30th March 2012

Eastern Region Free Church Chaplains Prayer and Support Day

Almost every time that I have met with Free Churches Chaplains I have been asked “can we get together to pray and support each other”. Ongoing Spiritual Development is, I believe a key part of what makes a good professional Chaplain. It is all too easy just to do what we do, and not to think why do we do what we do. As people who witness the trauma of others, offering care and support on a daily basis I believe that times like these are essential. Professor David Ford of Cambridge University has suggested that there is a need for fourfold deepening amongst Chaplains – deepening in the way we work as teams, deepening in the way we understand our multi-faith colleagues, deepening in the understanding of our institutional rules, and deepening in our understanding of our own religious tradition. This event was a first pilot at seeking to facilitate this fourth deepening; meeting with others of our own traditions (Free Churches) for support, to pray together, and for reflection from from a Free Church perspective. With this in mind I arranged a meeting in Ely for FC Chaplains from the Eastern region. 7 Chaplains (including myself) attended. We spent time in worship together, shared our personal journeys into Chaplaincy, explored “why do we do that” in relation to things that are outside of our traditional norms (eg. blessing rosary beads), ate together, prayed together, talked about Fair & sustainable, and hugged (a non-compulsory activity!). It was generally agreed, even if funding was not available, that two meetings of this sort per year would be really useful in terms of faith development and support. I carried out a post-day review, and the following comments were made :

“good to meet /know other FC chaplains (faces to names) from the Area”
“(Worship) very uplifting. A real blessing... (Prayer) edifying and spiritually strengthening ... (Study on Forgiveness) Very Informative ... It was a very inspiring meeting”
“uplifting and worthwhile attending”
“I thought the ‘exploring’ and ‘bible study’ aspects were really helpful.”
(National update) “This was good, but this need to be better organized”

Thank you from me to all who came – to be continued in a region near you! (Author: Bob Wilson)

Articles in this group

The Glory of Ascension
We Chaplains in the Free Church are often not very good when it comes to celebrating the Christian year. The ascension of Jesus, celebrated today being a point in case. In fact I am sure that if it weren’t for my Anglican and Roman Catholic ... (Author: Bob Wilson)

A second chance for us who make mistakes
Isn’t it wonderful that we have a God who understands that we get things wrong! Working as Prison Chaplains, we do find ourselves from time to time having to apologise for mistakes to Prisoners, Governors and other colleagues ... (Author: Bob Wilson)

God's words, our words, or both?
In Jeremiah 1, the prophet hears the call of God (v.6) and shares his sense of inadequacy. God has called Jeremiah to speak God’s word, yet Jeremiah says, “I am only a child, I don’t know how to speak”. As Chaplains, we each ... (Author: Bob Wilson)

HMP Chemsford
Friendly, professional and efficient. In trying to sum up my visit to HMP Chelmsford today I can think of no more accurate words than these. ... (Author: Bob Wilson)

HMP Hollesley Bay and Warren Hill
It was good to spend a day with Faizan, Margaret, Richard and Stephen, experiencing their hospitality today as I visited HMP Hollesley Bay and YOI Warren Hill. In common with all of us ... (Author: Bob Wilson)

Snowy day for Chaplains
Guest Blog by Jon Green of the Methodist Chaplaincy Development Project (Author: Bob Wilson)

Happy Christmas 2012
Naturally this week I have been thinking about the Christmas story as we prepare to celebrate with family and friends over the Christmas season. I was at my 5 year old niece's nativity play the other day... (Author: Bob Wilson)

Giving thanks this Prisons Week
Thursday 22nd November 2012 is celebrated in the USA as “Thanksgiving”. During the American Civil War, Abraham Lincoln declared a national day of “Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens”. ... (Author: Bob Wilson)

What we say and what we do
“Those who live by the sword will die by the sword”…..is a statement by our Lord Jesus which may seem to have little relevance to peace-loving Free Church Chaplains! In the last couple of weeks we have (Author: Bob Wilson)

Authentic Faith
Chaplaincy is nothing if not an active form of ministry. In my last reflection I encourgaed us to consider the benefits of sitting still, and waiting for God to speak. The flip side of this is of course found in James 2; (Author: Bob Wilson)

Waiting for God ... Oh
Here is offered the secret of faith. We are to wait upon God! Personally I'm not always good at waiting. I spend too mauch time waiting for ... trains, traffic lights, pedestrian crossings, security clearance checks to get done! Yet the Psalmists often (Author: Bob Wilson)

Olympic Fever
With our attention turned towards the Olympics this week I'm sure that many of our scripture reflection will find us being challenged to “run the race that is marked out for us.” (Hebrews), or "press on to win the prize". Over the next few weeks (Author: Bob Wilson)

HMP Full Sutton
Visit to HMP Full Sutton where we discussed FC provision, and the desire to develop this (Author: Bob Wilson)

HMYOI Wetherby
Visit to HMYOI Wetherby. Remand and training prison for boys aged 15-18. (Author: Bob Wilson)

HMP Stocken
Visit to HMP Stocken. (Author: Bob Wilson)

HMP Woodhill
Evening visit to HMP Woodhill, Milton Keynes (Author: Bob Wilson)

HMP Isle of Wight
Visit to HMP Isle of Wight. Invited by Eric Maple, Free Church Chaplain (Author: Bob Wilson)

Regional Chaplaincy Training
Knowing, Understanding and Supporting. Regional Chaplaincy Training Event. Newbold Revel. (Author: Bob Wilson)

HMP The Bure
Visit to HMP The Bure, Norfolk (Author: Bob Wilson)

HMP Blantyre House
Visit to HMP Blantyre House Resdettlement Prison (Author: Bob Wilson)

URC Chaplaincy Day
URC Chaplains Day. 24th Feb 2012. The first Chaplaincy day for URC Chaplains from many sectors of ministry (Author: Bob Wilson)

Blogs and Tweets
Visits to Prisons, Conferences, Training (Author: Bob Wilson)

Salvation Army Chaplains Training
Salvation Army Chaplains Training Event, Swanwick (Hayes Conference Centre), 1st-2nd Feb 2012 (Author: Bob Wilson)

HMP Peterborough
Visit to HMP Peterborough, 23rd January 2012 (Author: Bob Wilson)

HMP Shrewsbury
Visit to HMP Shrewsbury, 18th Jan 2012 (Author: Bob Wilson)

HMP Verne
Visit to HMP The Verne, 6th Jan 2012 (Author: Bob Wilson)