Beyond Church Walls: What Christian Leaders Can Learn from Movement Chaplains [Interview]

Beyond Church Walls: What Christian Leaders Can Learn from Movement Chaplains [Interview]

by Stacie Mickelson, Director of Applied Research & Consulting

People who profess no faith affiliation, often called "nones”—as in "none of the above"—comprise nearly 23% percent of the U.S.'s adult population. How do we develop meaningful connections with a generation that might never enter a church building? We sat down with anti-racism activist and spiritual director Tracy Bindel to discuss this question.

“How do we develop meaningful connections with a generation that might never enter a church building?”

SM: Can you tell me a little bit about yourself – what you do with your time?

TB: I spend a lot of time bolstering and equipping social justice activists in the Boston area and beyond. I do that through Lenten spiritual direction, and I also run Circles (supportive contemplation-action groups) mostly for young people—Millennials who are engaged in some sort of justice work in the world. 

SM: You use the term ‘Nones’. Can you explain what that is?

TB: It seems to be a word that is quite popular among faithful Millennials. There’s a group of people who are deeply spiritual and longing for deep and faithful community, and they aren’t willing to be affiliated with large institutional religions. 

SM: What is Movement Chaplaincy?

TB: It’s an emergent field. It’s somewhere at the intersection of the multi-faith chaplaincy that you would see in a university and the traditional chaplaincy like in hospitals. It recognizes that people are in the world doing work together and need support—and more dynamic support—to do this work for the long haul.  

At SURJ Boston, when we have meetings, between 3 to 500 people show up. When you have five hundred people anywhere, you need all kinds of support, you don’t just need programming. Conflicts come up. Interpersonal stuff comes up. People don’t know how to navigate bigger questions on race, privilege, etc. Those are actually spiritual questions. 

“[Movement Chaplaincy is] somewhere at the intersection of the multi-faith chaplaincy (that you would see in a university) and traditional chaplaincy (like in hospitals).”

There are a lot of deeply faithful people thinking about, How do we actually shepherd this movement towards health and wellness, as we seek to dismantle systems of injustice?

SM: Are there places for churches to engage in movement chaplaincy?

TB: I think there’s a huge need for churches to follow the leadership of people in movement building work right now. But there’s hesitancy I see. 

I don’t have a lot of criticism of the church. But I think we could be doing more if we would trust that the Spirit is working outside of our walls, and that it’s okay for us to wander out and not be afraid of what could happen. I think the hesitancy I see mostly has to do with fear of “those people”—a separation between spiritual and secular people, which I don’t believe really exists.

TIPS FROM THE FRONT LINES

If you’re interested in learning more about engaging ‘nones’ or getting involved in anti-racism work, Tracy has some practical tips for you:

1. Learn New Spiritual Language.

Listen to the podcast “On Being”, which brings together intersections in spirituality. It will give you the language to access people outside of the spiritual language that you currently have.  

2. Check Your Fear.

Consider what you internally fear in people who don’t have the same values and faith that you do, because God is not afraid of that. Ask yourself: How much of my discomfort is just language translation? Where do I need to learn how to speak a different language to reach and connect genuinely with these people? And where do I fear our differences in values?

3. Support & Learn from Those Doing Frontline Ministry in the 21st Century.

I think most people in the United States know it’s bad to be racist. But most people  don't actually know what it means to live into a practice of anti-racism. Go and find the people who do. I guarantee there are people in your community who are trying, whether that’s through meditation or policy work or legislation. There are different ways people are committed to practicing that value. Go and learn from them—that is applied spirituality.

4. Look For God Already at Work.

If we were to pose the question as, “What do you know about God?” rather than, “Do you know him or not?”, we would enter into a much more dynamic conversation. I just like to put on my curious exploration hat and say, “I wonder where God might be at this meeting? Maybe I’ll go see.”

5. Invest in Church-Based Community Organizers.

Anti-racism work is deeply spiritual. But there are thousands of people outside church walls who are also talking about it, and churches need to be in relationship with them—we need to be more coordinated and connected. Will your congregation support someone to spend dedicated hours each week coordinating with other parts of the movement to do this work well? My really big hope is for churches to hire community organizers to connect and organize congregations around these social issues.

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TRACY BINDEL

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Contact Tracy

Tracy is an anti-racism activist and spiritual director who describes her work as Movement Chaplaincy, an emergent stream of chaplaincy that supports activists and social justice movement builders. She is a co-founder of Freedom Beyond Whiteness, a nationwide network of contemplative action circles, and she works locally with the Boston chapter of Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ), a network of 3500+ people that is comprised of many small issue-based working groups.

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High-Rise Gospel Presence: A Case for Neighborhood Chaplains

High-Rise Gospel Presence: A Case for Neighborhood Chaplains

By Steve Daman

In recent blogs, we’ve been talking about Boston’s soon coming population increase and asking how the Church might prepare for that growth. Will some of Boston’s 575 existing churches rise to the challenge and create relational pathways to serve the many new neighborhoods being planned and built in Boston? 

We hope they will, and that church planters will pioneer new congregations among Boston’s newest residents. But can we do more? Might there be other ways to bring the love of Jesus into brand new communities? 

Asking the Right Questions

Dr. Mark Yoon, Chaplain at Boston University and former EGC Board Chairman, starts with a question, not an answer. “The first question that comes to my mind is: who are the people moving into these planned communities? Why are they moving there? What are the driving factors?” 

According to Dr. Yoon, thoughtful community assessment would be the obvious starting point. To launch any new outreach into these neighborhoods will require “serious time and effort to get this right,” he says. “Getting this right” will likely require innovative solutions.

Let’s assume, for example, that a community analysis shows that many of Boston’s newest residents are young, urban professionals. Dr. Paul Grogen, President & CEO of the Boston Foundation, noted recently, “Boston is a haven for young, highly educated people. Boston has the highest concentration of 20-to-34-year-olds of any large city in America, and 65 percent of Boston’s young adults have a bachelor’s degree or higher”, compared with 36 percent nationally.  

If the people moving into these new communities are affluent, educated young people, it is likely that many may be what statisticians are calling nones or dones. 

Nones are people who self-identify as atheists or agnostics, as well as those who say their religion is “nothing in particular.” Pew Research finds nones now make up 23% of U.S. adults, up from 16% in 2007. 

Sociologist Josh Packard defines dones as “people who are disillusioned with church. Though they were committed to the church for years—often as lay leaders—they no longer attend,” he says. “Whether because they’re dissatisfied with the structure, social message, or politics of the institutional church, they’ve decided they are better off without organized religion.”

Adopting New Church-Planting Models

It would seem likely that the dones and nones won’t be looking for a church in Boston—at least not the kind of church they have rejected. 

“To make inroads into these communities,” Dr. Yoon continues, “one’s gospel/missional perspective will be paramount. Most of our church leaders have old church-planting models that focus on certain attractions they roll out.” 

What will be required instead, he says, is a church-planting model “built on vulnerability and surrender, and skill on how to engage, and prayer.” This combination, he feels, although essential for the task, will be “a rare find!”

What, then, might be some non-traditional ideas for establishing a compelling Gospel presence in a brand new, affluent, high-rise neighborhood?

Neighborhood Chaplaincy

What if Christians embed “neighborhood chaplaincies” into emerging communities? Rather than starting with a church, could we start with a brick-and-mortar service center, positioned to help and serve and love in the name of Jesus Christ?

Imagine a church, or a collaborative of churches, sending certified chaplains into new communities to extend grace and life in nontraditional ways to new, young and/or affluent Bostonians. Could this be a way to implant a compelling Gospel presence among this population?

Picture a storefront in sparkling, new retail space—a bright, colorful, inviting and safe space where residents in the same building complex might make first-contact. I envision a go-to place for any question about life or spirit, healing or wholeness, a place where there is no wrong question, where Spirit-filled Christians are ready to listen and offer effective help.

The neighborhood chaplaincy office may serve as a non-denominational pastoral counseling center, offer exploratory Bible classes, and sponsor community-building events. As with workplace chaplains, neighborhood chaplains may serve as spiritually aware social workers, advising residents about such issues as divorce, illness, employment concerns, and such. They may be asked to conduct weddings or funerals for residents. As passionate networkers, they would serve residents by pointing them to local churches, agencies, medical services, and the like.

Community Chaplain Services (CCS) in Ohio provides one intriguing ministry model.  According to their website, CCS “is designed to offer assistance to those in need, serving the spiritual, emotional, physical, social needs of individuals, families, businesses, corporations, schools, and groups in the community.” This ministry grew from a community-based café ministry into a full-service educational resource and pastoral service provider. 

Other than this one example, a quick web survey uncovers little else. Given the ongoing worldwide trend toward increased urbanization, coupled with the biblical mandate to make disciples of all nations, including the urbanized communities, the lack of neighborhood chaplaincy models is surprising. One would think the idea of embedded chaplaincy among the affluent would have taken root by now. 

CURRENT Chaplaincy Models

Certainly, the core idea of chaplaincy has been around a long time and has seen various expressions around the world. One can find chaplaincy venues such as workplace and corporate, hospitals and institutions, prison, military, public safety (serving first responders), recovery ministry chaplains, and more. 

Community chaplaincy in high-crime or low-income neighborhoods is also widespread. Here in Boston, the go-to person for this kind of urban community chaplaincy is Rev. Dr. LeSette Wright, the founder of Peaceseekers, a Boston-based ministry working to cultivate partnerships for preventing violence and promoting God’s peace, and a Senior Chaplain with the International Fellowship of Chaplains. 

Through Peaceseekers and other partners, Rev. Dr. Wright initiated the Greater Boston Community Chaplaincy Collaborative, which has trained over 100 people to serve as community chaplains. Rev. Dr. Wright says their main work is to be a prevention and response team, “quietly serving in diverse places" to provide spiritual and emotional care among New England communities. 

Trained chaplains minister "everywhere from street corners to firehouses to homeless shelters, barber shops, nursing homes, boys’ and girls’ clubs; meeting for spiritual direction with crime victims, lawyers, nurses, police officers, doctors, construction workers, students, children, clergy, etc.”

“We do not have a focus on the affluent or the new high rises,” Rev. Dr. Wright admits. “We do not exclude them, but they have not been a primary focus.”

Who Will Pay For It?

Rev. Dr. Wright says that the biggest challenge she has faced establishing a network of community chaplains in Boston is funding. Some churches and denominations have provided missionary funding for chaplains. She says the interest and openness from the community for this initiative is high, and “with additional funding and administrative support in managing this effort we will continue to grow as a chaplaincy collaborative.”

If Boston were to plant neighborhood chaplaincy programs in new, emerging, affluent districts, funding would still be an issue. 

Rev. Renee Roederer, a community chaplain with the Presbyterian Church in Ann Arbor, Michigan, has been writing about this kind of outreach, asking the same questions. “What if we could call people to serve as chaplains for particular towns and neighborhoods, organizing spiritual life and community connections in uncharted ways?” she writes. “Who will pay for it?” 

Rev. Roederer further considers, “What would be needed, and what obstacles would have to be cleared, in order to create such roles? What if some of our seminarians could serve in this way upon graduation?”

“I’m a realist, knowing it would take a lot of financial support and creativity to form these kinds of roles,” she says, “but the shifts we're seeing in spiritual demographics are already necessitating them.”

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