By Rev. Dr. Jim Lawrence
The professional path of chaplaincy gives rise to powerful ministry roles in the Swedenborgian Church of North America—the only branch of worldwide Swedenborgianism that supports chaplaincy as an official category of ordained ministry. Though we may be the only Swedenborgian denomination to honor and support chaplaincy ministry in this way, we nevertheless share this mission with many other Christian denominations and major faith traditions who also support the training and placement of skilled professionals in the crucial ministry spaces chaplains often find themselves.
Chaplains provide pastoral care and support in some of the most challenging places and situations where people need spiritual care, and we have Swedenborgian ministers serving in hospitals, hospice ministries, homeless ministries, and the military as official chaplains. The work of chaplains encompasses the resilient presence of care with those dealing in various levels of crisis and pain. Delivering a thoughtful and loving presence, chaplains are often unseen and unsung rescuers for those most in need of care.
Chaplaincy as a ministry option entered our denomination through the vision and expertise of Rev. Dr. Cal Turley (1924–1984), who taught pastoral care and counseling for fifteen years at the Swedenborg School of Religion. Beginning in the 1970s, he pioneered new tracks of ministry formation in the seminary curriculum and ministry degree requirements to include chaplaincy and pastoral counseling as possible options for seminarians in training. Certified chaplaincy training offered future ministers the option either of serving as chaplains part-time in addition to serving a congregation or as full-time chaplains in an institutional setting or chaplaincy organization.
Because of Dr. Turley’s vision and support, our denomination has now trained approximately twenty ministers who have served or are currently serving as chaplains in various settings, and currently at least three students at the Center for Swedenborgian Studies are showing interest in developing some level of chaplaincy work within their ministry vison and options. This means that chaplaincy is the second most common site of working in ministry after congregational leadership.
Today, the vision and need for this ministry path continues to evolve. In the present tense of our seminary, the Center for Swedenborgian Studies has become a major player shaping a new chapter for The Chaplaincy Institute in Berkeley, which has long been associated with the Graduate Theological Union of which we are a part. Our Dean, Dr. Rebecca Esterson, has been foundational in recent planning and is currently co-teaching “Death Theologies and Rituals in Chaplaincy” with Rev. Kamal Abu-Shamsieh, Director of Interreligious Chaplaincy Program and Assistant Professor of Practical Theology. Rev. Jay Barry, inducted into our ministry this past summer and Staff Chaplain at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, is collaborating and working with CSS and our denomination in strengthening the chaplaincy options for ministry for Swedenborgian clergy.
I celebrate the effort and vision that our beloved church has given to train and support such caregivers in our hurting world. All these caregivers serve as Swedenborgian trained helpers for many dealing with the most trying of circumstances. We serve in these vital moments not to make a name for our church but to serve God in providing divine love and wisdom as best we can to those in great need for it. So, I celebrate all our chaplains for their compassion and applaud them for their hard work.
—Jim Lawrence
Read the full issue of the September/October 2024 Messenger
Meet Jim Lawrence
Rev. Dr. Jim Lawrence is the president of the Swedenborgian Church of North America. He was the dean of the Center for Swedenborgian Studies for 21 years prior to being elected President in 2022.
