wfn.org | Retreat provides training, support for chaplains

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Aug. 12, 2002 News media contact: Linda Green7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn.
10-71BP{359}

NOTE: Photographs are available. Two features on chaplains are also being
posted: UMNS stories #357 and #358.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - As people who often work alone in difficult
situations, chaplains understand the importance of giving support and
encouragement to one another when the opportunity arises.

More than 60 people came together to do just that at the Aug. 6-8
"Strengthening Chaplaincy Ministry" retreat, sponsored by the United
Methodist Association of Health and Welfare Ministries and the Section of
Chaplains and Related Ministries of the United Methodist Board of Higher
Education and Ministry.

The two organizations provided the retreat to support ordained chaplains and
pastoral counselors in United Methodist-related facilities, as well as the
denomination's clergy working in non-church-related facilities. Participants
also received basic training in pastoral care as they seek to become United
Methodist Church-endorsed chaplains. Officials are addressing the fact that
many chaplains in the denomination have not received that church
endorsement. 

"This concerned us because we wanted a closer connection with the church,"
said the Rev. Brenda Simonds, director of pastoral care at the Methodist
Hospital in Arcadia, Calif. 

Most chaplains, she said, understand that maintaining a connection with the
United Methodist Church takes effort. "There have been many chaplains who
have felt forgotten and discouraged, and we decided to see what we could do
to be more supportive of chaplains, to strengthen the connection between the
church and chaplains out in the field."

Chaplains in the field tend to function alone, Simonds said. "A retreat such
as this is crucial to revive their own spirit and to be reminded about why
they are doing their ministry and to be encouraged in their ministry." 

The health and welfare ministries association is a national network of
nearly 400 health and human service organizations, including older adult
ministries; children, youth and family services; ministries with the
disabled; hospital and health care systems; local congregational ministries;
and conference-related health and welfare units. The association provides
members with education, accreditation, networking, communications and other
services.

The Section of Chaplains and Related Ministries recruits clergy for
ministries of pastoral care and counseling in specialized settings, and
assesses and endorses people for ministry in hospitals, prisons, pastoral
counseling and military service. 

The association and the section have a shared interest in chaplaincy
services and spiritual life ministries at United Methodist-related
organizations, said the Rev. Dean Pulliam, association president. Of
particular concern are organizations that cater to older adults and children
and youth, he said. "Those are the organizations that have not had the
opportunity to hire trained, certified chaplains in the past because
training did not exist in the United Methodist Church."  

Through the partnership, Pulliam anticipates that clinical pastoral
education programs specifically designed for older adult ministries will be
developed, as well as programs that train and further enhance the skills of
chaplains at children's and youth homes.

The need for hospital and health care chaplains has been recognized, he
said. Historically, retirement centers, nursing homes and children's homes
related to the denomination were administered by appointed clergy. Today,
organizations are more sophisticated and regulated, so they have moved
toward hiring professional administrators who are not necessarily clergy.
"As a result, there has been a growing need to have a spiritual influence,
assigned or appointed or hired to meet spiritual needs," Pulliam said. 

During the retreat, participants received information about spiritual needs
and pastoral care in institutionalized settings, as well as techniques for
improving ministry in such places.

Another speaker, the Rev. Carl R. Stephens, said people come to chaplains
because they have lost their sense of self, accuracy and having the ability
to make decisions. "They come to be fixed," said Stephens, director of
clinical pastoral education at Asbury Methodist Village in Gaithersburg, Md.

Growing up, people learn that it isn't OK to be themselves, so in order to
be accepted, they lose their own selves and "seem to be," he said. "We
decide it is not OK to be." Most people who go to chaplains are tired of
"seeming to be" and want to discover the self that was made in God's image,
he said. 

The most constant struggle in pastoral care lies in enabling rather than
directing the people who come to chaplains for assistance, he said. "In
order to deal with the struggle, we need to believe in the perspicacity of
the individual, to know that they have the right, the resources and the
responsibility to make constructive decisions that allow them to be in
charge of their lives."

The pastoral caregiver or chaplain is involved "not in fixing the person,"
he said, but in serving as a resource for the person's learning and healing.

# # #

 

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org