On any given Sunday, most Americans do not attend church.
Most will, however, show up to work throughout the week. These individuals still experience times of uncertainty, personal and family turmoil, loss of loved ones and other moments where they may desire spiritual guidance.
Workplace chaplains seek to fill that void. Much like military, hospital or prison chaplains, workplace chaplains minister to those in need and offer counseling — they just do it in one’s place of employment, most of which are secular companies.
Although having chaplains in the workplace is not a new idea, the concept has gained increasing acceptance in recent years.
Alabama has at least four Baptist workplace chaplains, according to Mark Wakefield, an associate in the office of global missions of the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions (SBOM), who serves as the state chaplaincy strategist.
Corporate, or workplace chaplains, are not required to connect through the North American Mission Board or SBOM, so the number is difficult to pinpoint in the state, Wakefield said.
The largest and oldest workplace chaplaincy organization is Marketplace Chaplains USA, a group founded by former Baptist General Convention of Texas employee and military chaplain Gil Stricklin.
It includes more than 2,800 chaplains serving in 46 states and six other countries. Marketplace Chaplains reports a strong increase in their numbers over the past decade, with 2015 bringing the most new client companies in any year of the organization’s three decades of operation.
The main focus of workplace chaplains is to provide “emotional and spiritual care as part of an overall Employee Assistance Program focus,” Wakefield said.
Assistance may include informal counseling, encouragement, crisis intervention, providing a safe place to talk and teaching stress management, Wakefield said, who noted he’s been aware of workplace chaplains for about 15 years.
A familiar face
Rich Shockey, Marketplace Chaplains division director for Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska, also serves as a chaplain in a couple of offices in the Kansas City area.
He noted that by visiting the workplace, getting to know people and being a familiar face, chaplains are more than a phone number to people and therefore are more likely to be approached by people in times of need.
“When crisis comes — and it probably will at some point in their life — then they think of the chaplain because they know them,” Shockey said. “We have the opportunity to provide spiritual care and support and to share the gospel.”
Shockey noted that since chaplains in his organization are contracted by companies — instead of serving as an employee of the company they serve — they can “protect confidentiality” and “maintain neutrality.” Chaplains can therefore serve “the CEO and the person pushing the broom.”
Additional benefits
Wakefield said his experience and informal study have shown that “when employees sense that employers care about more than the bottom line, they are more loyal and productive.”
“Some evidence indicates that any legitimate crisis intervention provided to employees reduces sick time and workers’ comp claims,” Wakefield said.
Corporate Chaplains of America (CCA), a group with about 200 chaplains serving more than 450 companies in 42 states and a few international sites, echoed Wakefield’s comments, noting that chaplains help a company overall and not just the individual employees. CCA says chaplains in the workplace lead to lower employee turnover, higher reported job satisfaction, greater employee productivity and lower absenteeism rates.
All ‘by permission’
Kevin Bussey, a CCA chaplain, previously served as a Southern Baptist pastor. He noted that while workplace chaplains are not an attempt to replace churches or pastors, “our chaplains are often the only pastors that employees will encounter.”
“We get to know employees, their families, their dogs and cats, their hobbies and, of course, their sports teams,” he said. “Everything our chaplains do is by permission. We never force ourselves or our faith on the employees. If we are given permission then our chaplains will share our faith with the employees.”
Bussey said “the biggest blessing” he experiences as a workplace chaplain “is when I get a chance to share the gospel with an employee or family member.”
He recounts many stories of being able to minister to someone he built a relationship with as their workplace’s chaplain. He recalled praying with a young couple in the hospital who had just been told their infant would not live through the night — and then rejoiced when the child lived.
‘What God did’
He remembered “counseling a couple who was at the brink of divorce” and being “amazed at what God did” to bring the couple back together.
Wakefield said, “Workplace chaplaincy is an excellent example of taking the gospel to the world. Evangelism has to be done with discretion and not give the appearance of proselytization. If a chaplain provides good pastoral care, those discussions will naturally happen without being forced.”
(BNG, TAB)
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