📖 Reading 6.1: Community Chaplaincy and Everyday Mission
Reading 6.1: Community Chaplaincy and Everyday Mission
Reading Purpose
Community chaplaincy brings Christ-centred spiritual care into the ordinary places where people live, work, gather, struggle, recover, celebrate, grieve, and search for meaning.
Unlike chaplaincy roles that depend upon appointment by a hospital, prison, military organisation, university, or other formal institution, community chaplaincy can often begin through local relationships, churches, Christian Soul Centres, neighbourhood ministries, charities, recovery communities, workplaces, family-support ministries, and other settings where the chaplain has been welcomed to serve.
This reading explores accessible settings in which volunteer, part-time, and bivocational chaplains may offer compassionate listening, prayer, Scripture-guided encouragement, practical support, appropriate referral, and faithful Christian presence. This reflects the course framework’s presentation of chaplaincy as Christian presence in everyday settings, crises, transitions, celebrations, grief, and spiritual searching.
1. What Is Community Chaplaincy?
Community chaplaincy is a ministry of Christian spiritual care offered among people in their normal environments rather than only inside a traditional church programme.
A community chaplain may serve through:
A Christian Soul Centre
A local church or parish
A neighbourhood association
A community meal
A recovery ministry
A senior community
A workplace
A migrant-support ministry
A reentry programme
A bereavement ministry
A funeral or wedding ministry
A sports organisation
A charity
A community event
An online Christian community
A network of personal relationships
The Christian Leaders Alliance Community Chaplain pathway describes this ministry as Christ-centred presence, prayer, listening, encouragement, Scripture-guided care, and practical Christian support offered in neighbourhoods, churches, Soul Centres, workplaces, recovery environments, senior communities, civic spaces, and other everyday settings. It also emphasises preparation, endorsement, healthy boundaries, confidentiality limits, referral wisdom, and accountable commissioning. (Christian Leaders Alliance)
Community chaplaincy is not defined primarily by a building.
It is defined by a calling to become faithfully present among people.
The chaplain notices those who may otherwise remain unseen. The chaplain listens to stories that may have no obvious place within a formal programme. The chaplain creates opportunities for prayer, meaning-making, Christian encouragement, and connection with appropriate support.
2. Chaplaincy as Everyday Mission
The word mission can sometimes create an image of travelling to a distant country or organising a large evangelistic event.
Christian mission also occurs through ordinary faithfulness.
It happens when a chaplain:
Visits a grieving neighbour
Listens to an exhausted caregiver
Prays with a shop owner facing closure
Supports a family after an accident
Welcomes a migrant into Christian community
Encourages someone returning from incarceration
Helps an isolated older adult reconnect with others
Remains with a frightened person during a crisis
Offers Scripture to someone searching for hope
Refers a person to qualified care when needs exceed the chaplain’s role
Everyday mission begins by seeing the people God has already placed nearby.
Jesus regularly ministered in ordinary human settings. He spoke with people in homes, streets, boats, marketplaces, meals, places of work, places of worship, and moments of grief. He noticed individuals within crowds and gave attention to people whom others overlooked.
The early Christian movement also spread through households, hospitality, personal relationships, travelling ministry, workplaces, public conversations, and locally formed communities.
Community chaplaincy continues this relational pattern.
The chaplain does not wait for every person to enter a worship service. The chaplain goes into the community with humility, permission, and compassion.
3. The Ministry of Being Present
People sometimes assume that helpful ministry requires having the correct answer immediately.
Community chaplaincy often begins before an answer is available.
A person may be:
Waiting for medical results
Grieving a sudden death
Facing an uncertain employment future
Trying to repair a damaged relationship
Adjusting to a new country
Recovering from addiction
Living with chronic illness
Caring for a family member
Wondering whether God still cares
Feeling alone in a crowded city
The chaplain may not be able to change the situation.
The chaplain can still be present.
Presence communicates:
You have been noticed.
Your story is worth hearing.
You do not need to carry this moment entirely alone.
God has not forgotten you.
A recent Dutch study of chaplaincy within primary and community care found that people commonly sought chaplaincy because of existential concerns involving several areas of life. Participants described the importance of being seen, heard, and acknowledged. They also reported help with understanding life events, connecting with themselves, others, or the sacred, and finding a greater sense of peace. (PubMed)
These findings support an important chaplaincy principle:
The relationship itself can become part of the care.
This does not mean that kindness is sufficient for every need. It means that attentive presence creates a foundation from which prayer, reflection, practical support, referral, and connection may become possible.
4. Listening as Spiritual Care
Community chaplains listen for more than facts.
They listen for:
Fear
Hope
Grief
Guilt
Anger
Loneliness
Spiritual questions
Relational wounds
Sources of strength
Important beliefs
Unfinished stories
Expressions of faith or doubt
A chaplain might ask:
What has been happening?
What has been most difficult?
Who is walking with you?
What gives you strength?
What are you hoping for?
How has this affected your faith?
Is there something you are grieving?
What would feel supportive today?
Would you like prayer?
Is there someone else who should be involved?
These questions do not force the person into a predetermined conversation.
They open space for the person to describe what matters.
Good listening also notices what has not been said. A person may discuss employment while indirectly describing shame. Another may speak about physical pain while carrying fear of death. Someone may complain about a church while revealing unresolved grief or spiritual betrayal.
The chaplain should not make assumptions too quickly.
Listening requires patience, humility, and discernment.
5. Loneliness and Social Disconnection
One important setting for community chaplaincy is the growing experience of loneliness and social isolation.
The World Health Organization distinguishes social isolation—the objective condition of having too few relationships and interactions—from loneliness, the distressing feeling that one’s relationships do not meet one’s needs. WHO identifies illness, disability, migration, bereavement, retirement, job loss, relationship breakdown, poverty, and other major life changes as factors that may contribute to disconnection. (World Health Organization)
The European Commission’s 2022 EU Loneliness Survey reported that approximately 13 per cent of respondents felt lonely most or all of the time during the previous four weeks, while 35 per cent felt lonely at least some of the time. The prevalence varied significantly among European countries and communities. (Joint Research Centre)
Community chaplains cannot solve loneliness merely by holding a conversation.
They can contribute to social reconnection by helping people enter healthy relationships and communities.
A chaplain may:
Visit an isolated person
Introduce someone to a local fellowship
Invite a person to a community meal
Connect an older adult with neighbourhood activities
Encourage intergenerational relationships
Help a migrant locate a language or cultural community
Connect a caregiver with respite support
Invite a grieving person into a bereavement group
Help a participant volunteer in a meaningful role
Create a Christian Growth Course gathering
WHO has increasingly emphasised community-based responses that connect people with nonclinical support, activities, volunteering, arts, walking groups, financial guidance, and other local resources. This approach, often called social prescribing, recognises that some difficulties presented to healthcare services involve loneliness, housing, financial hardship, and community disconnection rather than a problem medicine alone can resolve. (World Health Organization)
The chaplain should not exaggerate the role. A chaplain is not automatically a social worker, physician, or mental-health professional.
The chaplain can become a trusted relational bridge.
6. Community Chaplaincy and the Christian Soul Centre
A Christian Soul Centre can provide a natural home for community chaplaincy.
The Soul Centre may offer:
A recognised Christian identity
A gathering place
Prayer support
Ministry accountability
Christian Growth Courses
Volunteer development
Referral relationships
Safeguarding leadership
Privacy procedures
Community partnerships
Financial oversight
Public commissioning
Opportunities for leader multiplication
Without a ministry community, chaplaincy can become isolated and overly dependent upon one individual.
A healthy Soul Centre reminds the chaplain:
You are sent, but you are not sent alone.
The Soul Centre can receive reports that respect privacy, help review difficult situations, provide prayer, establish policies, and identify emerging leaders.
A community chaplain may also become one of several ministry expressions within the Soul Centre.
For example, a Soul Centre might include:
One community chaplain
Two Soul Coaches
A Christian Growth Course facilitator
A wedding and funeral officiant
A prayer team
A hospitality coordinator
A safeguarding lead
A network of professional referrals
The chaplain does not need to perform every role personally.
Healthy ministry becomes collaborative.
7. Serving Older Adults
Older adults may experience significant transitions involving:
Retirement
Bereavement
Reduced mobility
Chronic illness
Loss of independence
Relocation
Caregiving
Family separation
Digital exclusion
Questions about death and eternity
Community chaplains may serve older adults through home visits, senior communities, churches, community meals, telephone conversations, prayer groups, and connections with local services.
WHO’s European work on age-friendly communities emphasises accessibility, social participation, intergenerational connection, digital inclusion, and personalised efforts to reach older people at risk of isolation. (World Health Organization)
A chaplain visiting an older adult might:
Listen to life stories
Help the person remember God’s faithfulness
Read Scripture
Offer prayer
Support grief and lament
Help communicate with a church
Connect the person with practical services
Invite appropriate participation in community life
Support family caregivers
Assist with funeral or end-of-life spiritual preparation
The chaplain must remain attentive to safeguarding, cognitive changes, financial exploitation, neglect, abuse, and medical concerns.
Spiritual care should never be used to conceal practical danger.
8. Supporting Caregivers
Caregivers often give sustained attention to another person while neglecting their own physical, emotional, relational, and spiritual needs.
A caregiver may be supporting:
A spouse with dementia
A child with a disability
An ageing parent
A person with a terminal illness
A relative recovering from addiction
Someone with significant mental-health needs
Caregivers may experience love and meaning alongside exhaustion, grief, frustration, guilt, and isolation.
A community chaplain can provide:
A listening relationship
Prayer
Permission to acknowledge difficult emotions
Help identifying sources of support
Encouragement to rest appropriately
Connection with respite resources
Support during medical transitions
Christian community
Referral when stress becomes severe
The chaplain should avoid romanticising sacrifice.
Caring for another person is meaningful, but caregivers remain embodied human beings with legitimate limits.
Christian care does not require pretending that exhaustion is holiness.
9. Grief, Bereavement, and Funeral Ministry
Grief is one of the most common settings for chaplaincy.
A community chaplain may become involved:
Immediately after a death
During funeral planning
At a funeral or memorial
In the weeks following a service
On anniversaries
During complicated family conflict
When grief is connected to trauma, suicide, miscarriage, or sudden loss
People often receive considerable support around the funeral and much less support afterwards.
Community chaplaincy can help close this gap.
A chaplain may:
Listen to the story of the person who died
Help family members name their grief
Offer a Christian funeral or memorial where appropriate
Pray with the family
Connect people with pastoral or professional support
Check in after several weeks
Invite the grieving person into a supportive gathering
Recognise signs that specialised grief therapy may be needed
The chaplain should not pressure people to “move on” quickly.
Christian hope does not erase lament.
Jesus wept at the death of Lazarus even while knowing that death would not have the final word.
The chaplain can hold grief and hope together.
10. Recovery and Addiction-Connected Ministry
Community chaplains may serve people affected by alcohol, drugs, gambling, pornography, or other destructive patterns.
The chaplain’s role may include:
Listening without humiliation
Encouraging honesty
Supporting participation in treatment or recovery groups
Praying with permission
Helping rebuild Christian community
Encouraging appropriate accountability
Supporting family members
Helping the person explore meaning, guilt, hope, and responsibility
Referring to qualified addiction services
The chaplain should not claim that prayer alone replaces treatment.
Neither should the chaplain assume that spiritual care has no place within recovery.
Addiction affects the embodied, psychological, relational, economic, moral, and spiritual dimensions of human life. Responsible support may therefore involve treatment, peer recovery, medical care, practical structure, Christian fellowship, repentance, forgiveness, and sustained accountability.
A chaplain may become a consistent spiritual presence within this wider network.
11. Reentry Chaplaincy
People returning from incarceration often face a complicated combination of:
Legal obligations
Housing difficulties
Employment barriers
Family strain
Shame
Distrust
Addiction concerns
Financial pressure
Spiritual searching
Fear of returning to old relationships and patterns
A reentry chaplain does not replace probation officers, solicitors, housing workers, employment specialists, addiction professionals, or social services.
The chaplain can help the returning citizen:
Establish a healthy relational support system
Reconnect with Christian fellowship
Reflect upon responsibility without becoming trapped in shame
Practise new routines
Prepare for family conversations
Engage prayer and Scripture
Find appropriate community resources
Celebrate progress
Respond constructively to setbacks
Community chaplaincy is particularly valuable when support continues after the initial crisis.
Reentry is not one event. It is an extended process of rebuilding.
12. Serving Migrants and Multilingual Communities
Migration may involve hope and opportunity, but also loss, disorientation, separation, language barriers, legal uncertainty, prejudice, and loneliness.
European integration policy describes successful integration as a two-way process in which migrants participate actively while host communities create conditions for full participation. It also emphasises cooperation among governments, civil society organisations, local communities, and other stakeholders. (Migration and Home Affairs)
A community chaplain serving migrants may:
Offer welcome and Christian friendship
Help people locate a church in their language
Connect families with practical services
Support people experiencing grief for their homeland
Create multilingual prayer or Bible gatherings
Help local Christians listen and learn
Support children navigating two cultures
Refer immigration matters to qualified advisers
Respond appropriately to trauma disclosures
Build relationships between newcomers and established residents
The chaplain should avoid treating migrants merely as ministry projects.
They bring gifts, experience, languages, Christian traditions, leadership capacity, and relationships.
A migrant who receives spiritual care may become a future chaplain, Soul Coach, pastor, or Soul Centre leader.
13. Workplace Chaplaincy
People spend a significant portion of life at work.
The workplace may become a setting of:
Purpose
Friendship
Creativity
Conflict
Burnout
Fear
Ethical pressure
Redundancy
Injury
Grief
Leadership responsibility
A workplace chaplain may offer confidential spiritual care within the organisation’s established policies.
Possible activities include:
Listening to employees
Supporting staff after a death or accident
Offering prayer when requested
Helping people reflect upon ethical concerns
Supporting leaders during organisational change
Referring employees to appropriate services
Encouraging respectful relationships
Attending significant workplace events
The chaplain must clearly understand:
Who authorised the ministry
Which employees may be approached
Whether conversations are confidential
What must be reported
How records are handled
Whether management receives any information
Which religious practices are permitted
What employment and equality laws apply
The chaplain should not become an informal investigator for management or a source of private employee information.
Trust depends upon clear expectations.
14. Sports and Community-Event Chaplaincy
Sports clubs, festivals, civic gatherings, markets, and community events bring together people who may have little contact with organised Christianity.
A chaplain may be present during:
Injury
Defeat
Achievement
Conflict
Pressure
Family difficulty
Career transition
Bereavement
Public crisis
Sports chaplaincy can include relationships with athletes, coaches, volunteers, officials, staff, and families.
Community-event chaplaincy may include:
A visible listening and prayer presence
Support during emergencies
Cooperation with organisers
Assistance for distressed participants
Connection with local services
Prayer when requested
The chaplain should coordinate with event leadership and emergency personnel.
A chaplain does not replace medical teams, police, security, safeguarding officers, or event managers.
15. Online Community Chaplaincy
Some people first seek spiritual support online.
Online chaplaincy may involve:
Video conversations
Prayer requests
Christian Growth Course groups
Email
Secure messaging
Online Soul Centres
Social-media ministry
Multilingual communities
Online access can assist people who:
Live far from a church
Have mobility limitations
Work irregular hours
Live in another country
Fear entering a religious building
Need ministry in their own language
Online ministry also creates particular risks.
The chaplain should address:
Verification of identity
Age and safeguarding
Privacy
Data storage
Recording
Crisis location
Emergency contacts
Time-zone differences
Appropriate communication hours
Dependency
Sexual or financial exploitation
Public disclosure
A chaplain should know where the participant is physically located before attempting to respond to an emergency.
Public comment sections are not suitable for deeply private spiritual-care conversations.
16. Serving in Religiously Diverse Communities
European communities may include Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Anglicans, Lutherans, Reformed Christians, Methodists, Baptists, Pentecostals, evangelicals, independent Christians, adherents of other religions, and people with no religious affiliation.
A Christian community chaplain should represent their Christian identity honestly while treating each person with respect.
The chaplain should not:
Pretend that all religions teach the same thing
Pressure people into religious practices
Misrepresent another tradition
Exploit vulnerability for forced conversion
Hide the fact that the chaplain is Christian
Assume that every person desires prayer or Scripture
The chaplain can say:
I am a Christian chaplain. I am available to listen and support you. Would spiritual care or prayer be helpful?
A systematic review of spiritual care in religiously diverse settings found that effective care depends both upon the caregiver’s understanding of the beliefs shaping care and upon the capacity to respond within the opportunities and limits of the setting. (PubMed Central (PMC))
For a Christian chaplain, respect does not require theological vagueness.
It requires honesty, permission, humility, and love.
17. Practical Christian Support
Community chaplaincy sometimes includes practical help.
A chaplain may:
Help someone make a telephone call
Provide information about local services
Arrange transportation through an approved ministry
Connect a family with food support
Organise volunteers
Help someone complete a referral request
Attend an appointment as a supportive presence
Coordinate a meal after a death
Help locate emergency accommodation
Connect someone with a church benevolence ministry
Practical help should be offered carefully.
The chaplain should avoid:
Creating financial dependency
Handling money without accountability
Making promises the ministry cannot fulfil
Acting as an unqualified case manager
Transporting vulnerable people without safety procedures
Entering unsafe homes alone
Sharing participant needs publicly without permission
Using assistance to pressure religious participation
Love must be practical, but practical ministry also needs wisdom and systems.
18. Referral, Reporting, and Deferring
Three important chaplaincy responses are referral, reporting, and deferring.
Referral
Referral occurs when another person or service has the preparation needed to address the concern.
Examples include:
Medical care
Mental-health treatment
Addiction treatment
Legal advice
Financial counselling
Housing support
Domestic-abuse services
Immigration advice
Specialised pastoral care
Reporting
Reporting occurs when law, safeguarding policy, or immediate danger requires information to be shared with an appropriate authority.
Examples may include:
Abuse of a child
Abuse of a vulnerable adult
Immediate danger of serious harm
Certain criminal disclosures
Institution-specific safeguarding duties
Reporting requirements differ by country and setting.
Deferring
Deferring means recognising that another authorised person is responsible for the decision or response.
A community chaplain may defer to:
Emergency services
Medical staff
Police
A safeguarding lead
A social worker
A prison official
An employer
A school administrator
A pastor
An institutional chaplain
Deferring does not mean becoming indifferent.
It means respecting lawful responsibility and professional competence.
19. Confidentiality and Its Limits
People may disclose sensitive information because they trust the chaplain.
The chaplain should explain privacy expectations before serious conversations arise.
A simple explanation might include:
I will treat our conversation respectfully and privately. However, I may need to involve appropriate people if someone is in immediate danger, if abuse or safeguarding concerns arise, or if the law requires a report.
The chaplain should not promise absolute secrecy.
The chaplain should also avoid discussing identifiable stories:
In sermons
In public prayer
On social media
In fundraising materials
With friends or family
In volunteer meetings without a legitimate purpose
When consultation is needed, the chaplain should disclose only the information necessary to receive appropriate guidance.
20. Volunteer and Bivocational Chaplaincy
Many community chaplains serve as volunteers, part-time ministers, or bivocational leaders.
They may combine chaplaincy with employment in:
Education
Healthcare
Business
Public service
Construction
Transportation
Social care
Agriculture
Technology
Hospitality
Retirement
Bivocational ministry can create significant relational access.
A chaplain who already knows the community may understand its language, rhythms, concerns, and trusted networks.
However, existing relationships can also create conflicts.
The chaplain should consider:
Is this person an employee, customer, relative, or close friend?
Can the conversation remain private?
Does my employment role create authority over this person?
Could the person feel pressured to accept spiritual care?
Should another chaplain become involved?
Does my employer permit this ministry?
Am I serving during paid work hours?
Volunteer ministry still requires preparation.
Lack of payment does not remove the need for competence, safeguarding, boundaries, and accountability.
21. Sustainable Community Chaplaincy
Community needs can appear endless.
A chaplain may begin to believe that faithful ministry requires constant availability.
This pattern can lead to exhaustion, resentment, poor decisions, and unhealthy dependency.
Sustainable chaplaincy requires:
Defined availability
Regular rest
Prayer and worship
Family boundaries
Supervision
Peer support
Shared leadership
Referral practices
Continuing education
Honest attention to emotional health
Periodic review of the ministry
The chaplain is a servant, but not the Messiah.
Jesus Christ is the Saviour.
The chaplain may be present for one part of another person’s journey. Other Christians, professionals, relatives, community organisations, and ministries may also have important roles.
Sustainable chaplaincy multiplies care rather than centralising every need in one leader.
22. Building Community Partnerships
Community chaplaincy grows through trusted relationships.
Potential partners may include:
Local churches and parishes
Christian charities
Community centres
Care facilities
Recovery organisations
Funeral directors
Schools
Employers
Sports clubs
Migrant-support organisations
Social-service agencies
Healthcare providers
Local government
Food-support ministries
Housing organisations
Emergency services
Partnership begins with listening.
The chaplain may ask:
What needs do you see?
What services already exist?
Where are people falling through the gaps?
What kind of spiritual care would be welcome?
What permissions are required?
What would make a Christian chaplain trustworthy here?
How should referrals be handled?
Who has responsibility for safeguarding?
The chaplain should avoid arriving with the assumption that the community has been waiting for the chaplain’s programme.
Credibility grows through humility, reliability, honest communication, and faithful service.
23. Beginning a Community Chaplain Ministry
A community chaplaincy does not need to begin with a large programme.
A faithful beginning might involve:
Identifying one community
Listening to local leaders
Clarifying the chaplain’s role
Receiving appropriate preparation and endorsement
Establishing accountability
Mapping referral resources
Creating safeguarding and privacy procedures
Beginning with one manageable ministry practice
Reviewing what is being learned
Inviting other leaders to emerge
The first ministry practice might be:
Visiting older adults
Supporting grieving families
Offering prayer at a community meal
Serving a recovery group
Supporting caregivers
Beginning a neighbourhood listening ministry
Facilitating a Christian Growth Course
Serving people returning from incarceration
Developing online spiritual care
Supporting a local workplace
Begin where relationships and permission already exist.
24. Community Chaplaincy as Ministry Multiplication
Community chaplaincy is not only about meeting immediate needs.
It can help identify future leaders.
A person who receives care may begin to serve others.
A grieving participant may later support a bereavement group.
A returning citizen may become a reentry mentor.
A migrant may become a multilingual chaplain.
A caregiver may develop a support ministry.
A course participant may become a Soul Coach.
A volunteer may pursue a chaplain credential.
The community chaplain watches for people who demonstrate:
Compassion
Reliability
Listening ability
Spiritual maturity
Teachability
Healthy boundaries
Local credibility
A desire to serve
The chaplain then encourages appropriate training, endorsement, accountability, and commissioning.
This is how a community chaplaincy becomes part of a multiplying Christian Soul Centre.
Conclusion
Community chaplaincy brings Christian spiritual care into the everyday places where people experience life.
The community chaplain may serve:
In neighbourhoods
Among older adults
With caregivers
During grief
In recovery communities
Among returning citizens
With migrants
In workplaces
Through sports
At community events
Online
Through a Christian Soul Centre
The ministry begins with presence.
It grows through listening.
It offers prayer and Scripture with permission.
It connects people with Christian community.
It provides practical support within appropriate limits.
It refers, reports, or defers when another response is required.
It remains accountable.
It protects private information.
It respects local laws and organisational policies.
It equips new leaders.
Community chaplaincy does not require the chaplain to become everything for everyone.
It calls the chaplain to become faithfully present, appropriately prepared, and lovingly available within a clearly defined ministry field.
A chaplain may not be able to remove every burden.
The chaplain can help ensure that people are not left unseen, unheard, spiritually unsupported, or disconnected from the help they need.
That is everyday mission.
Reflection Questions
Where do people naturally gather in your community?
Which people in your community may be experiencing loneliness, grief, transition, or spiritual searching?
What would faithful Christian presence look like among them?
Which community-chaplaincy setting most closely fits your calling?
What permissions would you need before beginning?
Which local churches, ministries, institutions, or organisations could become partners?
What needs could you address appropriately?
Which needs would require referral, reporting, or deferring?
How would you explain your Christian identity without pressuring another person?
How could a Soul Centre support and hold your chaplaincy accountable?
What ministry boundaries would protect you and the people you serve?
Who might eventually emerge as another community chaplain or ministry leader?
Selected Academic and Ministry References
Christian Leaders Alliance. “Community Chaplain Ordination Program.” Description of community chaplaincy as a study-based ministry of Christ-centred presence, listening, prayer, Scripture-guided care, practical support, boundaries, and referral. (Christian Leaders Alliance)
Christian Leaders Alliance. “Chaplain Ordination.” Description of Licensed Chaplain formation and chaplaincy ministry during crises, transitions, celebrations, grief, and spiritual searching. (Christian Leaders Alliance)
Fitchett, G., Tartaglia, A., Doolaard, J., et al. “The Contribution of Chaplaincy to Primary and Community Care: A Semi-Structured Interview Study with Clients.” Study of the reasons people sought community chaplaincy and the relational, meaning-making, and well-being outcomes they described. (PubMed)
Handzo, G., Flannelly, K., Murphy, K., et al. “What Do I Do? Developing a Taxonomy of Chaplaincy Activities and Interventions for Spiritual Care in Intensive Care Unit Palliative Care.” Research identifying and organising the activities chaplains perform in spiritual care. (PubMed Central (PMC))
Liefbroer, A. I., Olsman, E., Ganzevoort, R. R., and van Etten-Jamaludin, F. S. “Interfaith Spiritual Care: A Systematic Review.” Review examining the convictions, competencies, opportunities, and constraints involved in spiritual care across religious differences. (PubMed Central (PMC))
World Health Organization. “From Loneliness to Social Connection: Charting a Path to Healthier Societies.” Report of the WHO Commission on Social Connection concerning loneliness, social isolation, health, and community-based responses. (World Health Organization)
European Commission Joint Research Centre. “The EU Loneliness Survey.” EU-wide research concerning the prevalence, risks, and effects of loneliness. (Joint Research Centre)