Chaplaincy

The Mercy Ships Chaplaincy department seeks to inspire all staff and crew to follow Jesus and to live out our core values in community. We promote spiritual, emotional, and relational well-being for all staff and crew, fostering a vibrant, healthy community where God is glorified, and individuals discover and live out their purpose.  The Chaplains’ primary focus is to lead and teach in Sunday services and in community gatherings, while providing spiritual and moral guidance to all crew members.

Ours is a lively, multi-cultural and multi-denominational community.  We shepherd our community of faith in corporate worship, music, prayer, intercessions, and sacraments.  Our celebrations of important days in the Christian faith and liturgical seasons are rich, meaningful, and creatively cultural.  We meet the individual spiritual needs of the crew through pastoral care, coaching, relational counseling, crisis intervention and critical incident stress debriefs.  Our Chaplains walk alongside crew who are bereaved or seriously ill, offering support and care while they are away from home.  We offer opportunities for spiritual growth through Bible study, small groups, and discipleship. Through mentoring, we identify, train, and release their spiritual giftings to increase ministry within the community onboard.

For this role, you’ll need to be a mature individual who has recognized pastoral gifting with two or more years of professional ministry experience preferred and some theological education and pastoral training preferred.  You must have traveled internationally for at least two years and/or have extensive experience living in a multicultural Christian community. It is critical that you are able and comfortable to minister effectively in a multi-denominational setting, demonstrating flexibility and creativity in methods of ministering to the multi-national, multi-cultural crew.