Stepping out in Faith: Preparing for a role in Chaplaincy

Lauren’s journey towards chaplaincy started when a seed was sown during her Christian gap year. It has been and continues to be a journey of faith which requires her to trust that God is going ahead of her even when she can’t quite see what his plans are. 

Lauren’s experience with Morling began as a school leaver when she took a gap year with IMPACT. IMPACT is a Christian gap year for students focussing on four key areas of their life - Faith, Community, Life and Ministry. IMPACT runs out of Sydney so it was an added journey for Lauren as she is based in beautiful Bathurst in the Central Tablelands of NSW. Yet it was because of that journey that she first heard about chaplaincy. She remembers being asked at the time “If you continued studying, what would you do?” She says “I thought about chaplaincy, but I thought not yet, that’s something for future me.”

Lauren found work in a curtain and blind company where she learnt skills in logistics and gained an understanding of professionalism. (It also means she’s likely to take note of your curtains and blinds!) Yet God had planted that seed and he would bring it to fruition. This required Lauren to listen to his call. She reflects on the experience saying “When your working, in a full time job, as an adult you work there until it’s either taken out of your hands or you make the conscious decision to do something different.” Lauren wasn’t expecting to make such a decision but God was about to remind her of the importance of chaplaincy.

Lauren is involved in Bathurst Baptist Church which had a mission month where they heard from a variety of local and international ministries. One week they heard from school chaplains and another from prison chaplains. Each time Lauren’s ears pricked up and she thought “What a great job.” Then God spoke loudly. She had to travel a few hours away to a Beach Mission meeting and so was in a completely different area and attended a different church. In that service a lady shared that she was stepping down from her role at the church to study chaplaincy. Lauren had heard about chaplaincy three times in a row! That was the turning point. She began to investigate studying Chaplaincy herself. She points out that even though she felt God’s call he required her to respond by stepping out in faith.

Lauren doesn’t shy away from the fact that making such a conscious decision is challenging. She says “I am a planner. I like to plan things out. I like to see exactly where I'm going and what it's going to take to get there, and that's not how God likes to reveal things to me. He just gives me the very next step that I need to take.” That’s trust isn’t it. Trusting that God’s provision is enough.

Lauren expressed her trust in God by making the decision to change her work to allow her headspace to study. She now works in before and after school care.  She began her studies with a Graduate Certificate of Chaplaincy knowing that the courses are nested and build on one another. She is now completing the Graduate Diploma of Chaplaincy.

Studying the Graduate Diploma of Chaplaincy allows for specialisation in particular areas - Aged Care, Pastoral Care (Mental Health) and Spiritual Care. Lauren has chosen the pastoral care stream with subjects such as Mental Health Presentations in Chaplaincy and Spiritual care and Psychological Crisis & Trauma. She values that what she has learned can be applied everyday and she sees that the skills she has gained in this stream are transferable to a number of possible Chaplaincy positions.

When people ask her what kind of chaplain she is going to be she says “I don’t know, yet.” The yet is important. She is trusting in God’s provision at the right time just as she has throughout her studies. God is still sowing seeds through stories. A highlight of the course for Lauren has been hearing the stories of different chaplains. The ones that stand out to her are the stories of:

“Chaplains who work with people who have been left behind by society, like people who are in prison and society has said we don’t want to know about you. But the Chaplain can come alongside and say, well, actually I hold you in positive regard and I am not here to judge you. I’m here to bring Jesus' care.”

Learn more about studying Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care here