As chaplains we have the opportunity to set the challenge and question of Jesus Christ before those we encounter, and to do so free of the intimidating and alienating ‘container’ of an institutional church. In our work, people relate to us first and foremost as individuals whose name is known: this is our privilege and our opening. We can be catalysts of a fresh encounter with Christ for those who are confused or wearied by the claims of the church, or become a conduit for a consideration of Christ on the part of those who would never otherwise have even considered this a possibility. To act in this way means holding and understanding our identity as Anglicans in a careful and reflective way so as to be primarily witnesses of Jesus not dispensers of a church-packaged Christ.
But in an Anglican university, are we not saddled with an inevitable institutional weight? Our position as Anglicans is neither accidental not incidental to our post; it is commonly the subject of a ‘Genuine Occupational Requirement’. Thus is our bringing of Christ, despite our best intensions, complicated by our unavoidable, additional bringing of the church? But our role is not foremost to assimilate others to the church, to ‘sign them up’, but to introduce them to the Gospel. Ironically, to do this successfully, we need the nurturing support, resources and understanding of our particular ecclesial community!
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