in that space in a way that a chaplain working for a restaurant would not. Chaplains best serve their organizations by being well-versed in the knowledge, culture, and practices endemic to those organizations.10
The best professional development for a chaplain includes ongoing work in areas that bolster the chaplain’s own ability to live into their vocation and calling. The continuous work of nurturing one’s self is essential in part because, as we’re describing, the chaplain is doing immensely complicated caregiving work in immensely complicated situations. It may seem counterintuitive that advocating for yet more study and development is a counterbalance to these intense dynamics, but that is in fact part of our suggestion.
The relative autonomy of chaplaincy from traditional structures of religion also means that chaplains need support from those outside of their immediate ministry context—particularly from the faith groups and their leaders that send chaplains into these locales but also from spiritual friends and mentors. Such support could be formal in nature—like the endorsement provided by many faith groups for chaplains—or it could be more informal—to include friends, colleagues, and family members who provide encouragement, make sacrifices, and tangibly help chaplains in their ministry. Means of support often may look different or be built into different structures for chaplaincy ministry than in traditional parish ministry contexts.
In large measure, what we’ve been discussing here is that professional development for chaplains involves growth in the affective domain. This is work that first takes place within theological education but is central to the continued process of formation and living into calling. Professional development may involve acquiring new knowledge, habits, and practices, but that is not what defines it. Acquiring and deepening capacities with respect to self-awareness and emotional intelligence, among other qualities, are central to the ongoing formation of chaplains. Apart from this, chaplains stand at risk of lessened efficacy in ministry and of personal burnout.
In our particular context of military chaplaincy, professional development takes on specific requirements to meet the needs of this context and of the dual secular/sacred nature of the chaplaincy calling.11 In the Army, chaplains are serving both Army officers and religious support professionals. How this formation work looks and feels in a military setting amid the dynamics we’ve already pointed to has important implications for our sense of forming whole people over the course of their careers.
Military Chaplaincy
Within the military, these realities around the relationship between theological education and professional development take on an added significance because chaplains “nurture the living, care for the wounded and honor the fallen” during war and life-threatening, traumatic situations.12 The US Army, which is the context from which we write, likes to conceive of chaplains as “bringing God to soldiers, and soldiers to God.”
Army chaplains serve in a pluralistic environment. Soldiers come from many different faith backgrounds, including no faith background at all. Under these conditions, chaplains perform religious services, provide for spiritual and religious needs, and advise commanders on ethics, morals, and morale. Chaplains enable the Title 10 rights of service members to the free exercise of religion even as they give voice to their own religious expressions.
To do this work, Army chaplains must bring both theological education and professional work experience to the Army before accession to chaplaincy. From those foundations, the Army builds further still: training religious support professionals how to be religious support professionals in the military. Professional Military Education (PME) is the name for this training and education, and it happens at regular, predictable points in an officer’s career.
Army chaplains, then, are educated both outside of the Army and within the Army, and they gain professional experience both outside of and within the Army. Even so, the weighty needs of service members and their families in a shifting national defense landscape require that chaplains engage in professional development above and beyond what we’ve already described.
Ministry in the Army necessitates “muddy boots” chaplaincy, which means going into the dirty and difficult places with the soldiers and families they serve. Even the strictures, then, of an enormous and seemingly impersonal bureaucracy can accommodate the profoundly intimate work of providing spiritual care. Delivering care under such circumstances asks chaplains to integrate even disparate pieces of themselves: They adhere to the tenets of their particular religious tradition within a pluralistic environment devoted to fighting and winning the nation’s land wars.
For these reasons, the wounds and traumas encountered by Army chaplains and within those they care for are varied and many. From the small-bore hurts of everyday life that can be wearying—such as periods of separation from loved ones, interpersonal workplace friction, and stresses over time management—to potentially life-altering lacerations caused by working within and among armed conflict, military chaplains meet people where they are in extraordinarily difficult contexts that exist on a spectrum of relationality.
Adding to this already complex set of concerns is, of course, that the chaplain is part of that very same military system that can cause so much stress and trauma. Moreover, the chaplain is also a person in the world who is buffeted by the same daily winds as the people for whom they care. Chaplains in the military care for others as well as for themselves under highly difficult circumstances. We have emphasized the importance of affective domain formation not only because expanding capacity for traits such as empathy and self-awareness are beneficial when chaplains care for others but also because chaplains themselves need these traits to sustain fruitful ministry.
For all of these reasons, educating and training chaplains, for any context, is an extraordinarily significant and nuanced undertaking. Such an important responsibility should be handled with care, requisite to the care of souls. Chaplaincy is a complex and rewarding ministry. Educating chaplains requires deep and long-term formation which is the responsibility of the individual chaplain as well as the institutions in which they are formed. This development is deeply shaped by theological education, but that is only its beginning. The kind of lifelong holistic formation we describe ensures that chaplains are prepared to provide spiritual care in the increasingly complex—and rewarding—opportunities that lie ahead.
Nathan H. White is associate dean at Graduate School, US Army Institute for Religious Leadership. He holds a PhD in practical theology from Durham University, an MDiv from Beeson Divinity School, and a bachelor’s degree from Wheaton College. He is also an army chaplain serving as a reservist at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel for the headquarters at US Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC). He has deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan with the military. His academic work has appeared in publications such as Oxford University Press, UNC Press, and NDU Press, as well as in numerous journals and online publications.
Katherine Voyles is program director of the School for Academic Degrees at the US Army Institute for Religious Leadership. She previously taught within the University of Washington and University of California systems. Voyles also served as editor of the US Army Chaplain Corps Journal and as comanaging editor of The Strategy Bridge. She holds a PhD in English from the University of California, Irvine.
A Childhood Memory
People in Western society increasingly seek spiritual nourishment in places outside of traditional religious venues.1 In our age of rapid cultural, political, and social transformation, the role of spirituality and religion is both a driver of change and a response to change. This reality has significant implications for religious leaders and organizations, especially in the institutions that train and form those leaders. The education and formation of spiritual caregivers are in flux because religious and spiritual needs are here to stay, but the landscape of how to meet these needs is shifting. We think that forming chaplains amid these realities is urgently necessary work—and an endeavor that pulls in two directions at once: staying anchored in what is true and what has always been true as well as an ability to grow, change, develop, and even flourish. The importance of education and professional development is central to living within that very real tension. As such, the holistic formation of chaplains today is complicated in ways that differ from theological education in the past.
Chaplains have existed and will exist in many contexts throughout Western society;2 this is true despite their existence in so many places being “largely invisible to most Americans.”3 The training and formation of chaplains, and indeed the practice of chaplaincy, provides unique insight into means of spiritual care outside of traditional religious contexts.4 The history of chaplaincy stretches back to the late Roman Empire but continues to grow and expand into different contexts. Chaplains provide spiritual care in specialized and diverse settings, as those called into the world to bring the peace and life of God into places where traditional religious institutions do not (or cannot) exist. Chaplains’ “ministry of presence” is a sign of God-with-us, Immanuel, in a broken world.5 Although chaplains have existed for centuries, their use has exploded in the last hundred years, and especially in the last two decades. The same is true of programs that educate chaplains. In the early 1990s, fewer than five chaplaincy track theological education programs existed in the US. Now there are dozens.6 This growth underscores the importance of programs that nurture holistic formation in support of hands-on ministry.
From the very origins of chaplaincy, chaplains inhabit a liminal space because they represent a particular faith tradition in a nonreligious (secular) setting. Chaplains minister out of their own religious or spiritual background in the “everyday” space of those under their care—whether in a hospital, a place of business, the military, a university, a secondary school, or other nonreligious space. Chaplains, unlike traditional parish pastors, get to do life—both the joys and traumas—with their “parishioners,” who may have deep faith or no faith commitment at all. Chaplaincy is a vital part of God’s mission in this world.7
Chaplains are often present with individuals at times of great need. Crises, trauma, and despair most often occur outside of immediate religious contexts but are very common in military, hospital, and workplace settings. Development and education—academic and practical—that go beyond traditional religious formation equip chaplains for complicated and varied ministry settings. Ordination and traditional theological education, particularly in the context of like-minded individuals—historically the standard for clerical practice—may not fully prepare chaplains for the diverse and complex needs of those they are called to serve.
The education of chaplains is best when it accounts for these realities as well as the particular needs of the contexts in which chaplains will minister. The preparation of chaplains includes many of the traditional elements of pastoral preparation but will necessarily also differ from parish pastoral development. This distinction does not require replacing traditional subjects, but it does mean that some emphases and balances may need to shift to go even deeper in some areas. Here, we highlight several areas of deepened pastoral formation for the work of chaplaincy.
The work of chaplains in secular and multifaith circumstances necessitates an approach to spiritual formation that emphasizes the development of a whole person who can care for other people as whole people. Chaplains must have deep pastoral identity and grounding in their own faith—a grounding that is sharpened and deepened as they work day-to-day among individuals of many different faiths and of no faith. The location of chaplains within these contexts creates meaningful opportunities for ministry even as individual chaplains minister outside of the structures of their own faith traditions. Chaplains must be mature in their faith, developed over years of in-depth personal—and affective (as opposed to only cognitive)—growth, which is often honed through praxis and hands-on experiences. Theological educators must take this into account as they develop programs that prepare individuals for this kind of ministry. Personal and theological depth, as evidenced by traits like appropriate self-awareness and respect for others, is crucial, not a nice add-on.
The liminal context of chaplaincy has significant implications for chaplain education. Because chaplains, by definition, provide religious and spiritual care in a secular context,8 they may experience competing norms and expectations between sacred and secular responsibilities, identities, and vocations that are not present in the same way in parish ministry settings. Ministers often have less positional authority or power in these contexts; their credibility is built relationally rather than as a result of hallowed status or position. To be able to minister in these complicated organizations, chaplains need strong relational and interpersonal skills to establish rapport, build consensus, and gain buy-in.
Chaplaincy work encounters a high concentration of care in extreme circumstances, such as relational fragmentation, sickness, death, and trauma, outside of a framework that understands these tragic realities in light of ultimate things. Indeed, the inevitability of extreme circumstances is one of the reasons why secular organizations continue to employ chaplains. These are difficult ministry circumstances that require specialized and deep formation. This development begins even before formal ministry education, continues during that education, and ideally extends through a chaplain’s professional life. We address each in turn.
Theological Education for Chaplains
Theological schools best serve students when they consider the contexts in which their graduates will minister. For a growing number of graduates, this includes chaplaincy contexts. Chaplains may require different concentrations and emphases within theological education than those preparing for parish or congregational ministry. Particular skills, competencies, and attributes become more important in chaplaincy contexts than in others. These are initially developed in theological education contexts, especially through the acquisition of new knowledge, but are further honed through years of praxis and whole-life integration.
Preaching, for example, is a necessary part of chaplaincy, but it occupies a smaller percentage of ministry opportunities for a chaplain than for a traditional parish minister. In fact, the style of communication differs in distinct ministry settings. A congregational pastor frequently ministers to large groups of people through preaching the Sunday sermon; a chaplain also preaches but has more opportunities throughout the week to engage individuals in an intimate fashion, including through Bible studies, counseling, and one-on-one interaction. The ministry of counseling is central to the work of chaplaincy due to the intersection of high incidences of trauma and the importance of relational ministry. Communication is vital to chaplaincy ministry, but the style of communication and venue may skew in a different direction than parish ministry.
Much theological formation and practical competency go into each of these acts. What could seem on the surface quite simple—speaking about sacred texts or talking someone through their personal problems—requires deep development to do well. Years of studying biblical languages, theological truth, and homiletical prowess undergird good preaching; similarly, deep development knowledge of theological truth, human behavior, and counseling techniques lie below effective counseling. Much of the knowledge and skill acquisition in this development occurs during formal theological education, but true competence requires extensive field experience and practice. This praxis can be built into courses of theological education as important outworkings of knowledge acquisition. Both cognitive-heavy, classroom-based learning and affective-centered, praxis-oriented education are needed for the holistic development of ministers. Theological education that incorporates each type of learning situates its students to become lifelong learners who continually develop their skills as religious leadership practitioners.
Chaplains need to be educated for an angle of approach toward religious and spiritual matters that facilitates their care of a wide range of people. Worshipers have indicated a broad openness to religious matters by their very presence in a sacred space even if denominations differ profoundly on points of doctrine and practice; individuals for whom chaplains care come from a variety of faith backgrounds, with diverse, or perhaps no faith commitments at all. Individuals that chaplains meet by and large have less interest in the minutiae of a particular faith tradition’s theological positions; they tend to be much more interested in the big questions of faith whose answers are shared across broad segments of religious traditions, but whose application is immensely important in traumatic contexts. Does God exist? Is he good? If so, why did he allow this to happen? Systematic theology is vital to pastoral preparation in this context. Chaplaincy ministry necessitates the shaping of pastoral identity and a theology of suffering (theodicy) to help address these questions. Deep theological training equips chaplains to minister appropriately, but praxis-oriented education enables chaplains to facilitate better conversations around ultimate things at acute moments in a person’s life.
The formation of chaplains through theological education does not consist solely of gaining cognitive information, like principles of theology, or of learning skills, like preaching. It involves the intimate work of internalizing values, engaging with one’s own finitude and woundedness, and ultimately “be[ing] transformed.”9 Put another way, a task as simple as conducting a funeral requires much more than delivering a eulogy or relaying condolences. A truly effective—and pastoral—approach will involve affective competencies like empathy and emotional intelligence. Chaplains care for whole persons, out of their grounding as whole persons. The competencies to do this cannot be taught in the same manner as cognitive information; they can, however, be developed over the course of a practitioner’s life.
Professional Development for Chaplains
At its best, theological education forms students to desire lifelong learning as faithful stewards of their ministry calling. Because of the specialized nature of chaplaincy, theological education alone will not prepare chaplains for all the contingencies they will face. The specific place, or places, in which a chaplain practices matters enormously and can contribute to that ongoing formation, but the spaces of practice are not the primary locations of that development. Ongoing professional development is crucial for chaplains and takes at least two forms. Continued formal professional development of a decidedly practical nature helps shape competent chaplaincy practitioners. Self-development is also an important piece of continued professional development. Each facilitates further holistic growth as a ministry practitioner and greater efficacy in the particular contexts a chaplain works.
Some chaplaincy education and certification programs, such as Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE), already address the reality that continued professional development is necessary. Such longstanding programs offer a variety of courses of study. The value of such a program is that it is longstanding, standardized, and offers curriculum and support to students who are undertaking the study.
Self-development outside of an educational program is also important. Staying up to date on current research that is relevant to chaplaincy, understanding shifts in American culture and society that affect the people for whom a chaplain cares, and cultivating one’s own faith commitments and practices are all aspects of such ongoing formation. Chaplains may also, though, delve more deeply into the intricacies of the spaces in which they practice. A chaplain working in the financial services industry may need to stay up to date on current practices in that space in a way that a chaplain working for a restaurant would not. Chaplains best serve their organizations by being well-versed in the knowledge, culture, and practices endemic to those organizations.10
The best professional development for a chaplain includes ongoing work in areas that bolster the chaplain’s own ability to live into their vocation and calling. The continuous work of nurturing one’s self is essential in part because, as we’re describing, the chaplain is doing immensely complicated caregiving work in immensely complicated situations. It may seem counterintuitive that advocating for yet more study and development is a counterbalance to these intense dynamics, but that is in fact part of our suggestion.
The relative autonomy of chaplaincy from traditional structures of religion also means that chaplains need support from those outside of their immediate ministry context—particularly from the faith groups and their leaders that send chaplains into these locales but also from spiritual friends and mentors. Such support could be formal in nature—like the endorsement provided by many faith groups for chaplains—or it could be more informal—to include friends, colleagues, and family members who provide encouragement, make sacrifices, and tangibly help chaplains in their ministry. Means of support often may look different or be built into different structures for chaplaincy ministry than in traditional parish ministry contexts.
In large measure, what we’ve been discussing here is that professional development for chaplains involves growth in the affective domain. This is work that first takes place within theological education but is central to the continued process of formation and living into calling. Professional development may involve acquiring new knowledge, habits, and practices, but that is not what defines it. Acquiring and deepening capacities with respect to self-awareness and emotional intelligence, among other qualities, are central to the ongoing formation of chaplains. Apart from this, chaplains stand at risk of lessened efficacy in ministry and of personal burnout.
In our particular context of military chaplaincy, professional development takes on specific requirements to meet the needs of this context and of the dual secular/sacred nature of the chaplaincy calling.11 In the Army, chaplains are serving both Army officers and religious support professionals. How this formation work looks and feels in a military setting amid the dynamics we’ve already pointed to has important implications for our sense of forming whole people over the course of their careers.
Military Chaplaincy
Within the military, these realities around the relationship between theological education and professional development take on an added significance because chaplains “nurture the living, care for the wounded and honor the fallen” during war and life-threatening, traumatic situations.12 The US Army, which is the context from which we write, likes to conceive of chaplains as “bringing God to soldiers, and soldiers to God.”
Army chaplains serve in a pluralistic environment. Soldiers come from many different faith backgrounds, including no faith background at all. Under these conditions, chaplains perform religious services, provide for spiritual and religious needs, and advise commanders on ethics, morals, and morale. Chaplains enable the Title 10 rights of service members to the free exercise of religion even as they give voice to their own religious expressions.
To do this work, Army chaplains must bring both theological education and professional work experience to the Army before accession to chaplaincy. From those foundations, the Army builds further still: training religious support professionals how to be religious support professionals in the military. Professional Military Education (PME) is the name for this training and education, and it happens at regular, predictable points in an officer’s career.
Army chaplains, then, are educated both outside of the Army and within the Army, and they gain professional experience both outside of and within the Army. Even so, the weighty needs of service members and their families in a shifting national defense landscape require that chaplains engage in professional development above and beyond what we’ve already described.
Ministry in the Army necessitates “muddy boots” chaplaincy, which means going into the dirty and difficult places with the soldiers and families they serve. Even the strictures, then, of an enormous and seemingly impersonal bureaucracy can accommodate the profoundly intimate work of providing spiritual care. Delivering care under such circumstances asks chaplains to integrate even disparate pieces of themselves: They adhere to the tenets of their particular religious tradition within a pluralistic environment devoted to fighting and winning the nation’s land wars.
For these reasons, the wounds and traumas encountered by Army chaplains and within those they care for are varied and many. From the small-bore hurts of everyday life that can be wearying—such as periods of separation from loved ones, interpersonal workplace friction, and stresses over time management—to potentially life-altering lacerations caused by working within and among armed conflict, military chaplains meet people where they are in extraordinarily difficult contexts that exist on a spectrum of relationality.
Adding to this already complex set of concerns is, of course, that the chaplain is part of that very same military system that can cause so much stress and trauma. Moreover, the chaplain is also a person in the world who is buffeted by the same daily winds as the people for whom they care. Chaplains in the military care for others as well as for themselves under highly difficult circumstances. We have emphasized the importance of affective domain formation not only because expanding capacity for traits such as empathy and self-awareness are beneficial when chaplains care for others but also because chaplains themselves need these traits to sustain fruitful ministry.
For all of these reasons, educating and training chaplains, for any context, is an extraordinarily significant and nuanced undertaking. Such an important responsibility should be handled with care, requisite to the care of souls. Chaplaincy is a complex and rewarding ministry. Educating chaplains requires deep and long-term formation which is the responsibility of the individual chaplain as well as the institutions in which they are formed. This development is deeply shaped by theological education, but that is only its beginning. The kind of lifelong holistic formation we describe ensures that chaplains are prepared to provide spiritual care in the increasingly complex—and rewarding—opportunities that lie ahead.
Nathan H. White is associate dean at Graduate School, US Army Institute for Religious Leadership. He holds a PhD in practical theology from Durham University, an MDiv from Beeson Divinity School, and a bachelor’s degree from Wheaton College. He is also an army chaplain serving as a reservist at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel for the headquarters at US Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC). He has deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan with the military. His academic work has appeared in publications such as Oxford University Press, UNC Press, and NDU Press, as well as in numerous journals and online publications.
Katherine Voyles is program director of the School for Academic Degrees at the US Army Institute for Religious Leadership. She previously taught within the University of Washington and University of California systems. Voyles also served as editor of the US Army Chaplain Corps Journal and as comanaging editor of The Strategy Bridge. She holds a PhD in English from the University of California, Irvine.
Sara Barton, chaplain at Pepperdine University, shares about the work of chaplaincy and spiritual formation among university students.
