How to Become a Chaplain

Chaplains are religious professionals who work in a variety of locations such as hospitals or jail facilities in order to offer pastoral care to a specific group of individuals. There are several qualifications a person must have before she can become a chaplain.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

1. Have religious experience. The level of religious experience needed depends on where you plan to be a chaplain. Some places require a degree in Divinity or Theological Studies. Other places only require an endorsement from a specific religious organization and an active ministry history.
2. Understand different religions. Regardless of her personal religious doctrine, a chaplain must minister and provide objective crisis intervention, emotional support and spiritual support for people who do not belong to one unified religious body. She may even be called on to perform last rights or other religious ceremonies outside of her specific religion.
3. Lead worship. Some chaplains will have a set schedule of worship times during which they will be responsible to lead the service. This could include offering communion and prayers as well as accepting confessions or prayer requests.
4. Maintain confidentiality. Chaplains must be trustworthy. By law, there are some things that a chaplain will have to report to a law enforcement agency. Most of what is said is to be kept between the person, chaplain and God.
5. Be on call 24 hours. Depending on where a chaplain is employed, he might be on call 24 hours a day. Hospitals and the Army have high stress situations involving death and often have people in need of a chaplain during non-traditional office hours. A person's spiritual health may rely on the chaplain being able to attend to their needs at any time of day or night.
6. Handle stress and crisis situations. A chaplain will hear and see various crisis situations throughout their time as a chaplain. Chaplains can be certified to enter jail facilities, emergency rooms and accident scenes. The emotional, physical and spiritual distress of the people they minister to will often cause stress and tension in the chaplain.