Chaplains lend a caring hand and a listening ear to people in a variety of places. They offer opportunities for quiet and reflection, for sharing concerns, visions and hopes, and for prayer and spiritual nourishment. They are often called upon in a crisis situation but they also help to form a sense of community and act as signposts to further services.
Armed Forces
The full-time army chaplaincy team provides pastoral support to soldiers and their families, regardless of their religion, beliefs or background.
Contact
Rt Revd Roger Morris, Bishop of Colchester, tel 01206 576648, or send an email to the Bishop of Colchester
Deaf and Blind Chaplaincy
The chaplaincy team consists of one full-time and six honorary chaplains who all communicate in British sign language (BSL). Revd Stephanie Gillingham is the lead Minister for deaf church in the Diocese of Chelmsford.
Contact
Revd Stephanie Gillingham Tel: 07906 814174 send an email.
Education
Schools, colleges and universities can be challenging environments for both students and teachers. As well as having the pressures of study to cope with, students in tertiary education often have to balance these pressures with commitments to jobs. Changes in education provision create particular pressures for teachers.
Chaplaincy services are provided at School, College (FE) and University levels.
Contact
Revd Jackie-Dee Thornton tel 01245 604223 or send an email
Hospices
Hospice chaplains offer spiritual and religious care to patients who may be facing death from a life threatening illness, their carers, friends and families.
Hospital & Ambulance Services
In partnership with other denominations and faiths, hospital chaplains offer high quality spiritual, religious and pastoral care to patients, staff and visitors of all faiths and none. NHS strategies and policies encouraged a holistic approach to patients. Chaplains focus on the patient experience in the following NHS Trusts:
- Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals
- Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust
- Princess Alexandra, Harlow
- Newham University Hospitals
- Whipps Cross University Hospital
- Southend University Hospital Foundation
- Basildon and Thurrock University Teaching Hospitals
- Mid Essex Hospital Services, Broomfield
Prisons
Chaplains minister to the needs of people who are serving sentences of imprisonment. Chelmsford Mothers’ Union and Diocesan Prison Initiatives (‘MUDPIES’) provide supervised recreational play areas in the prisons and support families in this stressful environment.
Sport
Chaplains serve a number of football clubs, including Grays Athletic, Dagenham & Redbridge, Leyton Orient and West Ham, where Archdeacon Elwin Cockett remains chaplain, assisted by Revd Alan Bolding, who also serves Woodford Green Athletics Club, and Jimmy Dale, a church youth worker who has responsibility for the academy trainees.
Contact
Ven Elwin Cockett, tel 020 8989 8557 or Email Archdeacon Elwin.
Workplaces
Workplace Chaplaincy provides the ecumenical framework for the churches' presence in workplaces.
