You, Trained as a Chaplain to Benefit Your Local Church

By: Craig Maart

We all know being involved in a local church is a good thing. Whether or not you are a Christian, “religious,” or not sure what you are, we all know being in community with a local church body is important and beneficial. Even secular research shows that. There are articles on this fact from “Psychology Today” to “Rollingout.com”. There is a God-given urge to be in a community with people, dedicated to a transcendent cause together, and focused on God.

The process of connecting into a local church is not a fun process. Part of this difficult process is our expectations. We all have expectations. Whether or not they are Biblically based or not, we all have expectations. However, no church pastor or staff will be able to meet everyone’s expectations.

Think about what can happen on any given day at a local church. Calls come in from all directions asking for hospital visits, prison visits, food, clothing, gas money, family issues, parenting issues, funeral requests, wedding requests, and things like that. And, this is in addition to church services and scheduled events. No pastor or church staff can “do it all”.

Now imagine your church, adding 5-10 people, trained as chaplains, equipped and able to step in and help relieve the pressure on church staff and multiply the impact of your local church! Imagine the church receptionist or staff administrator having access to people trained and credentialed as chaplains, ready to:

• Visit someone at the hospital because the pastor is already meeting with people
• Deliver some food and clothing to people in need
• Go to the scene of an accident or domestic violence situation
• Start counseling a family in crisis and guide toward resources to help them long term
• Following up with new people who attend your church and talk to them in person
• Be accessible after a church service to pray with and counsel people
• Be with a young, single, and pregnant young woman and get her to the proper help and medical care through a Christian pregnancy center
• Be with someone in court or make a personal visit to a prison

We are supposed to be using our talents and giftedness in the local church. It is a tough job for a church to get people plugged into serving in the area they are gifted in. By becoming trained and credentialed as a chaplain, you have the ability and freedom to serve in a way the church staff can’t. By becoming a trained chaplain your church will have the benefit of reaching the needs of people without having to add paid staff or developing a training program. This really is a WIN-WIN! Isn’t the job of the church to multiply disciple-makers for the Kingdom of God? It sure is.

So, if you have read about our Chaplains Training Institute (CTI) and never really considered it, I challenge you to give this training more prayer and thought. Taking this training doesn’t mean you are committing to be a chaplain for TFC Global or any other chaplaincy organization. But it will set you up to be professionally trained, credentialed, and qualified for doing the work of counseling, caring, and connecting people to resources.

For church leaders, I challenge you to contact me to talk about how this training will fill your toolbox with people equipped and ready to be deployed at a moment’s notice. Imagine the relief a pastor or church staff would feel knowing there are vetted, trained, and credentialed people actively engaged in the mission and vision of your church!

Our CTI training program is for more than people looking to get into full-time chaplaincy. It is also for you. Contact me to learn more and talk about making this a reality. I would love to talk with you and see more people who are called, trained, and released to expand the Kingdom of God on earth until Jesus comes again.