Difference between who they are called to minister to, a pastor of a church is called

 You must post 2 replies of at least 200 words each by 11:59 p.m. (ET) on Sunday of the assigned module/week. For each thread, you should support your assertions with at least 1 citation in current Turabian format. Each reply should incorporate at least 1 citation.

Q1.

The difference between ministering in the context of a church compared with ministry in the context of chaplaincy in my opinion is a combination where you are called to minister and who you are called to minister to. In a church, you have a building that is your primary place to meet and minister to people. In the chaplaincy, the place that you spend time developing relationships within your organization is often outside the “church” structure. Instead, the best place to develop relationships and minister to people is out in their work environment where they are doing life.

As for the difference between who they are called to minister to, a pastor of a church is called to focus his attention on training up his congregation, whereas a chaplain is called to reach the varying spiritual needs of the people of the organization. With that in mind a Pastor can always have the position of one preaching the good news of Jesus Christ, but a Chaplain must often times meet in neutral at first, in order to be able to minister to that individual’s spiritual needs. The biggest difference here is when someone goes to a church they have a relative understanding of what they might receive, but for a person in an environment outside of a church they may not be expecting to receive anything at that moment or even hostile to the idea.

Q2.

My answer to this question depends on the type of chaplain we are talking about. If the Chaplain holds a faith different then Christianity then it is not necessarily fair to hold them to a standard that they do not believe in. On the other side if they are a Christian Chaplain then I do believe they should be held to the standard of I Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9 because they are still called to pastor the believers and be a witness to the unbelievers. Though a Chaplain has a responsibility to serve people of all faiths they are also hired with a specific denominational endorsement. This endorsement means that they are in line with their denomination’s beliefs and must continue to practice and preach the word of God. Their actions and lifestyle will be watched by all that wish to follow them, as well as those that wish to discredit them and these visible standards can become a determining factor for those thinking about leaving and those thinking about coming to faith in Jesus Christ.