If you have an interest in serving God and our country as an Army chaplain, here are some pointers for beginning your journey to soldier ministry. These suggestions are based on my own experience and knowledge and do not necessarily reflect official Army doctrine or policy.
Chaplaincy qualifications
To serve as a chaplain, you must fulfill these basic requirements:
- Be ordained.
- Receive an ecclesiastical endorsement for chaplaincy from your denomination or endorsing organization.
- Have a bachelor degree of at least 120 semester hours from an accredited school.
- Have a Master of Divinity from an accredited school (or a graduate degree in theological studies, with at least 72 semester hours).
- Be able to pass a military entrance physical exam.
- Be able to receive a Secret security clearance.
- Have ministry experience.
Chaplain candidate qualifications
If you do not yet meet all the requirements for appointment as a chaplain, you can work on completing them while you train for military ministry by serving in the Army chaplain candidate program.
To serve as a chaplain candidate, you must fulfill these basic requirements:
- Receive an ecclesiastical approval for the chaplain candidate program from your denomination or organization.
- Have a bachelor degree of at least 120 semester hours from an accredited school, or be in your last semester of undergraduate studies.
- Be enrolled in graduate theological studies at an accredited school, or have been accepted for admission to such a program in the next enrollment period of the school, or have completed such a program and be actively engaged in a process leading toward ordination.
- Be able to pass a military entrance physical exam.
From this point forward, I will focus on information for chaplain candidates, beginning with inquiring about the program to accessioning to active duty. Some of this information may be useful for persons who already have completed seminary and are ordained and, thus, are seeking to be directly accessioned to the Chaplain Corps. Some of it may also be useful for chaplains and chaplain candidates in the Air Force and Navy. However, I am specifically targeting Army chaplain candidates.
Please note that this is an ongoing series of short articles. In order to see the list of articles available to date, you must view this article in its archived format by clicking the title of the article. At the bottom of each article in the series is a list of available articles. You may leave comments or ask questions by filling in the comment box at the bottom of any article or you may contact me directly.
I hope you will find this series helpful.
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[...] Father Daniel Sparks, an Anglican priest, begins a series of articles about the Army chaplaincy, particularly the chaplain candidate program. As a means of helping those who come behind him, he offers advice based on his own experiences and accepts questions from curious souls. [...]
Question: I attended a Catholic Mass at an AFB today, and the Deacon was an AF Chaplain. Does the Army allow Deacons to become Chaplains. I ask, because I’ve thought about becoming a Permanent Deacon in the Catholic Church, and since I’m in the military (a LTC in the USAR), I wondered if a branch change would be possible if I did become a Deacon.
Thanks.
LTC Gravlee, the deacon at the service was not a chaplain. He was either a) an airman/civilian who is an ordained deacon (but not a chaplain) who volunteered to serve in the Mass, b) a civilian contracted to perform duties in the absence/vacancy of a Roman Catholic chaplain, or c) a chaplain candidate who is still completing the requirements for appointment as a chaplain.
Deacons cannot serve as chaplains because the DOD requires that chaplains be ordained sacerdotal ministers. Deacons are not authorized to celebrate the Mass; thus, they cannot be endorsed as chaplains. If the airbase does not have a Roman Catholic chaplain, it’s very likely that someone was brought in from the local area to fill in solely for the chapel service as a contractor.
As an 0-5, even if you were a priest, it would be very difficult for you to become a chaplain. (Battalion chaplains are typically captains; brigade chaplains are majors; lieutenant colonels serve as division chaplains; colonels serve as corps chaplains and higher; the Deputy Chief of Chaplains is a brigadier general; and the Chief of Chaplains is a major general.) If you did a branch transfer, the Army would allow you to serve as a major in a captain (battalion chaplain) slot; however, the Army will not downgrade you to a slot more than one rank below your current rank. Thus, as a LTC, you could not serve in a CPT slot; and, they would not allow you, as a new chaplain, to serve in a supervisory chaplain slot.
So, the long and the short of it is, if you want to serve as a deacon, you can do that without being a chaplain–but, if you wanted to become a priest and a chaplain, it’s too late in your career to make the change.
I hope this info helps; if you need more clarification, please ask.
Father,
I have a BA in Sacred Theology and I am finishing my M-Div. degree as we speek. I attend a non-denominational community church in my area. They have agreed to ordain me. The church usues St. Lukes Evangelical Christian Church as the provider of their pastor’s ordination credentials. I wish to become a chaplain. My degrees are accredited and I know that I will meet the physical requirements, but will my non-denominational ordination meet the ordination requirement? I am thinking of joining the Navy Reserve. Sorry, they don’t have an awesome forum like yours! I saw that one of the requirements is that I am an ordained minister from one of the more than 100 RECOGNIZED religious denominations. What is considered “recognized?” Is the military saying that they only consider these 100 denominations as legit? Doesn’t this “recognization” of certain denominations violate my right to religious freedome? Who is the Government to decide which religions or denominations are real religious organizations and which ones are not? Can you please explain? Thank you and God bless!
Shawn,
My current denomination does its own endorsements for chaplaincy to the military. However, the denomination to which I previously belonged went through a third party organization in order to endorse chaplains. Why the difference? Some independent churches don’t wish to belong to denominations, fellowships, or networks, and they don’t wish to seek status as an independent endorser; so these churches may have their chaplains endorsed by a third party. Likewise, some denominations are small and do not wish to seek status as independent endorsers–and, so, go through third party umbrella organizations.
The military refuses to be involved in the ordination requirements, seminary programs, or ministry experience requirements of any denomination or faith group. Instead, the DOD has a set of guidelines by which any denomination may represent itself as a bona fide religious group and seek status as an endorser. The DOD does not get involved with requiring faith groups to believe or not believe anything. However, it must verify that a denomination has control over its clergy before they are admitted to military service. For an example of why this is important: if a denomination withdraws its endorsement of a chaplain (say, because the chaplain is living an immoral lifestyle or no longer confesses the same basic doctrines as the denomination), the military will generally separate that chaplain from service within 48 hours. Thus, the denomination is the one which decides whether the chaplain is being faithful to his religious beliefs.
The DOD does not prohibit any organization from applying for recognition as a military chaplaincy endorser. It does review the organization’s administrative data to verify that it is a real religious organization. Otherwise, to give an absurd example, the First Church of Al Qaeda might endorse one of its terrorists as a military chaplain, and then the “chaplain” (who might have absolutely no ecclesiastical qualifications as a minister) might execute terrorist acts against the United States.
For more information, consult these files (.PDF):
Department of Defense Instruction, Number 1304.28. June 11, 2004. Subject: Guidance for the Appointment of Chaplains for the Military Departments. (Specifies how a denomination may seek status as an ecclesiastical endorser.)
DD Form 2088. Statement of Ecclesiastical Endorsement. May 2006. (The form which an endorser must submit to endorse a cleric for military chaplaincy.)
I am currently serving as an active duty soldier. I am a licensed missionary in my faith group. I am getting ready to start at Virginia Union University to obtain my Master of Divinity Degree. I have been on active duty for 12 years, and I will like to become an Army Chaplain. Is it too late in my career to apply for the Army Chaplaincy?
Rebecca,
I know that it has been a while since you posted. I would love to discuss the Chaplaincy with you. Please give me a call.
CH Ehler
(770) 363-0253
Chaplain Recruiter