Not Just Chaplains
As the chaplaincy tries to fill several hundred vacant positions, parachurch missions to the military are supplementing chaplains' activities with programs, materials, and missionaries. Worldwide, Christian organizations on and off U.S. military bases are running youth groups for military kids and welcoming off-duty soldiers into their homes, leading seminars and classes on Christian life, supplying chaplains with literature for soon-to-be-deployed troops, and providing many other services that overextended chaplains cannot.
More than 675,000 soldiers and their families live in the U.S. and abroad. The Army chaplaincy is "the largest young adult ministry in the world," said former Army Chief of Chaplains Gaylord T. Gunhus. With so many military family members involved, chaplains such as Lt. Col. Randall Dolinger can end up pastoring 1,500 to 2,000 people. "There's more ministry that needs to be done than chaplains can do," said Dolinger, a spokesman for the Army Chief of Chaplains Office in Arlington, Va.
Military missions operate with far fewer personnel than the chaplaincy, but organizations such as Campus Crusade still have a broad impact. They disseminate information about the gospel and Christian living through chaplains, train leaders among the troops, and maintain websites designed for soldiers, in addition to sending missionaries to bases.
If some military ministry leaders say they have not experienced the chaplain shortage as a crisis, it may be because the number of chaplains is larger than in the 1990s.
War, however, has strained chaplains and ministries even as they grow. Military Missions Network president Gary Sanders says the greatest need for ministry may be at home—multiple deployments, extended tours (now at 18 months), and a high rate of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder among veterans put tremendous pressure on military families. Civilian ministries can't operate in combat zones but can have direct contact with troops and their families on bases.
Jeff Campbell feels that ministry as a civilian allows him to specialize and to get more face time with the military kids he ministers to than he would as a chaplain. "Any time there's a shortage, I end up having more opportunities to have meaningful ministries," Campbell said. He is director of Malachi Ministries, the youth ministry branch of Cadence International. Cadence International is a Christian military contractor that encompasses Malachi Ministries and hospitality ministries for soldiers on leave. As the chaplaincy looks for ways to expand its reach, Campbell said, anybody who wants to work with the military can run programs at the chaplain's invitation. "It becomes a great value for the government."
Dolinger explains how chaplains start a relationship with parachurch ministries. "Lots of people offer [services], and we use whatever comes our way," he said. However, "it's not equal time to all groups regardless of quality. We give them space commensurate with the impact they're having." Troops, whether in combat zones or at home, generally do not have much free time to spend in organized religious activities, he said.
The five largest parachurch military ministries are Campus Crusade's Military Ministry, Officers' Christian Fellowship, Cadence International, Association for Christian Conferences Teaching and Service (ACCTS), and the Navigators.
Sanders says that many people who work for these organizations have a military background themselves. "There's a lot of passion and a great burden out there among parachurch workers to reach their fellow servicemen and women with the gospel." Even to the initiated, the military is much like a foreign mission field, according to Sanders. "God, I believe, called me to be a crosscultural missionary to the military people group," he quipped.
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Malachi Guy
Joe, At least from my experience working in this setting (10 years) your statement is completely inaccurate. I am currently in Germany and how we are working here is how we have worked for the past ten years. We currently attend the main post chapel as per our chaplains instructions. The reason for that is it has the "heavier youth concentration". At the same time, we make time to attend all the services on a rotating basis. We are part of parish councils in each of our chapels and our youth group is not representative of just one main chapel. In fact, currently our youth group consists mostly of "non-chapel" attending youth as well as a healthy dose from each chapel. Our strategy is not to "look for the main chapel" or seek out "higher ranked families". Our heart and passion is to minister to military teens regardless of rank, race or denomination. If your experience was different, you have my profoundest apologies. My prayer is that it was an exception and not the rule.
John
My favorite military chaplain, is the Reverend Lennox Yearwood-he speaks the truth about the occupation of Iraq and the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp. Groups like Christian Embassy, just suck up to the powerful and condone what's going on-SHAME ON THEM.
fra59e
Problems arise when fundamentalists assume that their fringe view of Christianity is typical of Protestantism - let alone of Christianity. It is not. Fundamentalists have no authority to speak for Christianity as a whole. And in any case the US Government and the armed forces under its direction exist to serve the American people, not God or the church. The loyalty of every servant of the people must be not to the Bible but to the Constitution of the United States. Those who cannot accept this do not belong in the uniform of the United States military. The uniform of the Salvation Army is available for them.
Joe David
The problem with each of these parachurch organizations is that tend to minister to a narrow population. The more charasmatic, and nontraditional (read that, nonevangelical) congregations, families and soldiers and those who are racial minorities are very often ignored. Cadence, and Malachi and each of the others named look for the main post chapel folks where the higher ranked families are, and often never step foot in the more populated services where there is a heavier soldier and youth concentration.
Raymopnd Takashi Swenson
For members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, LDS chaplains facilitate access to chapel services and benefits for Mormons, but do not necessarily lead LDS congregations. All LDS adult males are eligible to be ordained as ministers, which many do as they serve two year volunteer missions at age 19. When several LDS service members gather, they have authority and experience to conduct all kinds of church services. LDS chaplains have generally earned an MA in religious studies, often after other military service. Support to LDS soldiers and families of deployed soldiers comes from local congregations, as well as from married couples serving as volunteer unpaid missionaries for a year at a time, usually after the husband has retired from military service, and therefore able to come and go on the installation. Such missionaries help transport servicemen to off-base churches, or if they must stay on base (as during Basic Training), help conduct meetings.