wfn.org | Chaplains: Special forces of the United Methodist Church

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Oct. 11,  2001 News media contact: Linda Green7(615)742-54707Nashville,
Tenn.    10-71B{464}

A UMNS Feature
By Linda Green*

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - United Methodist chaplains in the military and
other settings are "the Green Berets" of the denomination's Board of Higher
Education and Ministry, but more are needed to serve.

That is the Rev. Richmond Stoglin's assessment of the men and women who are
providing religious leadership in the armed forces, medical and health
facilities, and prisons. Stoglin is a prison chaplain at the Federal Medical
Center in Fort Worth, Texas.

"We go where others dare not tread," Stoglin said. "Chaplains deal with life
issues, death issues, potential combat and sometimes dangerous people. We
are on the frontlines of accountability every day."

Those who choose to work in a correctional setting see their ministry as an
"intentional spiritual referee," as they stand between the potential
violence among inmate populations and the need to teach each prisoner the
constructive power of hope, he said. "It is imperative for the United
Methodist Church to embrace hope before we end up facing more ground
zero-like situations." 

Stoglin and fellow military chaplains and related ministry constituents met
with the Section of Chaplains and Related Ministries during the Oct. 4-7
session of the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry.

The Section on Chaplains and Related Ministries is the official endorsing
agency of the United Methodist Church and approves ordained ministers to
serve as chaplains and pastoral counselors. As of Oct. 1, the section had
1,200 endorsed or approved chaplains and pastoral counselors on its rolls.

"Chaplains and pastoral counselors are always in the places where people are
broken or away," said the Rev. Patricia Barrett, a staff executive in the
section. 

Chaplain officials from the armed services and pastoral counselors described
their experiences in the aftermath of Sept. 11 and the impact the tragedy
has had on their constituents.  Chaplains are also with the soldiers as the
crisis in Afghanistan escalates, the officials noted.

Since the attacks, pastoral counselors have been using their skills to help
many people deal with grief, trauma and ongoing anxiety, said the Rev. Anne
Ross Stewart, the section's pastoral counseling representative from
Gaithersburg, Md.  Since all citizens across the country were impacted in
some way, "pastoral counselors are a part of the ministry team bringing
healing and hope," she said.

Oct. 11 was National Depression Screening Day, and Stewart said many
counselors donated time to give people free screenings. As the director of
InterFaith Counseling Services, she said many counselors also would provide
a free screening for depression and or anxiety throughout the year "to
educate and encourage the general public to seek help for these very common
mental health problems."

"United Methodist clergy in ministry to the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast
Guard are serving quite literally around the world," said the Rev. Robert
Phillips, command chaplain at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey,
Calif. 

Fifty-three United Methodist naval chaplains wear the active-duty uniform,
representing almost every annual conference, he said. However, that number
pales next to the 130 Southern Baptists. United Methodist Navy chaplains
serve the Marines, Coast Guard as well as the Navy, he said.

"United Methodist Navy chaplains in this situation minister to everyone from
sailors and Marines who are on their way to trouble spots up to the United
Methodist chaplain who is the president's pastor at Camp David. From the
lowliest enlisted person to the commander in chief and points in between, we
are where our people are," Phillips said.

An equal number of church-related chaplains are active in the Air Force and
"are great team players," said the Rev. Everett C. Schrum, chaplain at
Randolph Air Force Base in Texas.  United Methodist chaplains are valued
across faith traditions because of their willingness to work cooperatively
in the free exercise of religion, he said. He said others are within the
Reserves and Air National Guard.

The federal prison system has only 12 United Methodist chaplains out of 225,
and only 42 endorsed chaplains are serving jails, prisons, juvenile
facilities and halfway houses, Stoglin said. More are needed to "embrace"
the 1.7 million-plus inmates in correctional institutions, he said.

"United Methodist chaplains are becoming an endangered species among the
ever-growing juvenile facilities across the country," he said.  Today, there
are less than five, he said.

Many of the military and prison chaplains attending the section meeting
equated their work to being in youth ministry. "We minister to young adults,
a population that local churches are not seeing," Phillips said.

The average age of the 5,500 sailors on an aircraft carrier is 19, he said.
"They need pastors," he said. "Even before this crisis, the military stood
in great need of more chaplains. Pastors who have a calling to youth and
young adult ministry are encouraged to discern God's possible leading in
this direction."

Schrum said recruiting new chaplains near the age of 30 is a priority for
the Air Force, which is looking at ways to fund seminary training for
chaplain candidates. The U.S. Army has two United Methodists in the
officers' training division out of 51 students, and the average age of Army
chaplains is 50, said Col. Greg Hill, director of the chaplains training
center in Columbia, S.C. 

The Division of Ordained Ministry passed a resolution on Oct. 6 calling on
annual conference boards of ordained ministry to change their restrictive
policies and rules toward candidates for extension ministries and to make an
effort to identify, recruit and encourage elder candidates for those areas.

The resolution notes that many boards of ordained ministry are guided by
restrictive policies for the elders who want to work in extension ministries
of teaching and chaplaincy. It encourages the division to find appropriate
ways to interpret and promote the intention and spirit of the paragraph
317.3 of the Book of Discipline throughout the connection.

"There is one ministry of Jesus Christ, and it is expressed in a lot of
ways," Barrett said. Ministries of pastoral care in specialized settings are
one such expression and are most expressive when collaborative, she said.
"When all people are working in ministry in harmony, the world can be
transformed and healed. Chaplains are one of the faces of that ministry."
# # #
*Green is the news director of the Nashville, Tenn.,-based office of United
Methodist News Service.

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