Meditations on Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care

What is the present state and future development of spiritual care? Since December 11 to 13, 2019, the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab is grateful to partner with the Fetzer Institute on a convening and dialogue focused on just that. We welcome spiritual care providers from various professional contexts and educational backgrounds, including healthcare, higher education, social movements, state and federal agencies, and more. In small group discussions, morning reflection sessions, and over meals, we learned much about each other and the future of spiritual care. We learned more than we could have imagined at the start.

The Fetzer Institute's mission is as ambitious as it is simple: helping build the spiritual foundation for a loving world. Who better to help carry out this mission than chaplains? Especially because, year after year, fewer and fewer Americans have a formal religious affiliation. Throughout 2019 and beyond, the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab and the Fetzer Institute engaged in conversations that develop a relationship with one goal in mind: working together.

How can we help chaplains and spiritual care providers meet people where they are and reach those without access to spiritual care today? How can we help widen the paths into the profession for those who may feel called to spiritual care but have historically been excluded for several reasons? The Lab is grateful for this partnership and eager to discuss these questions with yoube in conversation together.

Continuing the Conversation

One thing about which we felt very strongly was that our conversation would not remain confined to our time together in Kalamazoo. How could we bring this nuanced, complex reflection to chaplains, educators, and others? Doing so will broaden the dialogue. It is a dialogue that is, in many cases, deeply personal.We determined that an eBook, available to all at no charge and for distribution to anyone and everyone, offered a simple solution. Now, Meditations on Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care is available through the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab for all to use, reflect on, and further their own conversations with colleagues.

Collaborating

The introduction describes the field. Then, several contributors in Meditations in Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care offer insights. They work in different fields, both professional and personal and talk about the needs of the field today, expressing their hopes for the future.

• Tahara Akmal notes that in a world of individuals isolated from one another, chaplains are the ones best equipped to connect people across lines of difference.
• Kirstin Boswell Ford challenges the field to be nimble and adaptive to providing spiritual care, especially in nontraditional spaces: "To be rigid in this regard will lead to the field's obsolescence."
• Lab founder Wendy Cadge calls for a change in how we talk about spiritual care, noting that "the language of chaplaincy is too old fashioned, not accessible, and shuts down possibilities for some."
• Margaret Grun Kibben, with military precision borne of her long service in the United States Navy, focuses on what we should expect of chaplains before they are out on their own. How do we balance the needs of specific contexts and best practices applicable to all chaplains? How do we help organizations and institutions understand the value of chaplains within them to help expand this vital service?
• Allison Kestenbaum calls us to constantly think about diversity in the field, making sure that planning and decision-making processes include chaplains representative of the field's demographics and, more importantly, the communities they serve.
• Sue Phillips calls for a radical reappraisal of pathways into the field and how spiritual care is "delivered" to those in need. Given the unprecedented shifts in religious and spiritual affiliation, how far can time-honored assumptions and frameworks of spiritual care take us?
• Asha Shipman highlights the need that chaplains have for other chaplains, especially in the context of spiritual care. The soul work of chaplaincy is rarely easy, and chaplains need to be able to rely on one another through "nourishment and insights from shop talk with those whose shop is different but relatable."
• Eric Skidmore, through his experience as a public service chaplain, calls attention to the need to think hard about qualifications and training for spiritual care: while he has a traditional clerical background and education, "the cop with 30 years of service, an undergraduate degree, a public safety chaplaincy certification (18 months), and an extended unit of CPE is very well-prepared for service with our organization." Once more, chaplains' need to reflect their communities is an enormous issue.

Looking Ahead

In Meditations, Fetzer Senior Program Officer Michelle Scheidt says that Fetzer "is proud to collaborate with the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab." They see this as a crucial labor of service to one another. We at the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab are proud to partner, too. We hope you will read this resource carefully. Reflect on it. See what this conversation means for spiritual care where you are. We invite feedback and want to include as many in the discussion as are willing. We thank chaplains and spiritual care providers everywhere for their work. We also thank the Fetzer Institute for recognizing the importance of this vital work.

Michael Skaggs is executive director of the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab.