Military Ministry – Chris Linzey

“Interestingly, although the chaplain has to be an ordained representative of an acknowledged faith group, the Chaplain Assistant does not have to be religious at all. We’ve worked with all kinds of Chaplain Assistants: religious and non-religious, Christian and non-Christian, ministry-minded and non-ministry-minded, personable and stand-offish, good and bad, male and female.”

~ Military Ministry: Chaplain in the Twenty-First Century

I was an Army Reserve Chaplain for 5 years and now an Active Duty Navy Chaplain going on 11 years. In my 16 years of uniformed service, I have been exceptionally blessed and fortunate to have some really good Chaplain Assistants! In the Navy we call them Religious Program Specialists and abbreviate it to RP. I maintain contact and relationships with almost all of the the Assistants and RPs I’ve ever had – the bond between Chaplain and RP can grow pretty significantly. You spend a lot of time together working towards a common goal.

One of the best I’ve ever served with was a young guy who was new to the Fleet when I arrived at 2D Marine Division. We hit the ground running as the Religious Ministry Team (RMT) at a Marine Corps infantry battalion. We went everywhere together. While doing workups for deployment, we participated in conditioning hikes, or humps/rucks, with every single company in the battalion. One time we even did two hikes in the same week! When the second hike was over, I promised my RP that we would never do two in one week again. 🙂

A good chaplain will make sure to take care of his/her assistant. For me, that meant making sure that my RP was present for every field exercise and training opportunity that the battalion had. The military chaplain can be hindered by a bad assistant, but our ministry is exponentially boosted by a a good assistant. I made sure that my RP was able to participate in every range the battalion had. One time one of our rifle companies was dropping mortars on a range, They asked if I wanted to drop rounds. Military policy says that chaplains will not do anything that would violate our non-combatant status. I politely told my Marines that, while I would LOVE to send rounds downrange, I could not in good conscience. I DID push for my RP to have an opportunity, and the Marines ran him through the safety and training and then let him drop mortars.

My RP was a Seaman at the time and was brand new to the Fleet. That didn’t slow him down at all. He managed all of the logistics for the Religious Ministry Team (RMT). He scheduled counseling appointments for me. He had a personal mission to make sure that the Ministry Team never brought disgrace upon the Chaplain Corps or made Chaplains and RPs look bad in the eyes of our Marines. He was the kind of assistant a Chaplain could trust to run the office no matter what happened or who was asking for help.

My RP and I deployed together with 2nd Battalion 8th Marines, an infantry battalion in the Marine Corps. While overseas, he never slowed down or missed a step. When he promoted to Petty Officer Third Class, he asked if I would pin on his rank. It was an honor to do so! After our deployment, 2D Marine Division split us up. He went to Headquarters and I went to a different battalion. When I learned that I was being extended in my tour to deploy again without an RP, I called Division and said, “Give me my RP back!” Then I jumped on the phone with my assistant and said, “Division is sending me out on another deployment. I don’t have an RP at the moment – do you want to deploy with me again?”

Without ANY hesitation, RP3 (Religious Program Specialist, Petty Officer Third Class) said, “Let’s go, chaps!” So we deployed again. My assistant and I had been together on both coasts of the U.S., deployed, to Asia, and now deployed to the Arctic. For three years, this man was my right hand. All of the logistics of the ministry team were handled with great skill. I wouldn’t have had the ministry success I had had it not been for the tireless work of my assistant.

A good chaplain will have their ministry exponentially enhanced by a great assistant. Because you never know who you will get, the savvy chaplain will make sure to pour as much time, effort, and energy into their assistant as they do into everyone else. It makes a difference in your success as a chaplain!

~ Chaplain Chris Linzey, United States Navy

See more about working with Chaplain Assistants in Chaplain Linzey’s new book, Military Ministry: Chaplains in the Twenty-First Century.

“Ministry can take many shapes. Some chaplains work in a chapel environment. Some chaplains never preach from behind a pulpit. They might serve communion from the tailgate of a Hummer or a truck….” ~ Military Ministry: Chaplains in the Twenty-First Century (page 187)

I wasn’t always a Navy chaplain. In fact, I went to Bible college so that I could train to be a pastor. I joined the staff of a tiny church in 1997 when I was still a student working on my degree in biblical studies. From that point on, I had been involved in church ministry of various sorts. I was a youth pastor. I was a music/worship pastor. I was a preaching pastor. I was an associate pastor. I was a senior pastor.

None of that put in my head the different kinds of places where I would be providing ministry as a chaplain!

One of my assignments was the command chaplain of USS FORT MCHENRY (LSD 43). An LSD is a Navy dock landing ship, an amphibious ship designed to carry Marines and their equipment overseas.

We were deployed in 2019 and were in the middle of the Persian Gulf during the Easter season. Following the biblical story of Easter, many Christians participate in a sunrise service on Easter morning. I asked the Sailors and Marines who participated in religious services on the ship if they would be interested in a sunrise Easter service while we were underway. They all said yes!

So I got permission from the chain of command to use the ship’s flight deck for our service. My Religious Program Specialist (the Navy’s version of a Chaplain Assistant or Religious Affairs Specialist) set up a table on the flight deck for a make-shift altar. We set up our cross and communion elements. I had an iPod and speaker for the music part of our worship service, and one by one my Marines and Sailors made their way out to the flight deck. As the sun rose over the Persian Gulf, we read the Easter story and celebrated the resurrection together.

Military chaplains of all faiths and traditions have amazing opportunities to lead services in places we never thought we would be. What does the shape of chaplain ministry look like? There is no single shape. We bring our ministry wherever the Service Members are. There is no ministry like it!