Chaplaincy in the Vineyard
Hospitals, prisons, military units, universities, workplaces, and emergency scenes, Chaplains go to people where they are offering care that is relational, pastoral, and responsive to what the Spirit is doing in some of the most demanding moments of human life.
What chaplaincy is
Chaplaincy is the practice of providing spiritual care and pastoral presence in institutional settings where people often encounter significant crisis, transition, or suffering. Chaplains serve in hospitals, prisons, military units, universities, workplaces, and disaster zones. Their primary ministry context is not a congregation but the institution or community they serve.
Chaplains are pastors. Their work organizes around a few things: facilitating rituals meaningful to people in their care, providing grounding presence in moments of crisis, supporting the institutions and staff they serve, and simply showing up when what someone needs most is not a program but a person willing to stay. That last category is often the most significant.
Vineyard chaplains bring to that work what Vineyard pastors carry everywhere: an expectation that the Holy Spirit is present and already at work. They walk into a hospital room, a military unit, or a prison block as the pastors they are — and they serve whoever is there. They carry with them pastoral eyes and a theology of the Kingdom that shapes what they notice and how they respond.
"I walk into every hospital room expecting the Spirit to already be there, already at work. My job is to pay attention to what I find."
– A Vineyard board-certified hospital chaplain
Three categories
Vineyard USA recognizes three broad categories of chaplaincy. The requirements, training pathways, and what Vineyard's role looks like differ significantly across them.
Professional
Professional chaplains serve in hospitals, hospices, long-term care facilities, correctional institutions, universities, and workplaces. In healthcare settings they work within multidisciplinary care teams alongside physicians, social workers, and counselors. Across all these contexts, the work is the same in its essential character: showing up with pastoral presence in places where people are under significant stress or facing hard things.
The path to becoming a professional chaplain typically requires graduate theological education, ecclesiastical endorsement, and in many cases, Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE).
Military
Military chaplains are commissioned officers in the U.S. Armed Forces who serve as the religious support officers for their units. They provide pastoral care, coordinate religious programming, and serve as a confidential resource for service members navigating the demands of military life.
Military chaplains are both clergy and military officers. They operate within a chain of command and are subject to military law and deployment. Military chaplaincy requires graduate theological education, ordination, and ecclesiastical endorsement.
Community
Community chaplains serve in first responder settings (police, fire, EMS), disaster relief, sports ministry, and other specialized contexts. These roles are often volunteer or bivocational. Many community chaplains remain closely connected to their local Vineyard church, with chaplaincy as a ministry expression alongside other work and calling.
Community chaplaincy typically does not require graduate theological education, ordination, or formal endorsement — though requirements vary by context and setting.
Clinical Pastoral Education
Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) is the primary training pathway for most professional chaplains: a supervised program that combines direct clinical ministry with structured theological reflection. It is typically completed in the form of an internship or residency, often within a hospital, prison, or similar institutional setting. Vineyard chaplains have been trained in CPE programs across the country.
What makes CPE distinctive is that it is not simply skills training. It is pastoral formation. Chaplains learn who they are, what they carry from their own history and faith, and how all of that shapes how they show up in a room with someone in crisis. Many people who go through CPE describe it as some of the most significant formation of their ministry life — whether or not they go on to become professional chaplains.
If you are curious about CPE and what it might look like for you, reach out. We have Vineyard chaplains in CPE programs around the country and may be able to offer a helpful recommendation.
Ordination and endorsement
These serve different purposes, and many chaplains need one but not both. Here is how they work and what each one involves.
The local Vineyard church’s recognition of a pastor’s lifelong calling to pastoral ministry, nationally endorsed by Vineyard USA. Chaplains are welcome to pursue ordination, and the process is the same as for any Vineyard pastor.
A separate formal authorization issued by a recognized religious body, certifying that a chaplain is in good standing and qualified for institutional service. Many chaplaincy employers require it.
For any endorsement question, email gro.asudrayeniv@snialpahc.
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Chaplaincy type
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Ordination required?
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Endorsement pathway
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Who issues it
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Healthcare (board certification)
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Not typically required
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VUSA provides denominational endorsement to BCCI (APC's certification affiliate). Pursuing certification through NAE/ECC, SCA, CPSP, NAVAC, or another organization? Email us.
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VUSA
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Military
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Required
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VUSA routes through the NAE and its Evangelical Chaplains Commission (ECC) *
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NAE/ECC
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VA chaplaincy
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Required
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VUSA routes through NAE/ECC *
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NAE/ECC
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Federal corrections (Bureau of Prisons)
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Required
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VUSA routes through NAE/ECC *
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NAE/ECC
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State and local corrections
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Varies
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Requirements vary by jurisdiction
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Varies
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Community (first response, disaster, sports)
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Not typically required
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Usually not required. Some contexts have their own endorsing bodies (ICPC, NFCC, and others). Where a letter of good standing is needed, the local Vineyard church typically provides it.
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Local church
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* ECC endorsement requires ongoing dues of 3.5% of chaplaincy income.
You are not alone
Vineyard chaplains are not alone. We have active communities for each type of chaplaincy where chaplains can connect with peers, receive support, and grow together. If you are not yet connected to one of these communities, we would love to get you plugged in.
Regular calls for healthcare, corrections, and other professional chaplains to connect with peers across the Vineyard.
Regular connection for Vineyard military chaplains, including active duty, Reserve, and National Guard.
Regular gatherings for Vineyard folks serving in first response, disaster relief, and related contexts.
Occasional calls for those discerning chaplaincy as a vocation. Hear from active chaplains and ask questions.
Common questions
These are the questions that come up repeatedly. If yours isn't here, email gro.asudrayeniv@snialpahc.
Pursue the kind of chaplaincy you feel called to, connect with other Vineyard chaplains through the communities described on this page, seek endorsement where your role requires it, and grow in the company of others doing the same work. Email gro.asudrayeniv@snialpahc and we will help you get oriented and connected.
In many healthcare settings, yes. A graduate theological degree and Clinical Pastoral Education are increasingly required by hospitals and health systems for professional chaplaincy positions, particularly for board certification. These requirements are set by the institutions and credentialing bodies, not by Vineyard USA. Your ministry experience is genuinely valuable — it may shape how you move through CPE and how hiring organizations weigh your candidacy — but it generally doesn’t substitute for the formal requirements. It may be possible to find chaplaincy work at certain settings without them, but that is becoming less common.
Ordination is the local Vineyard church’s recognition of a pastor’s lifelong calling to pastoral ministry, nationally endorsed by VUSA. Chaplaincy endorsement is a separate formal authorization issued by VUSA, or through VUSA’s relationship with the NAE, to a specific institution or credentialing body, certifying that a chaplain is in good standing for institutional service.
They are distinct. Many chaplains receive endorsement without being ordained. Military chaplaincy is the exception: the military requires both.
Healthcare chaplains pursuing board certification typically do so through the APC/BCCI. As part of that application, they need denominational endorsement. The process with VUSA: your local Vineyard pastor writes a letter to VUSA (VUSA has a template to guide this), VUSA prepares the formal endorsement letter and submits it directly into the BCCI portal on your behalf. For questions or to initiate the process, reach out to gro.asudrayeniv@snialpahc.
VUSA routes military chaplain endorsement through the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) and its Evangelical Chaplains Commission (ECC). The standard flow: complete the Vineyard ordination process and receive ordination from your local church with national endorsement from VUSA, then VUSA provides a letter of good standing to the NAE/ECC, then NAE/ECC formally endorses you for military service. To initiate, email gro.asudrayeniv@snialpahc.
Yes. Your pastor doesn’t need to be a chaplaincy expert. VUSA has a template that guides what the letter needs to cover. What matters is that your pastor knows you, can speak to your character and formation, and affirms your good standing in the church. Reach out to us and we will walk both of you through it.
Connect with us
Whether you are exploring a call to chaplaincy, navigating the endorsement process, supporting a chaplain in your congregation, or looking to connect with other Vineyard chaplains, reach out. We respond personally.
gro.asudrayeniv@snialpahc
vineyardusa.org/ordination