The Basics of Chaplaincy

The primary text for this assignment will be Essential Chaplain Skill Sets: Discovering Effective Ways to Provide Excellent Spiritual Care by Keith Evans.  This paper should be in APA format.   Your final paper should be between 10 and 15 pages.  Students who have previously taken CH100 (which is no longer offered) may obtain the same grade for this assignment as the grade they received for CH100 by merging the relevant sections of the papers used for that course to fulfill this assignment.  Please advise the instructor if you elect to do this, and specify your prior grade. 

 Part I:  Understanding Chaplaincy.  Describe the ministry of chaplaincy; set forth some basic distinctions between chaplaincy and other ministries; discuss some basic requirements for effective chaplaincy; describe the healthcare chaplaincy certification process; and identify other types of chaplaincy.

 Part II:  Chaplaincy Skills and Tools.  Describe at least six broad skill sets used in chaplaincy, and the two specific chaplaincy tools known as verbatims and spiritual assessments.  As part of this discussion, state which of the spiritual assessment models identified by Evans you prefer and why, and which of  Evans’ verbatims you consider to be the strongest and the weakest and why. 

 Part III:  Spirituality, Worldview, and Religion.  Explain the concepts of spirituality, worldview, and religion, and briefly critique Evans’ discussion of world religions, stating what was helpful and what might create a stumbling block.  As part of this critique, state whether and why you agree or disagree with his description of your own faith tradition (or the tradition with which you are most familiar), and the degree to which you would be likely to rely on Evans’ description in your work as a chaplain, or what you might do instead.