“Where is your church now?”
I am an Anglican priest who has been serving for the past twenty years as a military chaplain, and I am so grateful for our Church’s involvement in, and support for, this unique and vital ministry. Our sailors, and soldiers and air personnel face many challenges as they attend to their duties in defending Canada. They and their families deserve the very best spiritual support we are able to offer them, and our Church has an important role to play in providing that support. At present, Anglican chaplains make up about twenty-two percent of Canadian Forces Chaplaincy, with approximately seventy-five of us Anglican clergy serving in the Regular and Reserve Forces, alongside our colleagues from more than a dozen different Christian denominations, and together with Jewish and Muslim chaplains as well.
All of our military chaplains, regardless of what faith tradition they come from, are expected to be able to provide a comprehensive ministry for the diversity of military personnel and families entrusted to their care. This unique approach to Chaplaincy in the Canadian Forces has led to the continuing development of a truly a multi-faith approach to ministry, which is focused on “ministering to our own, facilitating the worship of others, and caring for all.” As a result of this the CF Chaplaincy is becoming recognized throughout the world for its ecumenical and interfaith approaches to ministry within a pluralistic military environment.
In order for any our chaplains to be truly effective within this ecumenical and multi-faith ministry context, it is essential that they remain thoroughly grounded in, and well connected to, their own religious traditions and faith communities. Key to this for those of us who are Anglican Chaplains is the ministry of our Bishop Ordinary. The Bishop is kind of like a chaplain to the chaplains, and a chief pastor to the Anglican service men and women and their families. The Bishop prays for us, visits us, and cares for us pastorally and spiritually, and also keeps us well grounded within, and sustained by, our Anglican tradition. The Bishop represents the wider church to us, and of equal importance also represents us, and our stories, within the life and witness of the wider church.
“Where do you want the Anglican Church of Canada to be in 2019?”
As a military chaplain I have too often served in operational contexts where religious forces — either through complicity or complacency — have contributed (if even unwittingly) to the repression of their own people, or to the persecution of others. I have witnessed the consequences of religious extremism and intolerance, and have seen some of the malevolence that can be perpetrated in the pursuit of righteousness. It is my hope for the future of our Church, therefore, that we would seek continually to become a more effective force for healing and reconciliation within our own communities, and within our world, which desperately needs such humble witness and faithful service.
It is my sense that Jesus sought, throughout his ministry, to break down the barriers that separate us from one another, and from God, and I believe that he calls us to do likewise. The Apostle Paul, at many points in his writings, holds up for us an image of the Church as a model of reconciliation. Paul was convinced that in Christ all ethnic and racial distinctions had become obliterated, and by extension, all gender and social distinctions as well. In Christ a new humanity is created, one that is characterized by peace and reconciliation. Christ sought to move the “aliens” and “strangers” from the fringes of society into the inner circle, and not in order to displace those already in the inner circle, but that all might be one, together. Christ welcomed everyone into the household of God, but all too often, we appear to have forgotten these principles, and seem instead to be hard at work redefining “aliens” and “strangers”, and building new walls designed to separate and exclude.
My vision for the church in 2019, therefore, is that we would become a broader, and more welcoming and hope-filled church; one that celebrates diversity and embraces inclusiveness; one that focuses less on maintaining church buildings and structures, and more on building and maintaining church communities. My vision is that we would strive more fully to meet people where they’re at, and to journey more intentionally with them to where they are heading, learning to communicate the faith to them in ways that help them to make sense of their lives and encouraging among them the development of a practical and creative sense of their own nature as spiritual beings. My vision of the Church is that we would focus less on seeking to define right human belief, and more on seeking to defend a believer’s human rights. The Covenant that we need to breath new life into, and to embrace more fully, is the one we make in Baptism: to continue in the Apostle’s teaching and fellowship; to persevere in resisting evil; to proclaim by word and example the good news of God in Christ; to seek and serve Christ in all persons; and to strive for justice and peace among all people, respecting the dignity of every human being.
Colonel Rev Canon John Fletcher Military Ordinariate
