An army chaplain in the gulf
"The chaplain at Heathrow Airport ministers to 68,000 staff alone, quite aside from the millions of passengers"
The recent London Challenge video showed some of the creative and exciting ways in which the Church in London is engaging with the world it seeks to serve. As well as looking at the work of the parishes in the diocese, it also highlighted the work of the various chaplaincies in London. Due to financial considerations, the Church of England, together with its partner Churches, has recently had to readjust in its tasks of serving nationwide through parishes and local congregations. Clergy working in chaplaincy also have much to contribute to the question of what roles the Church would adopt in this new century. Chaplains are paid to spend their working time with those who do not go to church (those the Church claims it most wants to reach).
Until the Industrial Revolution most people lived and worked in one place (parish) for most of their lives. Urbanisation and new technology altered that forever: we now sleep, work, shop, take our leisure, visit family and friends in a whole host of different places and travel in a way unimaginable to our forbearers. The work of chaplaincy in various areas of life is one of the ways in which the Church has responded to changing circumstances and challenges.
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Chaplaincy among Deaf and Deafblind People
Just as it's simplistic to talk about issues in parish ministry as if this were a single, homogenous whole, talking of 'chaplaincy' is even more complicated given the wide range of provision.
Very often chaplains work in an ecumenical way which their colleagues in a parochial setting are not able to do. A range of paid chaplaincy provision may be made by institituions and this opens up exciting possibilities for ecumenical dialogue and practice.
Similarly many chaplains work in inter-faith situations. Where chaplaincy provision is small, Christian chaplains my carry the role of'religious professional' Where provision is greater, Christian chaplains will work alongside chaplains of other faiths.
Because parishes are now larger than they once were (for instance George Herbert's benefice of Fugglestone and Bemerton had a population of 400 in the 1630s while today it is 8,000), individual parish priests inevitably have more people to minister to.
Chaplains often minister in smaller situations and are given greater opportunity for intimacy with those around them (though this is not necessarily the case: the chaplain at Heathrow Airport ministers to 68,000 staff alone, quite aside from the millions of passengers).
The reality of today's Church includes a diminution in the number of clergy. With fewer assistant clergy and larger parishes, despite best intentions, some parish churches may become more congregational in feel. Chaplains are able to maintain the historic Anglican notion of caring for all, regardless of religious belief.
Chaplaincies allow the Church to more easily engage with the challenges of the society it seeks to serve as they ensure that the Chruch is fully enmeshed in them. For instance, armed service chaplains are increasingly occupied with complex moral questions faced by the armed forces, as are chaplains in regard to research in healthcare and university sectors.
Through working with people in the context in which they spend the greater amount of their lives, the world of work, chaplains are able to represent the Church to the world and the world to the Church in a unique way.
Chaplaincy provision is increasingly being paid for by the institutions in which Chaplains work. This is a testimony not only to the chaplains themselves, but also to the notion that there is an increasing recognition of pastoral and welfare issues in the workplace - and religious provision is part of this.
The existence of chaplains most often means that institutions have easy access to a person with religious knowledge and expertise. Chaplains in such places have long been familiar with concepts of annual appraisal and review. This means that not only are they paid by the institution, but they are accountable to it also, as well as being accountable to the Church.
