Hello and welcome to the inaugural edition of Tapestry, the newsletter of the Siburt Institute Chaplains Fellowship (SICF). For perhaps the past eight years, the Siburt Institute has been exploring and probing ways to serve and encourage ministers who respond to the call to chaplaincy. So it is was with great joy that we launched SICF in the summer of 2022, when we began an ongoing series of Lunch and Learn teleconferences for chaplains. With a great steering team of board-certified chaplains and a lot of interest from chaplains across the country, I’m delighted to see the initial vision to serve chaplains associated with the Stone-Campbell tradition and ACU come to reality.

One notable next step is the launch of this newsletter. The editorial team is comprised of gifted chaplains and the hope of the newsletter is to facilitate community and enhance the practice of chaplaincy. My hope is that you will participate in this community—read the newsletter, register for the quarterly Lunch and Learn teleconferences, correspond with the steering team, and share the news of this community with your colleagues in chaplaincy. Your participation strengthens the bonds of relationships; together, we are stronger and more resilient for the work God calls us to do.

Resilience is an important concept for persons in ministry contexts. Having the capacity to be in difficult spaces, over time, and still keep your head about you is no small matter. Resilience is a way of talking about that capacity. Research around the practice of resiliency suggests that a wide array of factors are in play. One leading study published as Resilient Ministry names five themes.[1]

The first theme is spiritual formation. Theoretical knowledge is not sufficient to navigate life’s knotty problems. Rather, a person in ministry practice needs also to have experiential encounters with the Divine. Such encounters, emerging through various spiritual practices, nurture the soul and prepare you for what lies ahead. The second theme is self-care. Taking take of your body and your mind encompasses physical, emotional, and mental needs.

The third theme named is fostering emotional and cultural intelligence. This factor attends to the way that we navigate our own emotions and the emotions of others—without falling prey to the deep fears and anxiety that often cover over the landscape. Fourth is the value that strong marriage and/or family systems hold in keeping us sane. So the operative question is whether a chaplain is attending to the family system that she is living in.

And fifth is the theme of systems of leadership and management. How do we attend to the these realities in our ministry contexts. Obviously some things are beyond our control. Yet other matters are within our capacity. Certainly, we can exercise the way in which we manage our own time and personal projects and exercise leadership to those above and below us within our organization.

Enough from me! Blessings to all of you in the work of caring for persons through chaplaincy. I look forward to seeing what unfolds for the Siburt Institute Chaplains Fellowship and I hope that you will make this community a safe and growing place for resilient chaplains!

Dr. Carson E. Reed
Executive Director, Siburt Institute for Church Ministry

1. Burns, Bob, Tasha Chapman, and Donald Guthrie. Resilient Ministry: What Pastors Told Us About Surviving and Thriving (2013).