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PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY OF MINISTRY AS A CHAPLAIN
Rev. Thomas E Huntley
My Philosophy of Ministry as a Chaplain is based completely in the word of God contained in the Bible. From there I receive my inspiration, my knowledge, and my instructions for service to others.
It was not always that way. When I started as a young man working in service in the Navy (1969), and when I started my 31-year career as a Police Officer (1971), I was not interested in the Bible or in God. By the time I was through my teens, and after years of “churching”, I viewed Jesus as a hero, a great teacher, the best man that ever lived; but I did not accept, and in fact ridiculed, the belief that He was (and is) God.
I became brash, often profane, critical, angry, tough and cynical. Even though I always had a caring side to me, I was more interested in salary raises and promotions over the concerns of many, including my family.
That changed sometime in the early 1990s. I felt a burning desire to know more about Jesus, but I did not go public and hid my seeking. I eventually told my wife who was Christian. (I say was because in 2004 the Lord called her home)
She bought me an NIV study Bible because I told her I could not understand the wording in the KJV.
GOD’S WORD EXPLODED ON THE PAGES!
I began to see more of Him through reading, studying the commentaries, and praying. I had been blessed with a new life and wanted to share it.
In February 1994, I accepted Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord. My life immediately changed. No longer did I view racist or sexist jokes as funny. I was moved to more compassion for those I had to arrest and charge. It wasn’t that I was excusing their actions, but I was understanding that they, like me, had numerous opportunities to change their lives around. I would help if I could. I desired as well to help my non-believing peers at work and outside. At first some accepted my change, many did not.
I joined the Fellowship of Christian Peace Officers – Canada (FCPO), and became editor of their quarterly magazine, PEACEMAKER. I had no editing experience and trusted God to lead me to the education and people with that talent for my experience and fine-tuning. I held this position for 11 years and left when I was ordained by the Evangelical Christian Church in Canada (Christian Disciples) and commenced work in volunteer ministry.
Along with a close brother in the FCPO, we founded a ministry called Full Ahead Christian Ministries. It is a non-denominational and completely volunteer ministry dedicated to service to seniors and military and police veterans. Our ministry also has a heart for all first responders, both active and retired.
This historical preamble demonstrates from where I came, to where I am now, and to where I trust God will take me.
The following Scriptures have greatly inspired me and shaped my approach to ministry.
Gen 1:1, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Everything starts with God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I can do nothing in His will without Him. I can do much in my own will, but I have seen where that led me, and I don’t want to go back there.
Joh 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Joh 1:2 He was in the beginning with God.
Joh 1:3 All things came into being through Him, and without Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being.
Joh 1:4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
When I consider God, I must agree (and certainly do) then that He is one God of three distinct persons. Jesus is God from the beginning. He is God from everlasting to everlasting. When I see Jesus, I see God in the person of a man who brought light to the darkness of our spirits. Only He could do that as part of God’s design plan for the salvation humankind after the fall in the Garden of Eden. My work in ministry will always be conscious that Jesus is God.
Joh 14:6 Jesus said to him, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but by Me.
Jesus came to save me, not condemn me. He came for me (John 3:16) and He will use me as He sees fit. There is no one in history who is so perfect as Jesus and who could be able to lead me in the way that God intends. When I go to the Father I recognize that Jesus is God in the person of the Son, and only through Him I connect with God and His will for my life. This, being my focus, enables me to keep Christ in me, especially during my work in ministry.
Joh 13:12 So after He had washed their feet and had taken His garments and had reclined again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you?
Joh 13:13 You call Me the Teacher, and Lord, and you say well, for I AM.
Joh 13:14 If then I, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
Joh 13:15 For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.”
Throughout His life Jesus gave us examples of how we should be. From our earliest information of his youthful visit to the temple (Luke2:41-52), through His life ministry, and unto the day of His crucifixion, Jesus was in the ministry of a servant.
He did not care that a person had a reputation for cheating others, was an adulteress, was disabled or diseased, or was a thief hanging beside him on a cross. He saw people as lost and out of God’s will and His mission was to help them back to God.
In so much of His helping ways He was practical. He fed their bellies with food and their minds with God’s word. He healed those who could not walk, or hear, or see. He took great pains to forgive those who were so lost yet reaching out to Him.
Jesus Christ is the perfect example to be followed in chaplaincy ministry. It is from this truth of the servant ministry of Jesus that my ministry starts and continues.
My Philosophy of Ministry as a Chaplain is to reach out to anyone. The first statement in the mission for Full Ahead Christian Ministries is “to go forth into the world as servants of the most High God as commanded by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ”.
In going forth I must be ready and able to move on God’s command. I take the servant attitude of Jesus with me so that I may minister in the most practical way. It might be in prayer, in listening, in driving a senior to hospital, or in just getting a cup of tea or coffee and sitting for a while. It must be practical for the person and meet the needs present the time of service. Chaplains may be of assistance to others from times of joy to times of crisis and all in between.
There is a saying I heard years ago that I apply to my Christian ministry as a pastor. “If they can’t see Jesus in you then He is obviously not there so do not pretend that He is”. To me this means that the gospel is best preached with less silence and more action. I view chaplaincy in this way.
Through studying “The Work of the Chaplain” and other resource materials I have been able to more fully define my ministry. I do not hold in me a religious bias against people for any reason, even if I disagree with their conduct, beliefs or non-belief. I see people as they are and hope that, in God the Holy Spirit, I will be His servant assisting them.
Chaplaincy is not for my own good but for the good of those whom I serve. This is not to say that I receive no benefit from being a chaplain, as I do feel the Peace of Christ through the Holy Spirit when I am able to assist or comfort another.
It does not matter that the person I serve is a believer or a non-believer in Christianity. It does not matter to me their political ideology, or social ideology, or personal convictions.
I hold true to the knowledge that we are all created by God and that we are all entitled to His compassionate care. Just as a doctor gives care in the medical field, the chaplain gives care in the divine field for the chaplain is a representative of God to the people the chaplain serves.
The phrase “What would Jesus do?” is extremely important when working as a Christian chaplain. Would Jesus openly or privately condemn someone for their condition? Would He refuse them or treat them differently because they were different than Him? Or, would He look upon them compassionately and offer healing in body, mind and spirit? As a Christian chaplain I consider what Jesus would do. I’ve learned that I only need to look to the scriptures to know what He did, and then follow His example.
In my ministry I desire to focus on a formula of Time, Talk, Transparency and Trials that will bring Trust in my contact with people, whether in chaplaincy or ministry outside of a chaplain’s role.
I continue to live my ministry as a volunteer. God has provided me and my wife with a living wage pension. I believe it was provided so that I may continue to fulfill His purpose for me as a volunteer minister, working in Jesus’ name, for the good of others.
I believe I have now been called by God to expand my ministry to take a more active role in chaplaincy in the spiritual care departments of a local hospital and nursing home. This belief has also led me to become more involved and active as chaplain and padre to military and police veterans’ organizations that I belong to.
My desire to serve has grown with the decision to commence studies in Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care. I desire to bring hope and love to the healing process when I am called to serve a person facing any kind of crisis.
A chaplain ministry rooted in the Bible is not just a philosophy, it is a public and practical reflection of God’s love in the life of the chaplain.
Rev. Thomas E Huntley
Full Ahead Christian Ministries
Midland, Ontario, Canada
facm1.wix.com/facm