Blog Posts tagged with "Portugal"

I read about the economic and natural crises in Romania this week and I couldn't help but think about a recent trip I took to the beautiful Carpathia Mountains not far from where the flooding is happening now.

I went to Romania in May to visit our military chaplain partners and to share ministry initiatives and best practices/lessons learned in missions to Iraq and Afghanistan. I was also able to worship with our Defense Attaché and other Americans at a lively contemporary Christian worship service in Bucharest. It is a great faith community, rich in ethnic and cultural diversity, nurtured by their common belief in God.

Chaplain Van Sickle provides a briefing to the IAEC at the Harghita Christian Camp conference center in the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania, Romania.

Additionally, I was invited by the International Association of Evangelical Chaplains to participate in their 5th annual international training conference and present EUCOM mission priorities and ministry activity in Europe and U.S. Central Command. Conferees were military and civilian clergy working with soldiers from Bulgaria, France, Latvia, Moldova, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Ukraine, Uganda and the U.S. My intent was to reinforce our command priorities and understand the strategic ministry goals and challenges from each country's perspective.

The IAEC conference in the Carpathian Mountains with the chaplains was an especially good event, with lots of time to hear joys and concerns from the head Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant Chaplains. The training sessions addressed: Ministering in a Pluralistic Society and Proselytizing; Inductive Bible Study; Ethics and a Biblical View of the Military Profession; Pastoral Crisis Counseling; Deployment Ministry; Suicide Awareness and Prevention & Next of Kin Notification; Para-Church Organizations; Chaplain-Commander Relationships; Professionalism and Ethics; The Military Pastor; and Varieties of Military Chaplaincies. These were especially relevant sessions for the three chaplains among us preparing for their own deployments to Afghanistan.

Samuel & Maria Jose Coias, Military Christian Fellowship President; Chaplain Van Sickle; Portugal BVS Luis Goncalves, Pastor, New Life Church, Portugal; Salvador Martinez, Military Christian Fellowship President, Spain

It became evident throughout the week that the chaplains from single-confession chaplaincies -- where all personnel are from the same faith: all Orthodox or all Catholic or all Protestant -- need encouragement to stay engaged with their military members who are not free to exercise their faith in the restricted military settings in which they serve. It was also very evident that they are joyfully passionate about their service to God and their fellow servicemen and women.

Proud to serve! Clearly, we are ‘Stronger Together!’

Chaplain (Col.) Brian R. Van Sickle
Command Chaplain, EUCOM