A couple of our favourite pastimes over summer are well served by chaplains
Our summer sports have well and truly kicked off and cheers to all you chaplains out there caring for those sporting communities, it’s not too late for chaplains to be appointed for this summer season so don’t hold off any longer if you want to be a chaplain for this summer season let us know and we can start your journey off.
Life Saving Chaplains
A quick highlight on our surf life saving chaplains – As you hit the beaches, it’s been great to see the number of chaplains here grow so well done to all involved – but know there is great opportunity to place many more chaplains in this space so if you, or someone you know, is interested please get in touch.
Back in Feb 2017 I was running a Level 1 chaplaincy training in Coffs Harbour and the minister of the church we held the training in was chatting to me prior to the the training actually starting, asking all about what sports chaplaincy is and how it works. At the end of that conversation he mentioned a guy at another church a town or 2 over that he thought might be interested in the surf life saving club, saying he was already involved in the club. So i connected him to the LSCA CBT (Russ Harmon at that stage) and after a few conversations and some training and accreditation Keith got started, he is now entering his 2nd season as chaplain and here are a few comments on his journey.
‘As a minister i have found the weekends to be a challenge to be available but have found being on patrol with the guys and girls has been such an opportunity to connect and to engage with the local community’.
Keith has been an advocate for chaplains in the area and helping change mindsets and understanding to what the role of a chaplain is across the different churches. Keith has found himself engaging with lay people in all different churches and encouraging them to potentially step into the role of sports chaplain.
‘Seeing lay people who might be better suited to be accessible on weekends for this particular sport and to engage and care/support their local communities.’
Keith has been well accepted in his community and as the role of chaplain is growing and the requests are becoming more, we are looking at how a team of chaplains might work to ensure the needs of the different communities within the club are being looked after.
Thanks Keith for all that you do and this is just one story among many we could have shared about our Life Saving chaplains.
Cricket
This is definitely a defining sport of Australian culture and i’m sure lots of you have opinions on Cricket Australia and our current teams representing the nation – but thankfully as chaplains we are here to support people and care for them, not get caught up in opinions, causes, player bannings or anything else haha.
Cricket is a sport in which we have chaplains right across the country – from the elite to the local – and is a sport where we are seeing opportunity to place many more chaplains, in juniors, men’s and women’s.
Here is a story we filmed earlier on in the year around heathmont cricket club, highlighting the role of a chaplain in a cricket club: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUtKlkjGYSo
Here is also an article from Vision 180 on Marnus Labuschagne: https://vision180.org.au/2018/04/14/playing-gods-game-marnus-labuschagne/
We can report we do now have a chaplain in Queensland cricket!