Ordination
Achieve
Ordination
Most Chaplain students seek to be ordained as a Chaplain. A person who is ordained has gained official status as a Chaplain through a sanctioned process through education and commitment to Chaplain and ministerial functions, according to the ordaining organization.
The word Ordained comes from the root meaning “order,” and when someone is ordained, they have been brought into that religious order or group of church leaders. Ordained is also the past tense of the verb ordain, meaning to invest someone with such authority. Ordained Chaplains have a number of responsibilities and are expected to reflect and model the faith which they profess and teach.
Each organization has specific tasks and guidelines that must be achieved to be able to attain the Ordination and perform the unique functions set aside for Chaplains. Traditionally, to be ordained a person must be baptized, of good moral character, and convinced that they have a divine calling to the position. Living Shield Ministries believes that: A Chaplain is a spiritually-called, crisis management trained minister who is certified and ordained by a chaplaincy organization and endorsed by their church. The chaplain’s primary role is to provide spiritual care to people in crisis, in their place of crisis.
To achieve the required skills, LSM has identified a number of courses that a student is required to attend and master the skills. These courses are:
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- Ministering to the Suffering
- The Grip of Grief & Trauma
- Crisis of Faith
- Self-Care
- The School of Chaplaincy
At the completion of these courses, a student is required to have a Pastoral Recommendation letter submitted (sometimes known as an Ecclesiastical Letter) from their Church indicating that the student is actively involved in their church and that they believe that the person is well suited to be ordained as a Chaplain. In addition, they must successfully complete a background check.
Upon completion of these items, Living Shield Ministries will ordain a person as a Chaplain, having met and demonstrated the required skills. The student will then be awarded a Certificate of Ordination.
To begin the process, download the form and follow the outlined steps. It will take some time to complete the application.
For the renewal application, download it and follow the outlined steps in the document.
What course paths are available to pursue?
The Living Shield Ministries curriculum is designed to enable people to gain the necessary skills to minister to hurting people in what even environment they choose to pursue.
The goal is to provide targeted material and courses to match the path objectives of each student. Though looked upon as spiritual, a chaplain’s primary purpose is secular in nature, for he/she can provide crisis intervention to those who have experienced trauma in their lives. A trained chaplain can provide both emotional and spiritual care to people.