Chaplains, pastors, and church lay leaders gathered at White Oak Conference Center near Winnsboro Sept. 26-27 to discuss how churches can better minister to military personnel and their families.?
Dr. John Oliver, of a North Carolina Veterans Administration medical center, uses an interactive exercise to show participants how they are connected in ministry.The Empowering the Church to Care for the Military Community Conference leaders included the chief of chaplain services and pastoral education with the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Durham, N.C., a retired two-star general and ordained Southern Baptist chaplain who served at the Pentagon, the founder of Military Missions Network, and leaders from the chaplaincy evangelism team of the North American Mission Board.?
Conference coordinator and South Carolina Baptist Convention chaplain consultant Richard Sale said chaplains have a ministry niche within the denomination and on the field, but the church is also critical in military ministry. “The only thing that confines us is the world. We need to go beyond the walls of the church to reach retired and active-duty military and their families,” Sale said.?
Churches typically have adequate facilities for military ministries and a large volunteer base, Sale said. Ministries to the military should include child care and should provide support when deployed personnel return home. Churches should be prepared with easy, non-threatening ways for veterans to serve, he said.
Marie Stevens, a member of First Baptist Church, Duncan, wanted to show appreciation to those in active military service by sending letters and care packages following 9/11. The ministry now touches almost 100 military professionals, and a team of 20 church volunteers helps coordinate packages, birthday cards, and a monthly newsletter. At the conference, Stevens hoped to share ideas and connect with other military ministries.?
Port Royal is home to Navy and Marine Corps personnel stationed at a nearby recruit depot, air station, and Naval hospital. Pastor Steven Ruff of Port Royal Church said he attended the conference to “better understand the needs military individuals and families have” and said that information on trauma and grief “was especially helpful.”
Doug Dixon is the pastor of New Life Church in Dalzell, a neighboring community to Sumter’s Shaw Air Force Base. “There are a lot of retired and active military in our community, and a church member has already suggested the idea of starting a ministry,” he said. “I don’t have a military background, so I came to learn practical ways to minister to them.”
According to Tim Rice of the SCBC missions mobilization group, the greatest reason for a strategy to reach the military community is the Great Commission.?”What other group do [we] know of with so much influence, that is highly motivated, highly educated and highly trained [and] mobilized every two to three years all across the globe [other] than the military?” he said. “By serving, reaching, and discipling veterans and their families, God can reach the world.” – SCBC