{"id":9210,"date":"2011-02-02T00:28:14","date_gmt":"2011-02-02T05:28:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/?p=9210"},"modified":"2011-02-02T00:28:14","modified_gmt":"2011-02-02T05:28:14","slug":"finding-a-church-part-1-the-military-chapel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/2011\/02\/02\/finding-a-church-part-1-the-military-chapel\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding a Church, Part 1: The Military Chapel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Being a Christian in the military sometimes\u00a0creates challenges in situations civilians take for granted.\u00a0 For example, how do you find a church<\/em>?\u00a0 The concept of a “home church” and steady lifelong attendance takes on a whole new meaning when you move every two to four years.<\/p>\n

As a military Christian, the single most important thing you can do when you arrive at a new assignment\u00a0is establish your spiritual support, and\u00a0finding a church\u00a0is\u00a0crucial to that end.\u00a0 There are many options and no single correct answer.\u00a0 Some people prefer the locale and access of the military chapel; others, the non-military feel of community churches.\u00a0 Each option has its positives and negatives — the only ‘bad’ choice is to do nothing<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The Base Chapel<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a\u00a0military\u00a0Christian, when you arrive\u00a0at a new\u00a0assignment your\u00a0first\u00a0priority (short of eating) should be finding a church to attend.\u00a0 (At some churches, your meal may be taken care of as well.)\u00a0\u00a0This is a fundamental step in establishing a spiritual foundation at a new location.\u00a0 Without establishing an “anchor” when you first arrive,\u00a0you risk floundering — until\u00a0you move on no better spiritually than when\u00a0you arrived.<\/p>\n

The first Sunday you’re\u00a0at a new military base —\u00a0even if\u00a0you arrived only the night before —\u00a0you should consider attending the base’s military\u00a0chapel service.\u00a0 If nothing else, this will keep you in the habit of going to church; if you roll over and go back to sleep because you\u00a0haven’t decided where to go, it becomes progressively easier each consecutive week to come up with a reason not to find a church.\u00a0 Besides helping to keep a routine, attending the chapel allows the opportunity to meet the base chaplains, with whom a Christian is certain to have some interaction over the length of his tour.<\/p>\n

Most chapels today have Catholic as well as traditional, contemporary, and gospel forms of Protestant services.\u00a0 Traditional tends to be more liturgical, with a scripted service and probably an integrated communion.\u00a0 Contemporary tends to have the “modern” style of music and a somewhat more casual atmosphere.\u00a0 Gospel services are, of course, oriented in the style of southern gospel.<\/p>\n

Base chapels are a convenient starting point with familiar surroundings, though the quality of a base chapel is entirely dependent on the chaplains and the support of the congregation.\u00a0 In some places,\u00a0the service\u00a0may be nothing more than “Christian light,” a watered down religiosity that is sure to offend no one.\u00a0\u00a0In other\u00a0chapels\u00a0the preaching, teaching, and fellowship would rival even the most established, well-funded, and largest churches in the United States.<\/p>\n

Attending the base chapel does have its advantages.\u00a0 The chaplain is intimately familiar with the military lifestyle and will likely apply his teachings in an environment a military Christian will understand.\u00a0 Also, when stresses like checkrides, inspections, and exercises are restricting your schedule, the location and military integration of the chapel will help both\u00a0your continued attendance and pertinent spiritual application.\u00a0 In addition, by attending the chapel that first day you may get lots of\u00a0information\u00a0on local fellowship opportunities, as many\u00a0Bible studies and para-church groups\u00a0meet\u00a0new arrivals at the chapel.\u00a0 Finally, the chapel is normally the first stop for those in the military who have felt, but may not understand, a hunger for God; by attending the chapel, you may see other squadron members\u00a0seeking life’s answers.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The military setting of the chapel program does have its disadvantages.\u00a0\u00a0Some Chaplains may\u00a0neutralize the Christian\u00a0message to avoid offense.\u00a0\u00a0Also, regardless of your\u00a0personal church experiences, it is likely the chapel will expose you to things to which you’re\u00a0not accustomed.\u00a0 Counter to many denominational beliefs, there are female chaplains.\u00a0 It is also likely that you may\u00a0meet the local Muslim chaplain; in July of 2004 the Navy commissioned the first US military Buddhist chaplain.\u00a0 It is not uncommon\u00a0to see\u00a0information on a Wiccan meeting \u2014 conducted under the auspices of the base chapel program \u2014 listed directly below the schedule of church services.<\/p>\n

As a military Christian, you\u00a0should seek God’s guidance\u00a0as to where\u00a0He would have you.\u00a0 Whether you choose to attend the chapel or not is your personal preference; it has much to do with your spiritual maturity, needs, and desires.\u00a0\u00a0For many new officers,\u00a0adjusting to\u00a0active duty life may\u00a0provide enough of a challenge that you feel led\u00a0to attend a church with strong teaching and fellowship.\u00a0 If that is not the chapel, then so be it.\u00a0 Conversely, if you\u00a0are a spiritually strong and mature Christian, then the base chapel may actually be the best<\/em> place to be, regardless,\u00a0so you can have the greatest impact on the military community.\u00a0 Prayerfully, it depends.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In some cases,\u00a0a military Christian might do well to attend the chapel solely as a means of outreach, even if it doesn’t afford depth of teaching or is weaker in other areas.\u00a0 Officer’s Christian Fellowship (OCF) emphasizes support of the chapel program for this reason; as OCF considers itself a ministry to the military, the chapel provides a crucial means to that end.<\/p>\n

As a military\u00a0Christian your greatest potential ministry is to the military members that surround you, and the chapel\u00a0can be a very effective\u00a0channel to that goal.<\/p>\n

Next time<\/strong>: Worshipping at Local Churches<\/em><\/p>\n

This is an update to a prior article on Finding a Church<\/a><\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Being a Christian in the military sometimes\u00a0creates challenges in situations civilians take for granted.\u00a0 For example, how do you find a church?\u00a0 The concept of a “home church” and steady lifelong attendance takes on a whole new meaning when you move every two to four years. As a military Christian, the single most important thing you can do when you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[38,5284,44,2,17,10,171,77],"class_list":["post-9210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian-living","tag-chapel","tag-chaplain","tag-islam","tag-military","tag-religious-expression","tag-religion","tag-religious-freedom","tag-wicca"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9210\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}