From Belonging to Transformation: Using the BET Model as a Framework for Chaplaincy Ministry
Hurt people, hurt people. Any suffering that goes unhealed is mirrored in the lives of others – may it be family or friends. Yet, chaplains are tasked with the responsibility of reversing this cycle working in professionally unconventional setups. In the words of Alan T. Baker chaplains work in a unique environment where they are needed to undertake ministry outside the church often in secular settings such as hospitals, prisons, military installations, and schools among others. He correctly acknowledges that a chaplain will minister to people of diverse faiths and to people who have neither entered a church nor have the urge to do so during their lifetime (Baker, 2021).
Those of us that are called to play such a specialized yet noble and highly consequential role equally need targeted and deliberate guidance to enhance their work. Having worked on the Belong, Embrace, and Transform -BET model of healing over the years, I have continuously applied my mind to the question of how this framework can offer practical solutions to chaplains in the quest to restore disoriented minds, hearts that suffer pain, and lives that are in disarray. To do that, it’s important that we first understand the core functions of a chaplain and put them into perspective.
Let’s put the challenges into perspective
The populations that chaplains support, whether in prisons, hospitals, and some military situations, often suffer from a range of challenges that significantly affect their mental, physical, spiritual, and psychological welfare. Mental distress happens to be one of the most impactful challenges affecting the aforementioned populations usually caused by living in restricted environments, loss of autonomy, violence, and performance pressure.
In some cases, the affected individuals, such as those serving prison sentences, face stigmatization during and after imprisonment as most of them are considered to have failed. The impact of these aspects of the affected individuals is further amplified by physical and emotional isolation having been cut off from loved ones, bullied by others, and lack/or lack the much needed support.
Yet, dehumanisation of the affected populations where people are treated as cases, inmates, students, or cadets rather than human beings with feelings and loved ones is usually a big challenge as identity gets lost in the institutional bureaucracies. The impact of identity loss is further magnified by the impersonal, and sometimes the violent treatment, meter out on them within these settings.
In setups where the staff are not properly sensitized about proper handling of the subjects in question, the risk of creating a toxic environment is significantly high. Considering that most of the aforementioned institutions are characterized by power imbalances and misuse of authority, the affected individuals are exposed to instances of gender-based violence, abuse, intimidation and neglect. In instances where the institutions suffer underfunding, other environmental issues such as overcrowding further worsen the situation and escalate the toxicity.
What are the key functions of a chaplain?
Alan Baker conceptualizes four major roles of chaplains in their quest to restore the lives of those who they serve and interact with. He recommends that effective chaplaincy involves providing, facilitating, caring, and advising their subjects as well as institutions.
Based on the soul-centered theology of chaplaincy, the primary role is providing presence and a platform where the silenced and forgotten voices are listened to and heard. With such a connection, the individual feels safe to share their fear, pain, and doubt confident enough that their story is safe and faces no risk of being judged. Interestingly, Baker terms chaplaincy as the “ministry of presence” where he indicates
“The chaplain’s first gift is attention — the ability to stay with another person’s reality until hope begins to breathe again.” — Alan Baker
In their facilitation role, chaplains exist in between the individual and the institutions, between faith and doubt, and between the sacred and the secular especially when dealing with non-believers who are equally worthy of God’s mercy. Facilitation in every sense of the word means building bridges and helping the voiceless to express their spirituality regardless of its language or doctrine. In a world where secularism is on the rise, modern chaplains are called to practice hospitable and agile spirituality open enough to accommodate the christians, the skeptical, the Muslims, and the Hindus among others focused not on controlling faith, but offering an opportunity for faith to breathe. The chaplains act of facilitation, therefore, becomes both a spiritual and a political act that resists the idea of reducing humans into statistics and promotes the fact that people are souls that seek and are worthy of connection.
Caring means that we, as chaplains, have to continually hold the fractures of painful human experience without turning away from such suffering even when there’s a realistic urge to do so. Baker puts it passionately saying that a chaplain has to become “the mirror of human dignity” in a world that seeks to erase it. The chaplains are called to provide a safe space where institutional bureaucracies cannot reach in the spirit that such care is not meant to fix but to accompany the affected. It constantly reminds the person that they are not alone in that instance of meaninglessness, and provides assurance for company until they rediscover their light once more.
Lastly, in their role as advisers, chaplains are required to be a compassionate and the empathetic voice of reason to guide institutions in policy making that preserves and protects human dignity regardless of the operations circumstances and needs. In light of the aforementioned noble roles that chaplains are entrusted in, how can we then apply the BET model to accomplish them in the clamor to restore lives.
Belonging: Compassionate Spaces of Acceptance
Humans are primarily social beings that will most likely find it difficult to thrive and happily live in circumstances of isolation, abuse, violence, and stigmatization. In moments where the affected individuals are required to live away from their loved ones, there is always the inherent risk to lose identity as one they find themselves away from the social circle that cares and understands them. The only way to start true healing is creating a compassionate platform for acceptance where people feel seen, heard, and at home despite lacking in many social aspects.
In Luke 8: 43-48, we are told of a woman who had been bleeding for 12 years yet nobody could heal her. When she touched Jesus’ cloak, Jesus felt power going out of him. When Jesus asked who had touched his cloak, the woman trembled in fear because she had been isolated and considered an outcast by society due to her condition. Knowing that she could not go unnoticed, she fell at his feet and explained why she had touched him and how she had healed instantly. But Jesus said unto her,
“Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace”.
In a society that had segregated her for the ailment, Jesus provided a safe space for her to be heard and considered. In the eyes of those surrounding Jesus, the bleeding woman should not have been allowed to touch the cloak of a man they considered too clean to associate with those isolated in the society. Among the disenfranchised setups, chaplains need to forest create a safe connection so that prisoners, patients, and military personnel among others restore their sense of community amidst illness, fear, and isolation. After spending time in treatment sessions or warzones, the individuals reestablish connection not only with community, but also God in which case the presence of chaplains is pastoral in itself. It reminds the person in question, “You are not alone”. We love you and there is a space and a platform to tell your story even if without us offering instant solutions. As Jesus encountered the bleeding woman, he restored her both physically and socially, affirming her sense of belonging after years of segregation by her own community. In the same light, chaplains are called to enhance inclusion among the isolated, offer compassionate companionship to erode stigmatization and fear.
Embracing: Healing Identity and Restoring Hope
In some of the settings that require the intervention of a chaplain, the affected people struggle with mapping their life’s purpose in the broader context of suffering encountered. The existential suffering transcends physical struggles into emotional distress asking questions like “Why me?”, “What is the meaning of this suffering?”, or “Where is God in my pain?” Most of the affected people do not fully embrace the situation, hence a prolonged moment of regret and guilt for decisions they made in the past that led to the current state of suffering especially for those in prison. The aspect of embracing can be used to facilitate acceptance in order to fully accept the current situation with the hope that a better future awaits that and that it relies on the decisions they make now. Chaplains are called to employ strategies such as reflective dialogue and pastor counseling meant to take the affected persons through the journey of self-discovery and come to terms with the current situation. The idea is to ensure they face their vulnerabilities with faith rather than fear and uncertainty. A mother who lost their child during birth, for instance, might struggle with feelings of guilt as well as anger. Embracing and acknowledging the patient’s grief helps them open to God’s comfort and reclaim their character as a person worthy of being loved and loving again. Clinical pastoral Education becomes helpful in integrating lived experience and theology to guide patients, students, and soldiers back to healing.
Transforming: Empowering Purpose and Wholeness
“When we are healed, we become healers.”
Transformation in chaplaincy goes beyond recovering from an ailment or dealing with mental distress ocassioned by isolation, violence, and/or abuse. The BET model conceptuaizes a situation where healed people become healers to help in reversing the cycle where the hurt people hurt others. In chaplaincy, transformation can be achieved by recruiting those that have been healed to showcase their testimonies and creating communities of the healed.
This is a a powerful approach as it provides lived examples of what restoration can do and the promise that healing holds. In a hospital situation, for instance, patients that have undergone their procedures successfully could be invited to mentor others that are going through difficult medical procedures or rehabilitation from addiction. This ensures that their stories are reframed to become the living testimonies of grace.
Transformation, however, goes beyond the patients to the healthcare staff especially in environments that tax the workers emotionally, professionally, and physically. Chaplains could apply the concept of transformation to help nurses, doctors, and social workers rediscover their calling as a tool for providing, caring, facilitating, and supporting despite the hardships that are involved in the process of fulfilling these responsibilities. Transforming how the professionals view their work more as a calling than a job and providing spiritual nourishment enhances resilience within the ranks of the organization
Parting Shot
The BET model provides chaplains with a comprehensive framewor through which suffering can be addressed bibilically using approaches that mirror Jesus’ ministry. Through this model, people facing imprisonment, rehabilitation, hospitalization, and military services are invited into belonging, affirm their identity by shuning regrets to fully embrace the situation, and find guidance towards self-transformation and that of others.
