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Contents
Introduction-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2
Private and Personal Obligations and Standards Critical to Ministry Context---------------3
Responsibilities to Patients, Colleagues, Denomination, Community and Profession------3
Professional and Personal Accountability--------------------------------------------------------4
Conclusion--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------4
Bibliography------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------5
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Introduction
The purpose of my paper is to reflect, establish and write down a comprehensive Personal
Code of Ethics. As a pastor called and ordained by the Holy Spirit it is and will be my prayer as a
Hospital Chaplain to be a gospel servant of Jesus Christ. In my potential future ministry as a
Hospital Chaplain, I will be dedicated to living out and ministering with the highest levels of
Personal Ethics. Considering that the gospel minister is to be an earthly reflection of the ministry
of Jesus Christ it will be my goal to reflect His holiness. My desire will be to uphold the integrity
of the chaplain community and the ministry of soul care in the community for which I serve.
Private and Personal Obligations and Standards Central to My Ministry Context
1. I am committed to my overall spiritual, mental, physical wellbeing through proper diet
and to engage in a lifestyle consistent with Christian Character. To be committed to the
biblical principal of “be holy, for I am holy.”
2. I am committed to daily time of spiritual enrichment through personal prayer and bible
study.
3. I am committed to spiritual discipline of fasting for the purpose of holiness.
4. I am committed to remain in a perpetual state of education through the reading of books
related to the ministry of chaplaincy.
5. I am committed to uphold and reflect on the principals studied in Trull, Joe E. and Carter,
James E. Ministerial Ethics: Moral Formation for Church Leaders.1
6. I am committed to remain faithful to a local church community and to support that
congregation with my time, talent, and treasure.
7. I am committed to support my family with my personal time, love, and financial support.
1 Trull, Joe E. and Carter, James E. Ministerial Ethics: Moral Formation for church Leaders. Second Edition
(Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2004).
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Responsibilities to Patients, Colleagues, Denomination, Community, and the Profession.
Responsibilities to Patients
1. I am committed to serve and minister to all people regardless of race or national origin.
2. To love unconditionally all people even those despite there moral or political beliefs and
convictions.
3. I am committed to support ethical standards wherever I serve, “Ethics are important
because they give direction to people and and societies who have some sense that they
cannot flourish without being moral.”2
4. I am committed to live the gospel and to share it when asked.
5. I am committed to moral purity with all patients in regards communication and privacy.
6. I am committed to keeping confidentiality except for situations that can cause harm to the
patient.3
Responsibilities to Colleagues and Denomination
1. I am committed to strong and growing relationships with all ministers of all faith groups.
2. I am committed to love and serve all hospital staff and to be supportive of the hospital’s
mission.
3. I am committed to not engage in impure talk or negative conversations with other staff.
4. I am committed to respect those for which I answer to in authority.
5. I am committed to remain faithful to my denomination and to support its work.
2 Scott B. Rae, Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics, Third Edition. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan,
2009), 12.
3 Joe E. Trull and James E. Carter, Ministerial Ethics: Moral Formation for Church Leaders (Grand
Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2004), 260.
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Responsibilities to the Community and Profession
1. I am committed to community involvement.4
2. I am committed to love and honor my nation and to live out good citizenship and will not
become involved in political speech that would hinder my testimony or the gospel.
3. I am committed to work diligently with chaplains of other faith groups and stive to
maintain excellent forms of fellowship without compromising the gospel message.
Professional and Personal Accountability
1. I am committed to be accountable to my pastor, deacons, and teachers of my personal
congregation.
2. I am committed to truth in all conversation and to keep private information private.
3. I am committed to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ because He alone is my supreme
authority.
Conclusion
I am certain that this list is not completely exhaustive. I am certain that over time I will
think of other commitment to integrity and ethical behavior that will need to be added. I look
forward to working with and ministering to people who need physical and spiritual soul care in
time of crisis. As a hospital chaplain, I recognize that my personal code of ethics must be Christ
centered and Bible based. In the final analysis all ethics should be ultimately rooted in the Bible.
The Ten Commandments are and have been or centuries a perfect guild for societies to find
absolute truth. Regardless of if any society or government acknowledges God or the bible,
humanity knows ethics and could integrate it through the truth of scripture. Additionally, if every
society and individual lived according to the instructions of Jesus and His teachings in Sermon
4 Ibid., 261.
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Jones, David C. Biblical Christian Ethics (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1994).
Rae, Scott B. Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics, Third Edition. (Grand Rapids, MI:
Zondervan, 2009).
Trull, Joe E. and Carter, James E. Ministerial Ethics: Moral Formation for Church Leaders,
Second Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2004).
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