How to Become a Chaplain
Interested in learning How to Become a Chaplain?
What is a Chaplain?
A chaplain is someone who provides spiritual services to individuals in institutions such as hospitals, military units and prisons.
Those who wish to pursue a career as a chaplain have a desire to help provide people with spiritual counseling through sometimes difficult periods in their lives. Chaplains must possess certain qualifications before they can begin their careers.
How to Become a Chaplain – What is required?
First, chaplains must have religious experience such as having earned a degree in Divinity or Theological Studies. Having a background in religion is essential to helping others to spiritually work through crises. In some cases, chaplains only have to have a recommendation from a specific religious entity and have an active history in ministry to qualify for the job.
Chaplains must possess the ability to understand and work within all types of different religions. Since an organization such as a hospital cannot possibly provide a spiritual counselor for every known religion, the on-staff chaplain must be able to adapt to situations and circumstances that fall outside of his or her actual personal preference of religions.
Accordingly, chaplains will be required to lead periods of worship. Many hospitals and prisons offer schedules of non-denominational worship that could even include presiding over communion and hearing individuals’ confessions.
Obviously, due to the sensitive nature of issues such as confession, chaplains must be trustworthy and able to maintain confidentiality.
Other than certain legal obligations that they are trained to recognize, chaplains must keep the spiritual conversations they have with others to themselves. The people that the chaplain serves must be able to trust that the chaplain will keep their revelations to him or herself.
Liberty University
Liberty University offers accelerated 8 week classes online.
Liberty University is a private, accredited Christian University that allows you to earn an accelerated, accredited degree online. A handful of graduate and doctoral level programs require some on-campus courses for degree completion.
If you want to make a difference in your life, but not interrupt it, Liberty University may be right for you.
- Religion
- Psychology – Christian Counseling
- Religion
- Psychology – Christian Counseling
- Psychology – Crisis Counseling
- Psychology – Life Coaching
- Psychology – Substance Abuse
- Chaplaincy
- Pastoral Ministries
- Master of Divinity
- Christian Leadership
- Evangelism & Church Planting
- Theology
- Pastoral Counseling
- Religion
- Theological Studies
- Doctor of Ministry
- PhD in Counseling-Pastoral Counseling
Liberty University is a private, accredited Christian University that allows you to earn an accelerated, accredited degree when it is most convenient for you.
Read more or get a program guide from Liberty University.
How to Become of Chaplain – What to expect
Due to the fact that spiritual crises occur unexpectedly, chaplains must be on call 24 hours a day. A person’s spiritual needs do not always conform to a 9-5 schedule so chaplains must be flexible with their time.
Lastly, chaplains will see and hear all kinds of traumatic and stressful events in their line of work in the lives of those that they counsel. Chaplains must develop and maintain methods of dealing with stress that are healthy and helpful. They must not internalize their feelings and become emotionally ineffective.
If a chaplain lets his job take its toll, he or she will become unable to counsel those that they serve. Chaplains must be able to create a professional distance from the trauma in others’ lives while still maintaining the ability to be empathetic and useful to those in need.