LIBERTY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
Community Chaplaincy Paper/First Responder Chaplaincy
Submitted to Dr. Donald Hicks
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of
Master of Divinity in Chaplaincy
CHPL 682 – B01
Community Chaplaincy
by
Joy Senecal
March 6, 2020
Contents
Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………....1
Community Chaplaincy Ministry..……………………………………………………………...2
First Responder Chaplaincy .............................................................. …………………….……3
Ministry Plan for First Responder Chaplaincy.............. ………………………………………5
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………....10
Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………….12
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Introduction
I plan to do my community chaplaincy paper on first responder chaplaincy. My goal is to
be a hospice chaplain and a first responder chaplain. First responders are often the first to arrive
at the scene of a trauma which can include homicides, suicides, car accidents, fires and other
traumas. I am currently a disaster responder for the American Red Cross, and they are waiting
for me to graduate and become a chaplain for them which could mean being deployed to fires,
hurricanes, tornadoes, mass shootings, earthquakes, etc. First responder chaplains are the
spiritual, emotional or comforting presence needed for victims of a trauma.
Jesus Christ states in Matthew 9:37-38, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are
few; therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
He has also commanded us saying, “I have made you a light for the gentiles, that you may bring
salvation to the ends of the earth.” Community chaplaincy is an awesome opportunity to meet
people in stressful situations where they may experience the love of Christ and desire to get to
know Him.
After approximately 20 years as a legal administrative assistant before my husband
received 100 percent VA disability and retired medically, I felt called to be a chaplain. I started
feeling that nudge when my stepson was in the hospital after attempting suicide and wasn’t
expected to live. A female chaplain was very supportive and comforted us and prayed with us
and encouraged me to investigate being a chaplain. It took a few more years for God to make it
clear, or at least for me to hear Him making it clear, that I was to become a chaplain, and He
opened all the doors for me to go back to school.
Originally, my plan was to work as a hospice chaplain since I suffered many losses, and
my mother was on hospice care when she died. Then a recruiter for the American Red Cross,
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who I volunteer for as a disaster action team lead, found out that I was in school to be a chaplain
and wants to discuss my being a chaplain for them when I graduate. I have been on several fire
calls as a Red Cross responder and have worked with victims of hurricanes. I believe I have the
compassion, sensitivity, and gentleness required of a first responder chaplain, as well as training.
I also job shadowed a police chaplain and a fire chaplain so being a first responder chaplain is
something I am possibly going to investigate, but I still also want to be a hospice chaplain.
I have been praying that the Lord lead me and guide me to where I might best be for Him
in ministry, and since I hope to graduate in December, I will go where He sends me.
Community Chaplaincy Ministry
Before His ascension, Jesus Christ gave the Great Commission in Acts 1:8, “But you will
receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in
Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” If we are believers, then we
have the Holy Spirit, and we are commanded to love one another and to spread the Gospel to the
end of the earth, and one of ways to do this is through chaplaincy. Chaplains are to share the
love of Christ with both believers and unbelievers, sometimes by word, but always by action.
The first chaplain in America was a man by the name of Joseph Duche. Kevin J. Dellape
wrote:
“Jacob Duché dedicated his life to exploring, living, and teaching [these]
fundamental truths. As a minister, these truths translated into compassion,
diligence, service, ecumenism, and tolerance. In politics, they fostered distaste
for factionalism and extremism and a respect for moderation. In both arenas,
evangelical Anglicanism, the pursuit of the middle way, allowed him to become a
mediator in many of the great religious and political conflicts of his day….His
prayer to open the First Continental Congress was monumental. As a minister of
the king’s church, Duché’s willingness to pray with and for the delegates was a
courageous and significant act. In so doing, the Anglican minister aligned himself
with men who were resisting the laws of the very king to whom he, as an official
of the Church of England, had pledged his allegiance. This singular act unified
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the delegates at a critical moment and assured them that God was with them.
They lauded the minister for his efforts making him their chaplain of choice and,
as a result, America’s first chaplain. The prayer and his subsequent service to
Congress marked the apex of Duché’s political involvement and was his most
significant contribution to the American Revolution.”1
Community Chaplaincy is a type of ministry that goes beyond the church doors where a
church pastor is not able to. Chaplaincy is found in jails, prisons, hospitals, hospice care, nursing
homes, workplaces, colleges, sports, and in services such as fire, police, and Emergency Medical
Services. In churches, people come to them, but chaplains go to the people.
First Responder Chaplaincy
First responders are typically the police department, sheriff’s department or any law
enforcement agency, fire department, Emergency Medical Technicians, and disaster relief
operations. They are the first persons on the scene of a crisis and are the ones to stabilize the
situation. First responder chaplains go out to the scene, sometimes riding along with the first
responder, but also sometimes arrives on their own.
According to George W. Doherty, “In order for an event to qualify as a ‘crisis,’ there must
be some sense of disruption to one’s sense of balance in life; a failure of one’s usual coping
mechanisms to re-establish equilibrium; and some evidence of functional impairment, such as:
an inability to concentrate, memory difficulties, sleep disturbances, etc. In a crisis, coping skills
fail to re-establish a sense of balance and control in life. People can be at a loss as to where to
turn for help.”2
Chaplains provide support not only to the victims but to the first responder as well.
There is a high rate of PTSD among first responders because of what they experience and
1 Kevin J. Dellape, America’s First Chaplain: The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duche
(Bethlehem: Lehigh University Press, 2013), xiv.
2 George W. Doherty, From Crisis to Recovery: Strategic Planning for Response, Resilience and
Recovery (Ann Arbor, MI: Loving Healing Press, 2010). Xi.
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witness on a day-to-day basis.
The first responder chaplain is not allowed to proselytize but should look for
opportunities such as an invitation to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ when asked but never
force Christianity upon them. My job as a first responder chaplain is to be an ambassador for
Christ and show that by my words and actions as I am assisting the victim or first responder. The
Apostle Paul states in Romans 10:15, “And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is
written, ‘how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news’ ”
Though first responder chaplains must remember to not evangelize or proselyte, they can
still look for an opportunity to share if called upon. Chaplaincy is not just a job; it is a ministry
of love and presence, and when possible, sharing the Gospel. That is the goal of any mission
field.
As Paul states In Acts 20:28, “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in
which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained
with his own blood.”
Brad Long and Cathy Driscoll in the Journal of Organizational Change Management
suggest, “. . . there is something unique about the time we live in – that we exist in a moment of
existential crisis – which makes the search for meaning all the more pressing.” Basically,
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everyone has spiritual needs as well as physical, mental and emotional needs.
Gerard Egan states, “Helpers listen to clients both to understand them and their concerns
and to respond to them in constructive ways….Helpers don’t just listen; they also respond to
clients in a variety of ways. They respond by sharing their understanding, checking to make sure
3 Brad S. Long, and Cathy Driscoll, “A Discursive Textscape of Workplace Spirituality,” Journal
of Organizational Change Management 28, no. 6 (2015): 952, accessed March 6, 2020,
https://doi:10.1108/JOCM-12-2014-0236.
4
that they’ve got things right, probing for clarity, summarizing the issues being discussed, and
helping clients challenge themselves in a variety of ways.”4
Ministry Plan for First Responder Chaplaincy
First responder chaplains include police or law enforcement chaplains, fire department
chaplains, emergency services chaplains, or crisis and disaster relief chaplains. According to
Naomi K. Paget and Janet R. McCormack, “their primary focus is to minister to the men and
women who serve the public through emergency services agencies. As requested, they also
provide ministry to the families of first responders and to the staff members of these agencies.
And by the nature of their contact with victims, they also minister to the community.”5
Carlos Alejandro states, “It is challenging for me to reflect on the aftermath of the
September 11 attacks without intentionally embracing the ‘big picture.’ Spirituality, at its core, is
about the ‘big picture.’ It is about the interconnectedness and inter-relatedness of human
experience.”6 He goes on to state that “As a professional chaplain, I am aware that we all bring
who we are, what we believe, and how we embrace Spirit to any tragedy.”7
Also, after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, Mary Elizabeth
O’Brien had the opportunity to interview Chaplain, Father Kelly. He “observed that to be a
compassionate minister in a disaster as that of the World Trade Center attack, you have to walk a
fine line; to be able to grieve with those you serve yet not break down completely. You must
exercise some boundaries or compassion fatigue can creep up. Some of the survivors will tell
4 Gerard Egan, The Skilled Helper: A Problem-Management and Opportunity-Development
Approach to Helping (Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole, 2014), 105.
5 Naomi K. Paget and Janet R. McCormack, The Work of the Chaplain (Valley Forge, PA: Judson
Press, 2006), 69-70.
6 Danieli Yael, and Robert L. Dingman, On the Ground After September 11: Mental Health
Responses and Practical Knowledge Gained (New York: Routledge, 2013), 526-27.
7 Ibid. at 527.
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you that they just don’t know if they can cope. I tell them if you can just borrow some of my
strength, I know you can make it. I have faith in you. I have no doubt you will survive with
time.”8
According to Richard Armitage, “Over the past three decades, the number of chaplains
appointed to the police service has grown at a quickening pace, and they have come to have an
acknowledged role within many forces. In these forces, chaplaincy has a privileged position
working alongside officers, staff and management.”
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Chaplains may be called upon in several abuse cases working as a first responder
chaplain. Melanie Childers wrote, “Chaplains are most likely to encounter individuals who have
been exposed to subtler forms of abuse such as forced obedience or submission, humiliation,
intimidation, shunning and other forms of persecution, such as the following:
A child dies after her mother listened to a pastor who insisted the mother only pray
for healing, rather than also seeking medical interventions for her daughter.
A senior adult dips into his meager savings account to make substantial contributions
to his church because his minister tells him that this is the way he and his children will receive
God’s blessing.
A 40-year-old is told repeatedly that he is worthless and will not be loved or forgiven
by God because he identifies as a gay man.
A grandmother is tormented by the suicide of her grandson because the pastor told the
family he had committed an unpardonable sin and would be punished in hell.10
8 Mary Elizabeth O’Brien, Spirituality in Nursing: Standing on Holy Ground (Burlington, MA:
Jones & Bartlett, 2018), 310.
9 Richard Armitage, Police Suicide: Risk Factors and Intervention Measures (New York:
Routledge, 2017), 2.
10 Melanie Childers, “Holy Havoc: Chaplains as First Responders in Healing Spiritual Abuse,”
Chaplaincy Today 28, no. 2 (October 1, 2012): 38, accessed March 6, 2020, https://doi:
6
As a first responder chaplain, I plan to work for the American Red Cross as a chaplain. I
already have worked with them as a disaster responder and have for several years. I have
worked with victims of fires and hurricanes and other disasters and feel, especially after
graduating, that I have the compassion and skills necessary to be an American Red Cross
chaplain. This is what the American Red Cross has written:
“Disaster Spiritual Care (DSC) is now an official internal Activity and Function of the
American Red Cross. This resource like Disaster Mental Health and Health Services is activated
for local and national disasters including mass casualty, natural disasters, aviation, transportation,
and other requests. This is one of two official courses required to begin as a Red Cross DSC
Service Associate. It will enable chaplains to address the Spiritual Care needs of Red Cross
clients, staff, and responders in the context of Red Cross disaster relief operations.
Partnering with national humanitarian organizations and cognate partners, our trained network of
support is expanding to include a broad network of diverse faith leaders and we deeply value the
expertise and experience of Associate and Board-Certified Chaplains to support our integrated
and collaborative work.”11
The following is the ministry plan I hope to implement as a chaplain: “Most disaster
victims need more than just a meal and a safe place to sleep,” says Portland, Oregon-based Red
Cross service area leader Tim Serban. ‘They also need emotional and spiritual support to help
them get through an ordeal that threatens to tear their lives apart. They already know what
happened. Now they want to know why it happened and why such a terrible thing happened to
them.’
10.1080/10999183.2012.10767460.
11 https://www.nacc.org/conference/history/conference2019/redcross/
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Serban, a lay Catholic chaplain, served in Texas by bringing comfort to victims of
Hurricane Harvey, as he has done at disaster scenes going back to the 9/11 terrorist attacks in
2001. And he was just one of 60 chaplains deployed to Texas – plus 20 more deployed to
Hurricane Irma in Florida – as part of a brand-new activity of the American Red Cross.
Since 2015, an official Red Cross function has been serving the spiritual and emotional
needs of disaster victims, as well as their physical need for food and shelter. Serban’s formal
Red Cross title is Disaster Spiritual Care National Lead. He is also spiritual care adviser to the
Pacific Division of the Red Cross, which includes the Pacific Coast from California to Alaska
and the Pacific Ocean islands.
Serban lives in Portland, having moved here from Everett, Washington, in 2013. For
many years he served as a board member of the Red Cross Chapter serving Snohomish County.
Most Red Cross chapters provide some spiritual care to disaster victims through ties to local
religious leaders. But now providing that care is an official Red Cross function – put to the test
as never before by the back-to-back hurricanes, Harvey and Irma. The seeds of this new initiative
were planted by a headline disaster: the crash of TWA flight 800 offshore from New York City in
1996.
The families of victims of that crash prevailed on Congress to pass the Aviation Disaster
Family Assistance Act of 1996. It mandated such things as a memorial service for victims and
support services for family members of victims. Serban explained that the Red Cross was
brought into the picture as the government worked out ways of complying with that mandate.
The first Red Cross spiritual care response was to 9/11. Serban met with the families of
victims and accompanied them when they visited lower Manhattan where the towers had stood.
He also provided counseling to the firefighters and construction workers searching for victims in
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the debris. Serban reached Texas only three days after Hurricane Harvey came to shore. He
concentrated on Houston, where flooding sent tens of thousands of people into shelters. Other
Red Cross spiritual care teams were spread across the state.
‘Our first job is to provide victims a safe quiet spot,’ says Serban. ‘My first question is,
‘where do you go to get grounded?’ They will tell me it is their home or their family or their pets.
Then we talk about how they can ground themselves when so much they relied on is gone.’
Serban witnessed 80,000 people permanently displaced by Harvey. ‘Many of them lost
everything and needed all the support we could provide,’ he says. ‘But we did not ignore the
needs of the volunteers who were overwhelmed by the scope of the disaster.’
Red Cross spiritual care is nondenominational – in keeping with the basic Red Cross
principles of impartiality and neutrality. So, spiritual care teams include members of all faiths. ‘A
chaplain in a shelter is a chaplain to everyone in that shelter,’ Serban says.
Serban trained for his role by studying theology, psychology and counseling at Duquesne
University in Pittsburgh. His working title is Professional Health Care Chaplain, and most of his
career has been spent working in hospitals. Serban was head of Mission Integration and Spiritual
Care at a Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, Washington, for many years – the
years in which he was affiliated with the Red Cross Northwest Region.
Since 2013 Serban has been in charge of spiritual care for the eight Providence Health
hospitals in Oregon. Serban finds his experience in hospitals excellent training for the
challenges he has faced working in disaster areas. ‘In both hospitals and shelters,’ he says,
‘people are vulnerable when they come in. Our job as chaplains is to supply the spiritual care
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that will support them in their vulnerability. That support may come from a minister or a rabbi or
an imam, but our job is to make sure they get all the spiritual support they need.”12
Conclusion
. As Paul in Ephesians 2:8-10 teaches,
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is
the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his
workmanship, created in Jesus Christ for good works, which God has prepared
beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
First responder chaplains have a great calling to be the hands and feet of Jesus as they
minister to those they meet. For me, there is no greater calling, and I am excited to begin this
new venture.
I close with the words of George Ohlschlager, Mark Shadoan, and Gary Stewart:
“The resurrection of Christ offers not only hope for the next life; it offers hope in
this life. Pain, fear, frustration, uncertainty, loneliness, discouragement are all real
and debilitating physical and emotional experiences. The reality of the
resurrection of Jesus Christ, through which we have present and eternal hope, is
equally real but in no way debilitating. Because of the resurrection we are not
helpless, for we have a risen Priest; we are not hopeless for we hear the risen
Prophet; and we are not worthless, for we serve the risen King. Because Jesus
rose from the dead, the Christian has “a living hope” (cf. Titus 2:13). The
Resurrected God offers to all who respond a hope for living – a hope beyond
suffering, pain, and despair.”13
12 https://www.redcross.org/local/oregon/about-us/news-and-events/news/Meeting-Emotional-
and-Spiritual-Needs.html
13 Tim Clinton, Archibald Hart, and George Ohlschlager, Caring for People God’s Way:
Personal and Emotional Issues, Addictions, Grief, and Trauma (Nashville: Thomas Nelson,
2005), 343.
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Bibliography
Armitage, Richard. Police Suicide: Risk Factors and Intervention Measures. New York:
Routledge, 2017.
Childers, Melanie. “Holy Havoc: Chaplains as First Responders in Healing Spiritual Abuse.”
Chaplaincy Today 28, no. 2 (October 1, 2012): 38. Accessed March 6, 2020. https://doi:
10.1080/10999183.2012.10767460.
Clinton, Tim, Archibald Hart, and George Ohlschlager. Caring for People God’s Way: Personal
and Emotional Issues, Addictions, Grief, and Trauma. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2005.
Dellape, Kevin J. America’s First Chaplain: The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duche.
Bethlehem: Lehigh University Press, 2013.
Doherty, George W. From Crisis to Recovery: Strategic Planning for Response, Resilience and
Recovery. Ann Arbor, MI: Loving Healing Press, 2010.
Egan, Gerard. The Skilled Helper: A Problem-Management and Opportunity-Development
Approach to Helping. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole, 2014.
Long, Brad S., and Cathy Driscoll. “A Discursive Textscape of Workplace Spirituality.” Journal
of Organizational Change Management 28, no. 6 (2015): 948-69. Accessed March 6,
2020. https://doi:10.1108/JOCM-12-2014-0236.
https://www.nacc.org/conference/history/conference2019/redcross/.
O’ Brien, Mary Elizabeth. Spirituality in Nursing: Standing on Holy Ground. Burlington, MA:
Jones & Bartlett, 2018.
Paget, Naomi K. and Janet R. McCormack. The Work of the Chaplain. Valley Forge, PA: Judson
Press, 2006.
https://www.redcross.org/local/oregon/about-us/news-and-events/news/Meeting-Emotional-and-
Spiritual-Needs.html.
Yael, Danieli and Robert L. Dingman. On the Ground After September 11: Mental Health
Responses and Practical Knowledge Gained. New York: Routledge, 2013.
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