ABSTRACT
The challenges facing hospital ministry, chaplains, caregivers, the Church, hospitals, and patient/consumers are profound and stem from changing health care concepts, processes, and an increasing diversity of spiritual care needs and services. Since Jewish and Christian biblical times, visitation of the sick has been an expectation of family and community members, churches, and congregations. Today, community clergy continue to provide the bulk of visitation and spiritual care services in many hospital settings where patients associated with their faith communities are hospitalized. Many hospitals today have a long-standing tradition of providing chaplains who meet job expectations as established by individual hospitals. Another category of clergy who provide hospital ministry came into being partly as a result of the use of paid chaplaincy services. It is the tradition once a chaplain becomes a pastoral care educator, for him or her to stop or limit the provision of direct pastoral care and shift fairly extensively to the training of students.
