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Chaplains say Church must support
returning soldiers
By Kathy Gilbert

Standing before a gathering of military chaplains, the Rev. Tom Carter offered the same “simple, kind words” that chaplains have said to thousands of warriors on the battlefield.

“In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven!”

“I offered the life-giving service of communion while serving in Vietnam to many I knew would not return from war,” said Carter, a former military chaplain and director of endorsement with the United Methodist Endorsing Agen­cy, Board of Higher Education and Ministry. Chaplains in any war have offered the same, he added.

The February 12-13 gathering in Nashville of active and retired military chaplains marked the formation of a United Methodist task force working to teach the church to support and welcome service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

The United Methodist Endorsing Agency approves pas­tors to serve as chaplains in the military, hospitals, pastoral counseling, and other extension ministries. Currently, 359 United Methodist pastors serve as military chaplains.

The chaplains called it a privilege to bring the word of Jesus Christ to young men and women serving in the military during wartime. They said the United Methodist Church needs to honor the sacrifice of those serving.

“We all long for the day of peace and none more than the person who has to pull the trigger,” said the Rev. Dale White, who was chaplain for a Marine unit in Fallu­jah, Iraq, for 14 months.

The Rev. Laura Bender, chaplain and a training man­ager at the Naval Chaplains School in Newport, Rhode Island, said no soldier should have to go to war alone. “Who cares for those who (fight) on behalf of all of us?”

 “How will the church respond to troops returning from war?” asked the Rev. Neal Christie, assistant general secretary of the Board of Church and Society, the denomi­nation’s social advocacy agency.

“Troops and their leadership inevitably are expected to return to extended families—and especially children, congregations, places of work, neighbors, and other signifi­cant relationships—bearing the trauma of war in Iraq and Afghanistan,” said Christie. “What will be the church’s pragmatic, pastoral response to their homecoming when a return to life as normal is impossible?”

White described military chaplains as missionaries who bring the church’s perspective and assurances of God’s grace to military personnel. “We have a unique way of pre­senting God to an audience of 18 to 22-year-olds,” he said. “We bring them God, many of them for the first time.”

The chaplains told agency staff that returning from war is a journey—and being back doesn’t mean being home.

 Bender and others began working on a liturgy for “returning warriors” that acknowledges the pain of the “trigger puller,” cares for families, and makes a place for soldiers when they return.

“Politicians send women and men and their families to war,” said Christie. “Chaplains make a choice to offer a ministry of presence in this hellish situation.”

The task force discussed how the church can welcome, support, and use the experiences of chaplains to educate congregations. It will develop an action plan to be imple­mented under the oversight of the Board of Church and Society and Endorsing Agency.

Kathy L. Gilbert is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville, Tennessee.



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