Philosophy of Ministry

Chaplains in Hospitals and Healthcare

My Philosophy of Ministry is simple, it means being there for people when they need someone in their lives for support, encouragement, love and to be heard. I believe in order to be an effective Chaplain regardless if it is in the medical field, healthcare field, military, law enforcement we need to be caring individuals who care for their community, morally, ethically, spiritually regardless on what our faith is.

We live in a dark broken world. We experience this on a daily basis through the media, music we hear, printed propaganda, and even the quality or lack of it in our daily conversations. Many of us live in fear. Many of us forced ourselves into hibernation not wanting to face the real world. Many of our lives have been consumed by alcohol and drugs, and many of us have walked away from God. What was once was considered bad and devastating news is becoming a norm. Even our churches are in conflict with one another.

Health Care Chaplaincy is relatively new. Health Care Chaplaincy was introduced to us in the mid-1920. This ministry has grown exponentially over the past 90 years, and its popularity and the demand is on the rise. The ministry is so high in demand that healthcare professionals are even noticing that patients want a holistic approach to their well-being.

After my car accident, I stayed in the hospital for seven months. During my stay the only human contact I had were with health professionals, and family. I felt lost, frightened and isolated lying in bed for 24 hours a day. During my stay I was visited by the hospital chaplain only once. Being in the condition I was in, I had many questions, unfortunately with no answers.

Once the hospital discharged me I was put into a nursing home/ rehab center for couple of months. Being a relatively young man (55 years old) the nursing home was an experience in its self. I had the pleasure of meeting many wonderful residents. Some of them were their temporarily and some were permanent. All the residents had one thing in common which was having lack of physical contact with someone other than a health care professional, and that even was far and few in between. Some of these residents were not even being visited by their own family members. Many of these people were living in fear some of them were terrified of dying alone. This in its self was not a common occurrence.

I realized there was a need for chaplaincy or any other form of spiritual support either in a hospital or nursing home setting. I felt my hands were tied because for one I was still recuperating, and also I did not have the know-how on to proceed in becoming a person who would be able to support and love on these people who wanted nothing more than to be heard.

After being released from the rehab center I made I promised to myself I would never allow anyone to lie in a hospital or nursing home bed and feel what I felt. I enrolled into a local university and received a Bachelor’s degree in theology and then a Master’s in theological studies.

My intention is to be an advocate for people who are in the hospital and/or nursing home. Even though I have my degree in theology it is not my place to force my faith on anyone. As the first part of the book stresses a chaplains purpose is to be there for people. We have the greatest opportunity to make people feel love, appreciated. We have the opportunity to listen to these individuals when no one has the time or the desire to spend quality time with them.

My role as a chaplain would be to provide spiritual care not only to the patients, there family members but also provide support and spiritual care to the health care professionals. One thing we seem to forget is this health care professionals are under a great deal of stress. These people want to be heard without feeling being judged. They want to be heard without feeling if they say something their jobs will be on the line.

I also believe it is imperative chaplains have continues education. We are dealing with so many faiths and doctrines. We need to be sensitive to other faiths, traditions, doctrines, and cultures. As a chaplain we also will be required to provide services to patients, families and medical staff during critical decision-making times. Since we are basically the third party in the midst of critical times we can provide better solutions, since our emotions will not be a factor.

Psalm 82:3-4 says it so profoundly “ Defend the cause of the poor and the fatherless! Vindicate the oppressed and suffering! Rescue the poor and needy! Deliver them from the power of the wicked”. We are not there to convert anyone into believing on what we believe. The Holy Spirit will take care of that. We will have a chance to share the Gospel with someone, when the time is right. People will see our caring hearts and eventually they will want to know what makes us tick, and this is when we will be able to share God with them. During difficult times people just want to be heard, respected, loved, cared for, and to able to help them regain their dignity and hope, and this is the true definition in my opinion as being a Chaplain.

Alex Pavlov – BBI Regional Director in Minnesota