Chaplaincy Matters

There is a sense in which you shouldn’t do a thing. No, don’t stay home and watch foxtel. Just don’t think that you need to change everything in three months. You may have the title, but the position of chaplain is as much earned as conferred. There is much to learn about your school and students before you start making changes or implementing any strategic ideas.

With that in mind, here are five priorities you should bring to your first week of chaplaincy.

Priority 1 – Learn everything you can about the people you will be involved with (Involvement – 1 Peter 5.1-4).

You are a shepherd. Good shepherds smell like sheep, and they know their sheep by name. Suggestions:  Talk to previous chaplains. learn all that you can about the founding of the school. What was the original doctrinal statement if they had one? does the school have any statements of belief or Denominational statements that you should be familiar with?

Become familiar with the “old-timers.”  Talk to the staff members who have been at the school the longest. Ask them about traditions, histories, policies, and so forth. Ask what they thought worked well with chapel services in the past and what they think can be improved. Make sure you introduce yourself to everyone on staff - especially the people in the office and the maintenance crew as they will be the people you will need to ask favours off in the future!!

Priority 2 – Spend time with  leadership (Humility – Philippians 2.5-8).

Suggestions:  arrange time to sit down and talk with the senior staff member in the school. Ask them how your role can assist them. these people are the ones who have the power to make the decisions in the school so it is vital that your role as chaplain is ‘on their radar screens’. Know where the school is heading, especially in terms of any new building projects, so that you can be thinking ahead to how you may utilise the new space for chaplaincy/school activities. eg my school is in the process of building a new performance space that will be perfect for chapel/ministry events.

Ask them for their assessment of the school’s spiritual health? Ask what key events in the school’s calender should be celebrated and whether there are any events or milestones that should be added to that list.

Identify your strong christian students who are willing to be involved in Chaplaincy events. It is great to have a few in each grade so that they can encourage their friends along to events and also make announcements to the grade at assemblies if necessary.

Priority 3 – Plan your speaking (God’s means of growth – Romans 10.17).

Preaching in chapel is a huge priority for the chaplain. It is listed here as number 3 for the sake of thought-progression. The information you gather will influence your what you speak on and who your ‘target audience’ is.

Chapel services are usually compulsory which means that you are going to have students sitting in the service who want to be there and some students who don’t want to be there. Through the chapel service you have the opportunity to give students a positive experience of  Jesus. If you make your talks boring and irrelevant then those who don’t go to church wont want to start going.

Work hard on presenting your message in an engaging way (think youtube clips, student interaction/participation, guest speakers, students musical items, talk about current events etc). If you can speak in a way that not only engages with the audience but brings words of comfort and life then the students will start looking forward to chapel and may even consider comeing along to other things that you run in the school during the week.

Priority 4 – Spend time with students who aren’t Christians (Considering others – Philippians 2.4).

Hang out at recess and lunch with students who might not have any reason to talk with you as a Chaplain. Chances are in the future they will have some event in their life that means they will want someone to talk to and if they know you and are familiar with you then they will be more likely to have a chat about the deep issues in their life.

Always be willing to get involved in sporting teams and excursions as it provides great opportunities to ‘hang out’ with students outside of a school setting. It also enables you be there for those important moments when they achieve eg winning a sporting match or swimming carnival. It is vital that chaplains should be there for the students in the tough times but also the times of celebration.

Priority 5 – Plant a fruit tree (or a garden) (Faithfulness – 1 Corinthians 4.2).

Things that produce fruit need cultivation and time, and watching a tree grow will remind you of that. You have started a marathon; pace yourself.

The key thing I have found for seeing something grow is repetition and momentum. You need to begin something and then make sure it continues. For example if you start a prayer group before school but you always are late or forget about it then the students will not come as they are not sure if you are going to be there or not. You need to earn their trust by making sure events and meetings happen if you say they will.  My prayer group at school is growing steadily as students know it will always be on (if I am away I arrange one of my student chaplains to take the meeting).

My piece of advice is to begin things slowly, don’t ‘bite off more than you can chew’ because if you regularly start something and then it just stops, the students will become cautious about getting involved and will wait to see if this latest event or meeting will last before they commit.

based roughly upon http://9marks.org/CC/article/0,,PTID314526|