Last week, I wrote a post called “Standing In”. It was written to reflect on a passage that I had read earlier in the week which struck me as exactly what I want to express to others about what I see myself doing as an Army Chaplain. These are my ideas, and while not necessarily those of the Chaplain Corps as a whole, they reflect my philosophy of ministry.
When I wrote the statement:
“This is the role of the Chaplain. Not to be a missionary. Not to be an evangelist. Not to be a psychologist.”
I knew it would raise eyebrows. Because there are many preconceived ideas of what a Chaplain is. However, noble those ideas are about the roles we play—a Chaplain does not fit into any of them, yet ministers through all of them.
Ephesians 4:11 says:
11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds [1] and teachers, [2] 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, [3] to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, (Eph 4:11-13, ESV)
None of those things are bad things, nor do I NOT do them, but there are specialized people that focus more and are gifted more in those areas.
As a Chaplain, there are times that I play the role of the evangelist, the counselor (I’d never claim to do the work of a psychologist), and the missionary—but my primary role is that of a Pastor.
Missionaries and evangelists focus simply on winning the lost. Counselors work just on giving advice and hope to the hurting. But a Pastor, through a combination of those duties and more, provide a more holistic ministry to the people in and around the congregation of believers.
Being a U.S. Army Chaplain, I stand in for the Pastors, while their Soldiers are serving around the world in service to their country.