📖 Reading:The Ongoing Call

📖 Reading 12: The Ongoing Call

Continuing to Grow as an Officiating Chaplain

🔄 Introduction: Calling Is Ongoing, Not One-Time

Some people believe a calling to chaplain ministry is a singular event—a moment of clarity during a worship service, a dream that leads to ordination, or a dramatic confirmation by others. While such moments can be important, Ministry Sciences teaches that a true calling is not static—it is dynamic. It is not a one-time spark but a lifelong invitation to walk with God through seasons of preparation, presence, and personal transformation.

“Not that I have already obtained it, or have already been made perfect; but I press on…” – Philippians 3:12 (WEB)

Paul’s words remind us that calling is not a finish line—it’s a journey of formation. Whether you serve as a volunteer hospital chaplain, officiate community weddings and funerals, or offer pastoral prayer at civic events, your calling is not fulfilled by simply showing up once. It is fulfilled by growing up over time—by continually submitting your heart, habits, and gifts to God’s refining hand.

This means:

• You don’t “arrive” when you’re credentialed—you begin.
• You don’t stop learning when you’re affirmed—you press on.
• You don’t minister out of your moment—you minister out of your ongoing call.

In Ministry Sciences, we teach that the credibility of an officiating chaplain is not primarily in the certificate they hang on the wall, but in the character they cultivate through sustained spiritual growth. Authority in chaplaincy is earned through wisdom, humility, and faithful stewardship, not through self-declaration or titles.

To grow in your calling is to remain:

• Open to feedback
• Anchored in Scripture
• Rooted in prayer
• Responsive to the Spirit
• And humble enough to be led before you lead others

Your call is not to be impressive. Your call is to be faithful.

Faithfulness, over time, is what makes a chaplain both credible and transformative.

This reading explores how officiating chaplains can keep their calling alive by cultivating:

• Spiritual disciplines
• A growth mindset
• Healthy feedback loops
• Ongoing learning through reflection and community

🌱 A Theology of Ongoing Growth

Becoming is more important than arriving. In the Scriptures, growth is the signature of life. From the Garden of Eden to the parables of Jesus, God consistently uses the imagery of seeds, trees, branches, and seasons to illustrate how life in Him is meant to mature, expand, and bear fruit.

“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” – 2 Peter 3:18 (WEB)

This isn’t simply a gentle suggestion—it’s an apostolic command. It means that spiritual maturity is not a luxury for the few; it is the ongoing expectation for all who serve in Christ’s name. Growth is how God shapes our capacity for love, truth, and resilience.

“The path of the righteous is like the dawning light, that shines more and more until the perfect day.” – Proverbs 4:18 (WEB)

Notice that Scripture doesn’t say the righteous are fully enlightened all at once. Instead, it compares their journey to sunrise—a light that grows gradually, illuminating more as the day progresses. Ministry growth works the same way. You don’t start with clarity or confidence—you grow into it. You don’t begin with fruit—you begin with roots.

🌳 The Rhythms of Ministerial Growth:

Ministry Sciences identifies three recurring spiritual rhythms that form a faithful officiating chaplain over time:

1. Planting – Seasons of formation

This is where your roots deepen. Through study, prayer, and foundational experiences, you begin to understand who you are in Christ and how you are called to serve.

2. Pruning – Seasons of humility and recalibration

These are times when God cuts away habits, assumptions, or thoughts that hinder you. You may experience criticism, fatigue, or limitation, but pruning is the proof that God is preparing you for more fruit.

“Every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit.” – John 15:2 (WEB)

3. Flourishing – Seasons of visible impact and renewal

These are the times when your preparation bears fruit in the lives of others. You minister with peace, confidence, and trust, knowing your strength comes from God, not from performance.

🚫 Stagnation Is Not Holy

Too often in ministry, longevity is confused with maturity. Someone may serve for 20 years without ever changing. But stagnation is not the same as faithfulness. In fact, unexamined repetition can lead to burnout, bitterness, or spiritual atrophy.

Ministry Sciences warns:

“If your ministry is growing but your soul is not, you're not truly succeeding—you’re silently unraveling.”

Ongoing growth means:

• Regular self-examination
• Willingness to receive correction
• Desire to serve better, not just more
• Openness to spiritual and emotional healing
• Continual rediscovery of your calling in fresh ways

🧠 From Expertise to Faithfulness

Officiating chaplains are often expected to walk into complex, unpredictable situations, with no script, no platform, and no promise of closure. What sustains them is not expertise, but faithfulness.

• You don’t have to know everything.
• You don’t have to perform perfectly.
• However, you must continue to grow.

That means staying teachable. It means letting your spiritual life grow at the same pace as your ministry life. It means staying rooted in rhythms that keep you connected to the Vine.

“Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch can’t bear fruit by itself, unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me.” – John 15:4 (WEB)

🌾 Ministry Sciences Summary

Growth is not what you achieve. It’s who you become.

You do not need to be flawless. You do need to be formed.

Ministry Sciences affirms:

“Credibility is not a credential—it is a rhythm of integrity and growth.”

As you serve others—whether through weddings, funerals, bedside prayer, or community chaplaincy—don’t forget to let Christ serve you too. You are not only a minister. You are a disciple on the journey.

🙏 Spiritual Disciplines that Sustain the Call

Anchoring the Chaplain’s Soul in Christ

Chaplaincy and officiant ministry are not emotionally neutral spaces. You walk with people through trauma, transition, celebration, and death. You often serve in moments where pain is raw, hope is fragile, and spiritual questions are loud. To do this well—not once, but over time—you must be anchored in spiritual disciplines that form your inner life.

These disciplines are not religious checklists. They are soul survival practices.
They are not for performance. They are for presence—your presence with God, and your presence with others.

Ministry Sciences affirms:

“You cannot carry Christ into the world if you haven’t met with Him in secret.”

Here are five essential spiritual disciplines every chaplain officiant must cultivate—not as obligations, but as lifelines.

1. 📖 Daily Scripture Reading

“Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light for my path.” – Psalm 119:105 (WEB)

Scripture is not just a sourcebook for weddings, funerals, or hospital visits, but also for everyday life. It is the daily bread that feeds your soul. Without it, you begin to rely on emotion, experience, or memory. With it, your heart stays tethered to the voice and truth of God.

Practical Tips:

• Choose a consistent time of day (even 10 minutes).
• Don’t only study—soak. Let the Word speak to you, not just your ministry.
• Use a physical Bible, a reading plan, or audio Scripture on walks.

Ministry Sciences teaches:

“A chaplain’s voice will only carry weight if it echoes the Word of God.”

2. 🕊️ Prayerful Stillness

Most people associate prayer with speaking. But in chaplaincy, listening becomes a critical skill—both with people and with God.

Stillness is the space where:

• You let God interrupt your anxiety
• You allow the Spirit to reset your emotional tone
• You sit not to do, but simply to be

This isn’t about long, flowery prayers. It’s about cultivating spiritual quietness, so you don’t mistake activity for intimacy.

Practice:

• Begin your day with 5 minutes of silence before any request
• Use breath prayers (e.g., “Lord Jesus… have mercy”) to center your spirit
• Ask not, “What should I do?” but “What are You doing, Lord?”

3. 🛌 Sabbath and Rest

God didn’t suggest rest—He commanded it.

“Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest…” – Exodus 34:21 (WEB)

Sabbath isn’t laziness or luxury. It is the spiritual declaration that:

• You are not God
• Ministry will survive without you for a day
• You trust God to minister while you sleep

As an officiating chaplain, you must intentionally block time when you are not on call, not officiating, and not producing. Otherwise, your soul becomes depleted—even if your calendar looks “fruitful.”

Ways to practice Sabbath:

• One full day a week with no ministry duties
• Turn off notifications, texts, and email
• Plan restful, joy-giving activities that refresh you and your relationships

4. 💬 Confession and Accountability

Power in ministry is dangerous without self-examination and trusted relationships.

Even chaplains who serve quietly can develop blind spots, unhealthy patterns, or spiritual fatigue. Confession is the discipline of naming what is true before God and before others.

Accountability helps you:

• Recognize when your words outpace your soul
• Stay emotionally and morally healthy
• Identify early signs of burnout, pride, or bitterness

Practical Practice:

• Meet monthly with a mentor, spiritual director, or peer
• Ask intentional questions: “Where am I drifting?” “What am I hiding?” “What’s growing in me right now?”

Ministry Sciences reminds us:

“The unseen life of a chaplain must be cleaner than the seen life of the people they serve.”

5. 🤲 Service Outside of Recognition

In a world addicted to visibility, officiating chaplains must choose the discipline of hiddenness.

Serving in places where no one claps or notices is one of the most powerful ways to:

• Keep your ego in check
• Develop the character of Christ
• Remember that ministry is about people, not platforms

Examples:

• Clean up after events without being asked
• Visit a shut-in who cannot repay you
• Write anonymous prayers or encouragement notes to others

When no one is watching, the true soul of a minister is revealed.

“When you give, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.” – Matthew 6:3 (WEB)

🧠 Ministry Sciences Reflection

The Inner Life that Sustains the Outer Call

The spiritual disciplines outlined above are not side tasks or “extra credit” for especially devoted ministers. They are the root system of the officiating chaplain’s life. Just as a tree cannot survive, let alone flourish, without strong roots, a chaplain’s ministry will falter without consistent, anchored, and intentional practices of the soul.

Without discipline, devotion fades. Without rootedness, reach collapses.

Ministry Sciences views these disciplines as a form of preemptive soul-care. They are not reactive fixes after burnout—they are daily rhythms that significantly reduce the likelihood of burnout.

When an officiating chaplain neglects these spiritual roots, the symptoms eventually appear:

• Compassion fatigue
• Cynicism in ministry
• Shallow prayers
• Emotional reactivity
• Isolation masked as “independence”
• A slow drift from intimacy with Christ, even while still doing His work

But when officiating chaplains live from the disciplines, they are able to thrive—even in difficult seasons—because their nourishment doesn’t come from applause, platform, or emotional highs. It comes from the living water of Christ, drawn through well-worn channels of Scripture, stillness, Sabbath, confession, and service.

“He will be like a tree planted by the streams of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also does not wither. Whatever he does shall prosper.” – Psalm 1:3 (WEB)

✨ What You Do Offstage Shapes What Happens Onstage

Ministry Sciences often says:

“What you do offstage shapes how you minister in the spotlight.”

This means that your public effectiveness—whether preaching at a wedding, praying at a bedside, or speaking at a funeral—will always flow from your private world.

A polished ceremony means little if the heart of the chaplain is dry.

A well-timed word loses its impact if the soul behind it is untended.

Your best ministry moments will not come from what you memorized—they will come from who you’ve become through daily surrender and steady formation.

💡 The Disciplined Officiating Chaplain:

When officiating chaplains live out these disciplines, they become:

• Available to God – They are not too distracted or overwhelmed to hear His voice or follow His prompting.
• Grounded in Truth – They speak not just opinions or clichés but words rooted in Scripture and the character of Christ.
• Healthy in Community – They are surrounded by spiritual friendships, not isolated in silent suffering.
• Whole Under Pressure – They can walk into grief, trauma, or conflict without collapsing or absorbing everyone’s pain as their own.

Ministry Sciences affirms:
“You cannot carry burdens for others if Christ does not carry yours.”

Officiating chaplains often serve as non-anxious presences in anxious places. But that calm exterior must be matched by an interior rooted in the peace of God.

📣 Final Thought

You are not just a vessel. You are a beloved child of God. Your disciplines are not just for others—they are for you. They do not earn God’s approval—they keep you near His presence, where everything flows from.

So plant deep roots. Tend the soil of your heart. Live in rhythm with the Spirit.

And in every assignment—whether public or unseen—you will not just survive.
You will grow.

🧠 Receiving Feedback: A Chaplain’s Growth Tool

Inviting Reflection, Refinement, and Realignment

Chaplaincy is often a quiet ministry. You sit in back rooms, linger in hallways, offer prayers in whispers, and hold space in places where others cannot. Unlike preaching in a sanctuary or teaching in a classroom, officiating chaplain work rarely produces immediate applause or critique. For this reason, feedback can easily be overlooked.

But feedback is not a threat to your calling—it’s a gift to your growth.

Ministry Sciences affirms:

“Feedback is not about proving yourself—it’s about staying present to your formation.”

Feedback, when pursued with humility, becomes one of the most powerful disciplines an officiating chaplain can practice. It helps:

• Clarify blind spots
• Strengthen presence
• Avoid harmful habits
• Encourage emotional and spiritual maturity
• Invite the Holy Spirit to refine your tone, timing, and testimony

“Let the wise listen, and increase in learning…” – Proverbs 1:5 (WEB)

🎯 Why Feedback Matters in Chaplaincy

Many officiating chaplains feel emotionally depleted or spiritually stuck, not because they lack a calling, but because they lack reflective input. Over time, small blind spots become patterns. Assumptions replace attentiveness. A once-vibrant officiating chaplain begins to coast on experience instead of cultivating Spirit-led growth.

In Ministry Sciences, feedback is not seen as correction but as spiritual collaboration, inviting others to help you steward your ministry with integrity.

✔️ Types of Feedback to Actively Seek

🧍 From Recipients

These are the people you serve: patients, families, clients, or couples. Don’t assume silence means satisfaction. Ask simple, respectful questions:

• “Was this what you hoped for?”
• “Would it help to hear something different next time?”
• “Did I honor your story well?”
• “How did that prayer or ceremony sit with your heart?”

You don’t need to change your theology, but you can grow in your delivery and sensitivity.

🧓 From Supervisors or Mentors

Whether it’s a hospital director, a senior pastor, or a trained chaplain, regularly ask:

• “What did you notice in my tone or timing?”
• “Where might I be overreaching or under-listening?”
• “Do I come across more as a presence or a fixer?”

This feedback helps align your intention with your impact.

👥 From Peers or Fellow Chaplains

The chaplain ministry is too vulnerable to be done alone. Set up regular rhythms of peer review or debriefing:

• Monthly check-ins
• Group case reviews
• Emotional processing after difficult events

Ask each other:

• “Where are you noticing fatigue?”
• “What story is still sitting heavy?”
• “How are we representing Christ in silence and word?”

Peer feedback brings both accountability and empathy.

📓 From Yourself (Self-Reflection)

Journal after high-impact moments:

• A deathbed conversation
• A wedding that didn’t go as planned
• A hospital round where someone broke down crying

Ask:

• “Did I bring Christ’s peace or my own pressure?”
• “What did I learn about myself today?”
• “Was I gentle with their pain—or too eager to move past it?”

This internal feedback allows for Holy Spirit's examination in quiet places.

“Search me, God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts.” – Psalm 139:23 (WEB)

🧠 What Feedback Is Not

• It is not a judgment of your worth.
  Your identity is in Christ, not in a compliment or critique.
• It is not an attack.
  If received humbly, even awkward or poorly worded feedback can reveal hidden wisdom.
• It is not a threat to your calling.
  Feedback doesn’t disqualify—it shapes and strengthens.

Ministry Sciences teaches: “Feedback is not a test you pass—it’s a mirror you steward.”

🔁 Turning Feedback into Growth

• Listen without defense. Hear the heart before you explain yourself.
• Pray over what you receive. Let the Spirit affirm, convict, or release.
• Act on what fits. Not all feedback is for you. But what is, should be practiced.
• Thank the giver. Feedback is a form of trust. Honor it—even if it stings.

🌿 Final Word

Chaplaincy is sacred. But sacred does not mean untouchable. A humble officiating chaplain is a teachable chaplain, and a teachable chaplain becomes a trustworthy one.

Let feedback guide you, not haunt you. Let it shape how you carry the Gospel into rooms that may never know the Church, but may come to know Christ through you.

🔁 The Cycle of Calling

How God Forms Chaplains Through Seasons, Not Just Moments

Ministry Sciences teaches that the call to officiating chaplain ministry is not a one-time event, but a repeated rhythm. Like the seasons of nature or the stages of spiritual maturity, the officiating chaplain’s journey is shaped by cycles of discovery, development, deployment, and discernment.

Rather than expecting a single calling moment to sustain you forever, officiating chaplains learn to recognize how God keeps inviting, refining, and reassigning them over time.

Ministry Sciences affirms:
“Calling is not static—it is a living relationship with the One who sends.”

This cyclical view of calling helps officiating chaplains avoid burnout, confusion, or pride. It reminds them that each new ministry assignment—whether it’s officiating a funeral, praying in a hospital, or comforting a stranger—calls them back into a fresh encounter with God’s voice.

📊 The Four Stages of the Cycle

Let’s explore each in more detail:

1. 🧭 Awareness

This is where calling stirs. Something new begins to rise in your spirit:

• A burden for a people group (grieving families, the elderly, the forgotten)
• A tug of the Spirit to step into a role or space you haven’t entered before
• A holy discontent or desire to serve more faithfully

You may hear about a need in your community, feel deeply moved by someone’s pain, or simply sense a new “yes” forming in your heart.

Soul Posture: Curiosity and openness
You don’t need certainty—just a willingness to listen.

This stage often involves prayer, inner reflection, and conversations with mentors. You’re not committing yet—you’re discerning.

2. 📚 Preparation

Once the awareness is confirmed, the next step is equipping. This is where you:

• Enroll in chaplaincy or officiant training
• Seek mentors and spiritual guidance
• Study, reflect, and build healthy rhythms
• Address fears or insecurities with honesty

You might feel excited—or overwhelmed. But preparation reminds you: You don’t have to be perfect, just faithful.

Soul Posture: Teachable and humble
The best ministers are lifelong learners.

“The heart of the discerning seeks knowledge…” – Proverbs 15:14 (WEB)

This is the time to ask tough questions, build robust support systems, and lay a solid foundation for sustainable service.

3. 🧍 Engagement

This is where you show up—with your whole self. Whether it’s a one-time ceremony or an ongoing chaplain parish, you enter the space God has called you to with:

• Presence, not performance
• Listening ears and a compassionate heart
• Confidence in Christ, not in credentials alone

This is the moment when the preparation bears fruit—not always in big outcomes, but in faithful availability.

Soul Posture: Courage and presence
This doesn’t mean you won’t feel nervous—it means you step in anyway.

“Here I am. Send me!” – Isaiah 6:8 (WEB)

4. 🔍 Reflection

After you’ve ministered, officiated, or served, don’t just move on. This is a sacred stage:

• What worked well?
• What did I learn about God, others, and myself?
• What pain or joy am I still carrying?
• Is God calling me deeper—or somewhere else?

This step is where maturity is cultivated. Many chaplains skip this part, missing out on the growth God offers through every encounter.

Soul Posture: Gratitude and willingness
Give thanks. Listen again. Be open to change.

“Consider your ways.” – Haggai 1:5 (WEB)

Reflection helps you reenter the cycle with clarity, not chaos.

🔁 The Cycle Repeats

This four-stage rhythm happens:

• With every new officiating chaplain assignment
• In each wedding, funeral, hospital call, or moment of crisis
• Over the arc of your calling, year after year

The more aware you are of this cycle, the more resilient, reflective, and responsive your ministry becomes.

📦 Ministry Sciences Application

Knowing and honoring this cycle helps officiating chaplains:

• Recognize when they’re in a new season of calling
• Avoid premature burnout by honoring preparation and rest
• Grow through consistent self-review and feedback
• Serve with courage, not perfectionism

“Staying attentive to this rhythm helps you adapt and flourish over time.”

📚 Case Study: Juan, the Funeral Officiant

How One Chaplain Recovered His Calling Through Rhythms, Not Results

Juan never imagined he’d become a funeral officiant. Originally trained as a worship leader, he was known in his small southern Arizona community for his gentle spirit and sincere prayers. After completing chaplaincy and officiant training through Christian Leaders Institute, Juan felt clearly called to a unique kind of pastoral presence—bringing comfort and Gospel-centered hope to families grieving loss.

For two years, Juan served faithfully. He officiated funerals at churches, mortuaries, and sometimes under tents in desert cemeteries. He met with families in living rooms and hospice units, listened to stories of loved ones, and offered words of peace at gravesides. People appreciated him deeply.

But somewhere along the way, something shifted.

😔 The Signs of Spiritual Fatigue

Though Juan remained diligent and well-prepared, his soul began to feel thin. His messages started sounding repetitive. His prayers, once fresh, now felt scripted. He felt like he was reciting rather than ministering.

“I realized I was just going through the motions,” Juan later shared.
“I was saying the right words, but they weren’t flowing from a full heart.”

He wasn’t falling into sin. He wasn’t failing families. But he was slowly disconnecting from the Source of his own calling.

👴 A Mentor's Timely Question

Desperate for renewal, Juan reached out to a retired chaplain mentor who had served in military and hospital ministry for over 40 years. After listening quietly to Juan’s concerns, the older man asked him just one question:

“Juan, how are you being pastored?”

Juan paused. He couldn’t answer.

In that moment, he realized he had spent two years pastoring others while neglecting his own soul. He had poured out continuously, but never stopped to refill. He had led dozens of memorials, but hadn’t regularly mourned, prayed, or processed with anyone himself.

That question didn’t just challenge him—it redirected him.

🔁 Juan's Rhythms of Renewal

Over the next several months, Juan made some key changes—not by adding more complexity, but by returning to simple rhythms of spiritual health.

He began to:

• Meet monthly with a pastoral mentor
  Someone who would pray with him, ask soul-level questions, and offer grace-filled accountability.
• Reinstate morning devotional walks
  Early walks became a sacred space—where he read Scripture slowly, prayed honestly, and allowed God's creation to reset his pace.
• Journal after each funeral
  He created a personal “Grief and Grace Journal” where he reflected on the stories he heard, the emotions he felt, and how each service shaped his theology of death and resurrection.
• Invite feedback from families
  Not to seek affirmation, but to learn:

“What brought peace to your family?”
“Was there anything that felt rushed or unclear?”
“How can I better honor grief and hope together?”

These small shifts changed everything.

🌿 One Year Later: A Renewed Chaplain

When asked to summarize the difference a year later, Juan said:

“I’m not doing more—I’m just more present. I feel like an officiating chaplain again, not a spiritual machine.”

He hadn’t reinvented his sermons. He hadn’t learned new techniques. What changed was his posture. He started ministering from abundance, not depletion. He showed up with stillness, not stress. His credibility wasn’t in his eloquence—it was in his groundedness.

🧠 Ministry Sciences Insight

Juan’s story reflects a key principle of Ministry Sciences:

“Spiritual sustainability is not about performance—it’s about rhythm.”

Ministers burn out not only from hard work, but also from disconnected work. When officiating chaplains neglect their own soul care, they may continue functioning externally while withering internally. Juan reversed that drift—not by stepping away from ministry, but by stepping more deeply into his own formation.

His effectiveness increased because his interior life caught up with his exterior role.

📝 Reflection Questions for You

As you read Juan’s story, ask yourself:

1. Who pastors me? Who helps me reflect, process, and rest?
2. What are my rhythms of renewal—daily, weekly, seasonally?
3. When was the last time I asked for honest feedback from someone I served?
4. Do I feel like a chaplain—or a spiritual machine?
5. What is one small step I can take this week to move from depletion to presence?

📖 Scripture Summary

God’s Word invites us to grow, not once, but always.

These passages serve as spiritual anchors for officiating chaplains who seek to develop their character, deepen their calling, and remain faithful through every season of ministry. Each one offers a window into the ongoing process of becoming more Christlike—not through pressure or perfectionism, but through daily surrender and steady formation.

🌱 2 Peter 3:18 – “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

This verse reminds chaplains that growth is both grace-fueled and knowledge-formed. We do not grow by effort alone, but through dependence on God and attentiveness to His Word.

🌄 Proverbs 4:18 – “The path of the righteous is like the dawning light, that shines more and more until the perfect day.”

This is a picture of gradual clarity. The more you walk in God’s ways, the more insight and maturity you gain. Your ministry light expands not through leaps, but through faithful steps.

🏃 Philippians 3:12-14 – “Not that I have already obtained it… I press on toward the goal…”

Paul’s honest humility offers a model for officiating chaplains. Even the most seasoned servant of Christ has more to learn, more to surrender, and more to become. Pressing on doesn’t mean striving—it means refusing to settle.

🍽️ Hebrews 5:14 – “Solid food is for those who have their senses trained by practice to discern good and evil.”

Spiritual maturity isn’t theoretical. It comes through consistent practice, lived discernment, and a lifestyle of listening. Chaplains grow in wisdom through reflection on real-life moments.

🍇 John 15:5 – “He who remains in me, and I in him, bears much fruit…”

The heart of chaplaincy isn’t output—it’s abiding. Remaining in Christ is the source of spiritual fruitfulness, emotional stability, and lasting ministry impact. When you stay connected, fruitfulness is not forced—it flows.

🙋 Reflection Questions

Take time to reflect, journal, or discuss with a trusted mentor or peer:

1. Which spiritual disciplines do I currently practice?
   Which ones have become routine, neglected, or mechanical?
   What would refresh my intimacy with Christ?
2. How open am I to feedback—from others, from God, from myself?
   Do I receive feedback with humility and curiosity, or with resistance and shame?
3. What does “growth” look like in this season of my chaplaincy?
   Is God calling me to deepen, broaden, slow down, or take new ground?
4. Have I built a rhythm of reflection and review into my ministry schedule?
   Do I pause to examine what I’m learning, how I’m feeling, and what God is saying?
5. Who helps me press on, not in performance, but in spiritual maturity?
   Who asks me good questions, prays with me, or holds me accountable to grow?

Ministry Sciences encourages chaplains to build community around their calling, not just for support, but for transformation.

🔚 Conclusion: Keep Saying Yes

The call to chaplaincy isn’t a single “yes.”
It’s a thousand daily yeses:

• Yes to opening Scripture with a soft heart
• Yes to showing up when you feel unprepared
• Yes to being corrected, shaped, and stretched
• Yes to walking in rhythms of rest, reflection, and renewal
• Yes to becoming a person formed by grace, not driven by performance

You don’t need to be perfect.
You don’t need to be impressive.
You just need to be responsive.

Ministry Sciences affirms:
“The most faithful chaplains are not always the most gifted—but they are the most teachable.”

So keep listening.
Keep learning.
Keep becoming.

Your growth is your gift to those you serve.
And God is not finished with you yet.