Tracing the connections: Chaplaincy, the Church of

England and the Common Good

1st March 2014

Chaplaincy’s distinctive engagement with the world of work

Kingdom theology

“This is God’s world, and God’s representatives have a right and a duty to be in every part of it.”

The locus of God’s presence

“The workplace is a place where God is and there is no reason why ministers shouldn’t be out there supporting people in the workplace also – we are not just expecting people to come into our church and be ministered to, but there is a role for ministering to people where they are working, while they are at work.”

A particular mission

“[We are] doing Christianity into the workplace, gently, because a lot of people don’t go to church, a lot of people don’t have time and opportunity to go to church, but I think if people come across religious people in their work, they will know that we are not sort of proselytizing or God squad, but we are caring as well…”

Connecting-up

“[The work of chaplaincy] is reintroducing religion as part of every part of daily life. And that is what makes it different from the formality of a religious service. And I would personally think that the success of future chaplaincies will be dependent upon their ability to show that this is something you do along side, as part of, without great diversion, without the formal distinction of your working life.”

Faith as integral

“The biggest impact is the calming influence, the normalising influence, the dilution of the intensity of work. And the next one is that it allows religious faith into the workplace, without it being extraordinary or somehow odd. And I like to think there is a larger purpose, but this may just be philosophical, that it does more to socialise religion and faith into everyday life as against something set apart.”

Christians at work

Nurturing discipleship in the context of work: “Discussion meetings with Christians at work about issues like ‘management’, ‘failure’, ‘honesty’”; “holding on to values of disciples in the workplace”; “chaplaincy helps Christians to integrate their faith and work lives – discipling them to become mature Christians”

Faith & organisations

Referring specifically to the way that companies are changing their employment strategies within the current financial climate: “So, when things are changing, we have an opportunity to make that change as faithful as possible.”

Findings

• An underlying theology – God is present in every area of human life, including the world of work

• A mission imperative – ministering to people at work; reintroducing religion

• An opportunity for an apologetic presence – reconnecting faith and work

• A drive to nurture people at work – a ‘calming influence’; working with values

• A critical role in the organisation

Implications & questions

• A question about where we see the locus of God’s presence and activity

• A question to those involved in the congregational life of the church – how far is the world of work present in that aspect of life?

Implications & questions

Resourcing implications: • How best to resource chaplains to engage with

the workplace• How to best use the resource of chaplaincy to

resource others in ministry• How to articulate theologies of work further

to resource ministry and discipleship

The hidden story oflay volunteers

Interpreting data

Quantitative data:• Lay voluntary chaplains – 153 reported• 8:1 ordained chaplains:lay volunteersQualitative data:• Retail team of ten lay volunteers• Industrial organisation: 50 chaplains, 40 lay

volunteers• Police chaplaincy: lead chaplain coordinating 14

volunteers (ordained and lay)• Suggests reversing the proportion!

Interpreting data

Other research:• Prisons: chaplains:volunteers = 1:7Projection:• If ordained: volunteer lay = 1:1, then approx

1200 lay volunteers• If ordained: volunteer lay = 1:10, then approx

12,000 lay volunteers• Compare with reported number: 153

Implications

• Further mapping of lay volunteers involved in chaplaincy is urgently needed!

• Definitional work needs to be done (lay volunteer chaplain; lay chaplaincy volunteer)

• The role of the lay volunteer is highly significant (as a form of discipleship)

• The role of the lead chaplain who enables lay volunteers is also highly significant

Tracing the connections: Chaplaincy, the Church of

England and the Common Good

1st March 2014

How the ‘mission’ of chaplaincy interacts with wider church understandings of mission

How chaplaincy might reshape church understandings of mission and the

practical implications

Quinquennial Goals

Contributing to the Common GoodA declared goalTo promote resourceful communities infused with the values of God’s kingdom and, particularly at a time of economic hardship in society, to enhance the capacity and commitment of the Church both to stand alongside people facing unemployment and financial insecurity.

Quinquennial Goals

Going for GrowthA declared goalTo seek sustained numerical and spiritual growth in the Church of England over the next quinquennium and beyond.

Quinquennial Goals

Reimagining MinistryA declared goalTo reshape, re-imagine and re-energise ministry in the Church of England so that it is equipped both to grow the church in every community and contribute to ‘the common good’.

The common good

• Chaplaincy is very obviously part of the church’s contribution to the common good

• Compare chaplaincy’s engagement with the world of work and this Quinquennial Goal

• Note the working theologies of chaplaincy, which relate to the interaction of faith and health, education, security, commerce…

• But how far does this shape the whole church’s contribution to the common good?

Growth

Note:• Public suspicion of evangelism• Chaplaincy’s response within the public context

– presence, action and a concern for peopleEffect:• Tension with those who prioritise (short-term)

numerical growth (in congregational numbers)• A model of nurturing spiritual growth that works

well for the disenchanted and dis-/un-connected

Chaplaincy & discipleship

The comparison with Fresh Expressions:• Engaging with contemporary culture/society• Spaces/opportunities for worship that interact

with contemporary culture• Nurturing discipleship

Chaplaincy & discipleship

Chaplains enabling • Exploration of faith – spiritual growth• Connections: faith and work/health/the public

sphere…• Christians in the workplace• Whole-life discipleship (chaplaincy as ‘parish’

ministry)• ‘Discipleship’ for particular generations

• Chaplaincy as discipleship – lay chaplains

Chaplaincy & discipleship

Implications:• Connecting ‘disciples’ with church

communities/chaplaincy being those communities

• Chaplains and other ministers working together at enabling ‘whole-life’ discipleship

• Congregations as schools for discipleship, that is modelled on lay volunteer chaplaincy

Theological questions

• How far does prioritising numerical growth undermine the idea of missio Dei?

• How does the idea of missio Dei contextualise the Quinquennial Goals?

• What are the links between the Goals and the Five Marks of Mission?

• How does chaplaincy stimulate thinking about how the economy of mission is served by different kinds of ministry?

Implications

Key questions:• How does chaplaincy suggest we ‘reshape, re-

imagine and re-energise ministry?• In the light of a reshaped ecclesiology, in

which the church:– Is gathered and dispersed– Interacts with society in a range of ways– Incarnates the gospel in gathered and dispersed

mode– Is engaged in diverse ways in the missio Dei

Implications

An economy of ministry, that enables theeconomy of mission:• Distinction and interaction of: chaplaincy;

parish ministry; pioneer ministry…• Distinct, but interacting, pathways for

selection, training, deployment, continued development, appraisal…