A chaplaincy is a specialised form of ministry where representatives of religious organisations work within an institution including hospitals (healthcare and hospice), prisons, educational establishments (eg universities and FE colleges) and businesses/commerce/industry. Often chaplaincy teams are made up of chaplains drawn from a range of church traditions, and Chaplaincy Local Ecumenical Partnerships can be found in many settings.
A great example of recent creative chaplaincy comes from Lowestoft and fantastic ways of supporting festival goers. Read about the fun of festival chaplaincy and school chaplaincy.
In ecumenical chaplaincy (involving chaplains from different church traditions), most chaplains sign a covenant that commits them to work together to meet the pastoral, spiritual and religious needs of the staff, clients and relatives. The chaplains work together as an ecumenical team with a strong sense of mutual commitment and sharing. They meet together regularly to pray, plan the work of the chaplaincy and offer mutual support. They may also have away days when they reflect theologically and liturgically together.
Useful links
- This leaflet on chaplaincy from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference provides very useful information.
- The Free Churches Group, representing a number of our Member Churches, provides supports for chaplains in education, health and prisons.
- Industrial chaplaincy information can be found on this website.
- Hospital chaplaincy information can be found on this website.
- University chaplaincy brings together a wide variety of Christian traditions, as well as representatives from other faiths and none, in order to meet students’ spiritual and wellbeing needs. A good example is Exeter University.
- School chaplaincy information can be found on this website.
- The Prison Fellowship (one of CTE’s Charities and Networks in Association) can help provide training for volunteers to work alongside busy local chaplains
- Sports Chaplaincy is another of CTE’s Charities and Networks in Association (see also our Mission and Sport page)
- There are also other creative opportunities for churches to partner together in more unusual settings such as shopping centres (there are good examples in Leeds, Exeter and Watford)
- Leaflets about Mission Partnerships and Education Partnerships from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference, while aimed at Catholics, are extremely helpful introductions to these two types of Local Ecumenical Partnership (LEP) (note that an education chaplaincy LEP is different from an education LEP, which is a joint school for example)
Note: If you are trying to write an LEP constitution, help is available in our LEP web section.