NEWS
Exploring Chaplaincy in the Armed Forces
Revd Martin Spain
Healthcare chaplains possess skills and experience that are highly valued within the armed forces.
Could this be an opportunity for you?
Read insights from a serving military chaplain to learn more about this unique ministry context.
Serving in Two Worlds: Chaplaincy in the NHS and 203 (Welsh) Multi‑Role Medical Regiment
My ministry as an NHS chaplain in Wales places me alongside patients, families, and staff at moments of profound vulnerability and resilience. It is a ministry of presence — listening, supporting, and helping people navigate fear, hope, loss, and meaning.
That same calling extends into my role as chaplain to 203 (Welsh) Multi Role Medical Regiment, formerly known as the Field Hospital, where I support reservists who balance demanding civilian healthcare roles with the responsibilities of military service. Whether on training weekends, annual exercises, or during periods of operational readiness, chaplains accompany personnel through the pressures, camaraderie, ethical complexity, and deep sense of purpose that shape military life.
For healthcare chaplains, military chaplaincy — especially within medical regiments — can feel like a natural extension of the work you already do. Your understanding of clinical environments, pastoral nuance, and the emotional landscape of healthcare teams is deeply valued in the Armed Forces. But the invitation is broader: chaplains are needed across the Royal Navy, Army, and Royal Air Force, offering spiritual care, moral guidance, and a steady presence to service personnel and their families.
Becoming a reservist chaplain requires a minimum commitment of 27 days a year, including a continuous period at an annual training exercise. Many NHS organisations actively support their staff who serve as reservists, recognising the leadership, resilience, and pastoral skills they bring back into the health service. Those interested can explore more at the Free Churches Group chaplaincy hub page.
Revd Martin Spain is the Ecumenical Officer for the United Reformed Church in Wales, a hospital chaplain at Withybush General Hospital and has served as the ‘Padre’ to the Welsh MMR for over 16 years.
A chance to join the CoNNECT II online, 12th March 2026
CoNNECT II
Exploring Story: Chaplaincy - Reflection - Research
12th March 2026 · 10:30am - 4:30pm, Lumen United Reformed Church & Community Centre URC, 88 Tavistock Place London WC1H 9RS
Join us for an inspiring opportunity to connect and network, focusing on the power of case studies. Building on the success of the first CoNNECT day, we invite practitioners, educators, researchers, and all those dedicated to advancing chaplaincy and pastoral care in diverse settings. This day is designed for anyone eager to deepen their understanding of chaplaincy, enhance practices across various contexts, and empower chaplains through collaborative research. Visit here for more information and registration.
A chance to join the CoNNECT II online
In addition to the general admission tickets, we have now set up an online-only ticket at £6. You can visit here for more information and registration.
Lent message from the Moderator of the Free Churches Group
To the Free Churches Community, England and Wales
Grace and peace to you in the name of our Saviour Jesus Christ.
As we move toward Lent, I write holding you in deep gratitude. We walk together through seasons of joy, strain, growth, and discovery, and I give thanks for the life we share as a community shaped by Christ’s love and God’s steady presence among us.
Lent invites us into sacred attentiveness. It is a forty-day journey that echoes Jesus’ time in the wilderness — a space where distractions fall away and truth rises closer to the surface. Lent gives the Church time to examine what forms us, what drains life from neighbour and the world, and where God is calling us toward deeper love, deeper justice, deeper faithfulness. It is a season of returning — returning to prayer, to compassion, to the work of repair in ourselves and in the world God loves.
Life moves quickly. Demands gather and noise surrounds us. Yet even in the midst of that movement, God continues a quiet, persistent work within us and among us. Our life together grows through shared commitment to Christ, through care for one another, and through the courage to live faith in ways that shape the world around us.
I hold close the words of Hebrews 10:24–25, calling us to encourage one another toward love and good works, and to remain rooted in community. I see this lived out in worship, in small groups, in conversations over refreshments, in acts of generosity seen and unseen. In these moments, the presence of God becomes visible through the life of this community — in your churches.
As we enter Lent, may we choose the way of truth. May we lay down what weakens love and take up what strengthens justice. May this season deepen our courage, steady our compassion, and renew our trust in the God who brings life from wilderness and light from shadow. We walk toward Easter together, shaped by grace and sent for the healing of the world.
With love and prayers,
Tessa
Revd Dr Tessa Henry-Robinson
Moderator, Free Churches Group
The Lent reflection for week 2 is available to read HERE.
The Lent reflection for week 3 is available to read HERE.
The Lent reflection for week 4 is available to read HERE.
The Lent reflection for week 5 is available to read HERE.
The Lent reflection for week 6 is available to read HERE.
Investing Together - Online Launch, 23rd March 26, 1 pm
Having spent a year consulting and co-creating this charter, we are excited to invite you to the online launch of this initiative…
Monday 23rd March, 1 pm on Zoom
Please join us, and spread the word to invite any individuals, churches, partner orgs etc…everyone who is passionate about sharing the Gospel with children and youth is very welcome to join us! We are calling the UK church to invest together in the faith of children and young people, informed by research and equipped and empowered by all of the resources, tools and training collectively pooled by CYP organisations. We can reach more children and young people when we invest together.
From Gemma Madle & Hannah Bowden (Youthscape), Sarah Lane-Cawte (Free Churches Group) and Sarah Holmes (CYM)
FCG Health and Social Care Chaplains Study Day
FCG Health and Social Care Chaplains Study Day: Cultivating a Childlike Curiosity
Tuesday 16th June 10:30 to 16:30, Cleaves Conference Centre, 6 Castle Gate, Nottingham NG1 7AS.
This study day, put on for Free Churches Group chaplains but open to all, will feature input from Linda Dunbar and Graham Adams. Linda will provide training around Values Based Reflective Practice, and the Connect, Reflect, Respond reflective practice and/or supervision model. Graham will offer insights from his book God the Child: Small, Weak and Curious Subversions exploring the potential implications for chaplaincy of 'God as Child': How might this metaphor open up different possibilities for us? How might it also cause some disruption and difficulty? In particular, are there insights to be gained from thinking of God as small, as weak and as curious? Could this speak into our care-giving but also to us as childlike chaplains? Together, through the day, Graham and Linda will encourage us to explore how we might cultivate a childlike curiosity as chaplains.
Linda is the founding Director of LSShetland, Practice Educator for NHS Scotland Spiritual Care, the NHS Scotland National Lead for Values Based Reflective Practice, registered Healthcare Chaplain and has recently been appointed as the academic lead director for the UKBHC. Linda devises and delivers on-line and in-person training on supervision, reflective practice and listening skills. Linda has a doctorate in Practical Theology and a PGDip in Pastoral Supervision with the Institute of Pastoral Supervision and Reflective Practice. She is passionate about honouring the inner wisdom inherent within each person and providing a safe, facilitative space and time for people to connect with their own insight.
Graham is Tutor in Mission Studies, World Christianity and Religious Diversity, and programme lead for the postgraduate degrees (n both theology and chaplaincy studies), at Luther King Theological College, Manchester. He also teaches for the Congregational Institute for Practical Theology. He is the author of Holy Anarchy: Dismantling domination, Embodying community, Loving strangeness (SCM, 2022) and God the Child: small, weak and curious subversions (SCM, 2024) and the forthcoming The Anarchic Spirit: Interpreting the Bible and the World in troubled times (SCM, 2026). Before teaching full-time, he was in Congregational ministry in Manchester.