The world of school chaplaincy is incredibly diverse. Chaplains work within the distinct structures and patterns of their contexts while also bringing their agency, charism and flair to school-based ministry. Whenever I meet another chaplain, I love to ask, “what do you do at your school?”
I’d like to share a resource that allows us to ask chaplains throughout Australia, “what do you do at your school?” in relation to areas of ministry that any chaplain would recognise and say, “tell me more!”
Incarnational Ministry: A Practical Guide for Anglican School Chaplains is an online resource published in 2025 by Anglican Schools Australia. Rev’d Nick Russell, chaplain at Christ Church Grammar School and WA representative on the Anglican Schools Australia Chaplains Consultative Committee, has done a great job collating articles that speak to the ministry of school chaplains with breadth and depth.
Incarnational Ministry consists of 21 chapters addressing a range of topics including chapel services, sacraments, sacramentality, pastoral care, key relationships and boarding schools. All 21 chapters are rich with theological thinking and thoughtful application.
Along with the 21 chapters, Incarnational Ministry also includes several appendices which contain a plethora of fantastic examples of newsletter articles, sermons and homilies, devotions, prayers and liturgies.
A reading goal for 2026 could involve reflecting on one chapter a fortnight. I’ve printed the table of contents and have pasted it in my Professional Learning journal with a plan to tick off each chapter and appendix as I read it.
Considering the number of chapels I have before me in 2026, I’ve started with “Planning Relevant and Meaningful Chapel Services” (chapter 7) by Rev’d Tracy Gracey. I appreciated Tracy’s reminders about keeping the message clear and simple, being open to trying new ideas and have a clear vision for audience and purpose. “Structured, creative and interactive” are words that I’ll keep coming back to in my planning and practice.
Incarnational Ministry: A Practical Guide for School Chaplains is the kind of resource that I wish I had when I began school chaplaincy and one that inspires and informs as I continue the journey six years in.
As we head into our own spaces and places where incarnational ministry takes place the words of Rev’d Richard Browning, taken from “Chaplaincy as Presence and Substance: Nature and Purpose” (chapter 4), act as a commissioning for school chaplains.
After reflecting on his own modus operandi of storytelling and sports coaching, Richard writes:
I have often looked wistfully at chaplains with musical or vocal ability, or teaching skills that own the learning environment, or chaplains with deep knowledge and masterful practice in philosophical inquiry. Whatever is a chaplain’s giftedness, there is a reasonable expectation that chaplains are visible, active members of the school community bringing with them energy and life. This is about the humanity of the chaplain. The light of the divine has no place from which to shine without the flesh and bone of a person’s substance” (p.31).
May we be blessed and be a blessing in 2026 as undertake our sacred calling of sharing God’s love with energy, life, substance and presence. Incarnational Ministry: A Practical Guide for Anglican School Chaplains is a faithful and wise guide for the journey ahead.
Be First to Comment