What’s the Big Deal about the Chaplains?

A pastor outside the FBFI once asked me that question. He could not understand why the chaplaincy is such an important part of the FBFI.

For many who are hunkered down in the day-to-day battle of local church ministry, the military chaplaincy seems light years away. Community chaplains sometimes have contact with local churches, and some of our local church pastors are having rich ministry as community chaplains with police departments, fire departments, hospitals, and other organizations. However, many pastors and church members do not understand the enormity of the responsibility and opportunity that the chaplaincy is for us.

Canadian Military Chaplains can’t mention God in public.

In an August 12, 2026 article in Christianity Today, Adam MacInnis explained a new directive from Canadian Military leadership.

Released on July 29, the instructions noted that members of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) making public remarks at any type of public or semi-public event “shall uphold the principle of state religious and spiritual neutrality by not using words, actions, or symbols that are specific to a particular SFT [Spiritual or Faith Tradition] on the part of the Government of Canada.”

It also instructs chaplains not to offer prayer at official events, including military ceremonies or commemorations. If chaplains are asked to pray at a public event while serving as a representative of the CAF, they are told to instead offer a spiritual reflection without religion-specific language.

If the FBFI and other endorsing agencies were not committed to protecting our chaplains, this would be the predicament of American chaplains as well. We know this because we are always fighting just the kind of thing that has destroyed the Canadian military chaplaincy.

We have an open door.

In the decades prior to the beginning of the FBFI chaplaincy program there were very few biblical fundamentalist Baptist chaplains. We had the great opportunity of starting our endorsing program around the same time that the DOD changed its quota regulations opening the door for us to supply chaplains more easily to all branches of the military. As a result, we have been able to place scores of chaplains in the military and see them advance to some of the highest places of influence. God opened the door, and our chaplains stepped up and walked through it.

Souls have been saved and lives have been transformed.

In the years since the FBFI established the chaplaincy, hundreds if not thousands of young men and women come to know Christ through the ministry of our chaplains. Young people away from home facing life and danger for the first time are often very open to the message of the gospel. Paul prayed for an open door in Colossians 4:3, in the chaplaincy we have one, we just need to take advantage of it. In the same way, police and community chaplains have allowed pastors to reach their communities and touch families in moments of crisis.

Many who have come to Christ or have been discipled by our chaplains have gone on to serve God in local churches and ministry.

We get a seat at the table to stand for religious liberty.

Vigilance for religious liberty is one of the core values of the FBFI and the chaplaincy is one of the most important ways in which we live out those values. Our endorsing agency gives us a seat at the table with military leadership. It has allowed our Endorser and key chaplains great opportunities to impact decisions about religious freedom for our chaplains. We have often passed FBFI Position Statements that give our chaplains the support they need to have to continue to pray publicly in the name of Jesus, address same-sex marriage issues biblically, and much more. Without the faithful work of chaplain Endorser, being an obedient minister serving in the chaplaincy would be very difficult.

The chaplaincy IS the mission field.

The total number of US military personnel is around 2.1 million. That number does not include spouses and children who are also part of the military community. We have somewhere around 1.7 million police and firefighters in our country as well. In addition, there are countless families that hospital, and other community chaplains reach. This is a mission field. It is not a geographical mission field like we normally consider, but mission fields are about people, not just locations.

The chaplain ministry of the FBFI is a big deal.

It is a wide-open door that is an essential part of our mission and our core values. We are going to continue to endorse chaplains and stand by them in every way we can for as long as the Lord allows us to do it.