At the front line of the Church’s mission

The Moderator with CO 1st Fusiliers (left) and Padre Chris Kellock (right)

AS part of the programme of duties and activities, each Moderator visits one branch of the armed forces and in February, Margaret and I spent a week at Amport House as guests of the British Army.

The history of military chaplaincy dates back hundreds of years and it was as long ago as 1796 that the Army Chaplains’ Department was founded by Royal Warrant.

With the prefix ‘Royal’ being granted by the King after the First World War, the Royal Army Chaplains’ Department (RAChD) is an integral part of the military establishment and the current Chaplain General, the Rev Dr David Coulter, is a Church of Scotland minister.

With the first Jewish chaplain being appointed in 1892, it took until 2002 for the RAChD to appoint its first female chaplain, and this was followed in 2004 with the appointment of the first civilian Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and Sikh chaplains on a tri-service basis

The purpose of the RAChD is to provide spiritual support, pastoral care and moral guidance to soldiers and their families and at present there are 142 regular chaplains and 70 reserve chaplains serving throughout the field army at home and overseas, in the Army Recruit training establishments and reserve units throughout the country.

We stayed at Amport House in Hampshire, the British Forces Chaplaincy Centre, where the Principal, the Rev Dr Scott Shackleton, is also a Church of Scotland minister.

Amport House has its own pattern of daily devotions and, as well as being able to join the congregation for morning prayers each day, I also had the privilege of celebrating the Lord’s Supper.

Our programme of visits began at the Regional Command Headquarters at Aldershot where the topics discussed included the Military Covenant, the Firm Base programme of training, and the welfare of soldiers and their families, and also of veterans.

Having heard something of the theory of how soldiers are trained and looked after, visits to Pirbright and Sandhurst, two of the army’s training centres, introduced us to the reality of military life.

The Army Training Centre at Pirbright is where the newest recruits to the army embark on their first 13 weeks of basic training, while the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst is the Officer Training Academy and Centre for Army Leadership where the army’s future senior leadership is trained. From the training centres we then visited the 1st Royal Regiment of Fusiliers at their barracks at Tidworth/Bulford where we met with many of the officers and soldiers in one of the army’s war fighting units.

Margaret also had the opportunity to meet with some of the chaplains’ spouses and army families including a group of Gurkha wives at Sandhurst.

If the programme of visits gave us an insight into how the army trains its newest recruits to its senior officers, as well as the opportunity to meet soldiers at every point of the process including those engaged in active service, it also gave us a fascinating insight into the role of chaplains.

Chaplains provide pastoral support and a listening ear to soldiers and their families, something clearly appreciated by the young men and women we met undergoing their basic training at Pirbright and Sandhurst.

However, it was very noticeable they also present the hopes and promises of the Christian gospel, lead worship, pray with and pray for, and minister to an age group of people largely absent from most of our congregations.

Our week with the army led me to realise military chaplains are at the front line of the church’s mission and Margaret and I will be glad to keep them in our thoughts and prayers.

This article appears in the April 2017 Issue of Life and Work

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