By Rev Michael Mair
In October 2023, I was appointed as the Chaplain to the UK Oil and Gas Industry and made the transition from the parish into full-time chaplaincy. I had spent ten years as a local minister, and had enjoyed the regular pattern of leading worship, conducting funerals, weddings and sacraments as well as becoming part of a community and responding to its particular needs. I was happy and content as a parish minister, but I began to discern a call to full time chaplaincy over the course of the year which saw me apply for a job rather than explore discernment with a nomination committee, undertake an application process and when successful, move from being an office-holder to being an employee.
Chaplaincy affords its chaplains with the ability to engage with people who would never normally find themselves in a church or interacting with a minister. As such, there is an opportunity to break down barriers, to dispel myths, and meet the needs of the people who you find yourself in front of. As Oil and Gas Chaplain, I have the privilege of serving a wide variety of people – from those who are separated from their families and loved ones for weeks at a time on an installation in the middle of the North Sea, to office workers in corporate office buildings, to families who have received the terrible news about the death of their loved one while they were at work. Within the span of a week, I can be discussing the frustrations of life offshore with a worker, and within a few hours return back to the mainland to hold meetings with Chief Executives about how we can support them and their workforce.
Chaplains are embedded within all kinds of industry, from the Armed Forces, to Hospitals, Prisons, and Universities (and many more too) – the chaplains ministry predicated on meeting the needs of whoever happens to be before them in that moment. This might mean that your engagement with someone is limited entirely to that one encounter – with no hope of further contact. This will mean that the chaplain can be entirely unaware of the difference (positive or negative) they have made upon that individual or their family. It can also be an isolating ministry, you no longer have a congregation with whom to share life or colleagues who face the same issues and challenges – it is important that you work hard to find and maintain a support network. It can also be difficult to transition to being a member of a congregation when you are so used to leading worship – and with no Sunday service, I miss having the discipline of writing a sermon and preparing for worship.
But as we move into an increasingly secular world, chaplaincy provides the church the opportunity to help people explore the big questions of faith and life, and to do so without expecting them to navigate a church building and culture which could be entirely alien and strange.
Our chaplains – serving across all industries and in a multitude of contexts – require our prayers as they work to fulfil their calling. I know they will be very welcome and appreciated.
