International Pastoral Care and Chaplaincy Week, 2017AD

I welcome all pastoral counselors, pastoral care givers and chaplains to this year’s pastoral care and chaplaincy week, 2017AD. This is an open opportunity for us all to discover how best to impact our world better professionally as offer them the needed services.

The year 2017AD theme of discussion is “Hospitality: Cultivating Inclusion.”  This is the topic we are going to examine carefully, and tactically too, to enable us discover where to exact greater efforts on to enable us fulfill our mandate in the best profitable and beneficial professional ways. Let’s begin with the definition of the key words:

Hospitality: means kindness, tenderness and being compassionate.

Cultivating:  means the act of nurturing someone, the act of developing someone, the act of making someone to flourish, the act of improving someone, the act of equipping someone.

Inclusion: means adding someone in a group of persons, adding on acquaintance.

Hospitality in pastoral care and chaplaincy simply means:

1.     Extending kindness to visitors.

2.     Extending kindness to tourists.

3.     Extending kindness to patients in hospitals.

4.     Extending kindness to people in need.

In pastoral care and chaplaincy practice, allowing our compassion to make us attend to people with tenderness and kindness in our practice and interaction with others.

Cultivating an inclusion simply means, extending the hospitality (kindness) to others that we may come across in our life journeys. Adding people to our circle of influence at all times; caring to bring an improvement to them in life, nurturing them and assisting examine personal development.

From the definitions of the key words in this phrase, we are well positioned to put forward our views on this topic, calling on all practicing pastoral counselors, care-givers and chaplains to join us in this journey.

Hospitality Chaplaincy:

In hospitality chaplaincy and pastoral care practice and service delivery which can be found spanning in the following industries.

1.     Hospitality industries.

a.     Hotels.

b.     Restaurants.

c.      Guest houses.

d.     Camps.

e.     Brothels etc.

2.     Tourism industries.

a.     Tourist centers.

b.     Ancient landmarks.

c.      Water falls.

d.     Museums.

e.     Cultural centers.

Professional pastoral counselors, care-givers and chaplains are to extend their kindness to all visitors, strangers and tourists as they offer them pastoral care and chaplaincy services with all tenderness, and compassion for them regardless of their races, cultures, status and religious leanings.

Practicing professionals in pastoral care and chaplaincy must cultivate, nurture, develop and equip others for profitable interaction and collaboration with all people, extending their kindness to people of all groups and ages.

We are to show hospitality: cultivate inclusion in our practice and service delivery to the generality of people. We are to expand our circle of influence to accommodate others to whom our services are to be extended to. This will favourably position us for greater services and recognition.

In conclusion, let all of us professionals, embrace hospitality: cultivating inclusion, in our works, activities and professional practices.

Happy celebration!

Prepared by

Chaplain Prof. David Mike-Jacobs JP, AP, CPC, CBC, CCE.

Professor of Anthropology.

The president General, The Association of Professional Chaplains in Nigeria

GRAPPLING WITH DEMOCRATIC PRACTICE AS WELL AS PROFESSIONAL CHAPLAINCY SINCE 1966AD

GRAPPLING WITH DEMOCRATIC PRACTICE AS WELL AS PROFESSIONAL CHAPLAINCY SINCE 1966AD

Nigeria as a nation and people have been grappling with democratic practice in political and governance since granted independence in 1960AD by the colonial masters. Political and democratic embarked upon by the nation and people were truncated severally by military intervention and military rule, the first of its kind in 1966, only six years of democratic practice trial.

The year 2014AD, marks the first time of 15 years of uninterrupted democratic practice and government in Nigeria. The past 15 years has actually witnessed no military intervention and obstruction of civil and political governance.

However, Nigeria is still grappling with proper democratic practice as the present practice is full of scale of corruption in every sector of our national life, coupled with high rate of insurgencies, terrorism, kidnapping, high rate of unemployment, lack of power and energy, with over 70% of the population living in abject poverty.

Our democratic practice and political governance is yet to get to where our democratic practice will enjoy acceptance by international communities even after 53 years of national independence.

In same vein, our nation Nigeria is grappling with professional chaplaincy practice. Initially, chaplaincy practice which came into the country with the colonial masters had its area of influence in:

i.              The Military.

ii.            The Church.

The practice which has for long been restricted to the military formations and Churches where rhetorical and ritualistic services of the Church were carried out amongst the serving military officers as well as the Church congregation in the case of the Church. However, around year 1981, Civil Chaplaincy made an inroad into our nation Nigeria and Africa at large.

Since the introduction of civil chaplaincy in the country, chaplaincy practice is known to have been frost with:

I.              Deception.

II.            Fraudulent practices.

III.           Militia practice.

IV.          Malpractices.

The police force, as well as the NSCD force are both grappling to put in place proper chaplaincy practice. There is therefore, a sure need for standard practice to be laid or put in place for professional practioners to follow in rendering professional chaplaincy care and service delivery to the generality of the people in best way possible and in most appropriate professional way in line with the world standards and acceptable norms.

In line with the desired paradigm shift in chaplaincy practice from the past, this piece of work is the effort and contributions of a practicing professional consultant Chaplain in advancing chaplaincy profession in Nigeria.

Chap. Prof. David Mike-Jacobs JP, AP, BSC, MBA, PHD, D.D, DED, THD.

DMin. Chaplaincy Major, CPC, CCE, CBC.

Professor of Anthropology.