I am coming towards the end of the first part of my training for Presbyteral Ministry in the Methodist Church of Great Britain (the second part hopefully begins in September when I start as a Probationer Minister in Circuit, subject to the approval of the College Oversight Committee and Methodist Conference). This has meant a number of endings as Easter Term drew to a close and one of those was the ending of a six month placement at the local NHS Hospital with the Chaplaincy Team there.
Every Friday for the past six months, apart from the odd Friday away when there was something on at college, I have been to the local hospital and spent time shadowing and working with three of the four Christian Chaplains at the local hospital. It has been a challenging, enriching, sometimes frustrating and incredibly formational experiencer that I will value enormously. I have learnt so much about Christian ministry from the time I have spent in hospital, far too much to write about here, but there are two things I want to highlight.
The first thing I want to highlight is that hospital chaplains are wonderful dedicated people. Some in the church say that people become full time chaplains of various kinds because they cannot cope with church ministry. This is complete and utter rubbish. Having seen some of the work hospital chaplains do I can only say that to undertake such as role for God you need to have great strength of character, huge spiritual reserves and recognition of your utter reliance on God for the work you undertake. In hospital chaplaincy you are constantly meeting people in great pain, people who are dying, people who are greatly distressed. You are dealing with death sometimes on a daily basis. I couldn’t do that and I greatly admire those whom God calls who serve as chaplains. They truly are wonderful people.
The second thing I want to highlight is that whilst I don’t think I would ever become a full time chaplain, my understanding of the services that chaplains offer has changed how I think I will approach hospital visiting when I am a circuit minister. I have gained an understanding of how hospitals work, how ward routines work and an understanding that spiritual care is now seen as an important aspect of the overall holistic care of patients. As a minister I would recommend that people from my congregations access chaplaincy services if there are ever in hospital; not because I want to get out of visiting them (which I don’t) but because chaplains can offer a specialised spiritual support in hospital because as well as being Christian ministers they are also healthcare professionals.
Finally, I would ask all Christians to consider praying for the chaplains at nearby hospitals on a regular basis.
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