My Journey into Army Chaplaincy - Rev Adrian (Ade) Gascoyne

My first flutter of interest in Military Chaplaincy rather took me by surprise. I have never considered myself to have a particularly military personality or bearing, and theologically I lean towards the Anabaptist end of the spectrum! I am a pacifist at heart and I would love to see the world disarm and learn how to celebrate diversity and serve one another. 

You may then understand why I didn’t expect to find myself considering a ministry that supported soldiers, sailors and airmen to do their jobs. I wrestled with the idea for weeks as I increasingly felt God was calling me to apply to train as a Chaplain in the Royal Navy. 

When I applied I still had questions but two things I understood clearly: first, at this moment, the British Armed Forces are a necessary force to restrain unethical organised military and illicit activity happening right now in the world and secondly, God has a burning desire to reach out to service men and women in the forces. These two convictions were enough for me to go forward with my application.

I haven’t been disappointed. At the point of writing this I have been in the Royal Navy for just over 6 months, and I can honestly say, thus far it has been one the best seasons of ministry I have known. I have had more faith conversations with genuinely seeking people since I joined the RN than I have in the last decade of local church ministry. I was a little worried before starting at Britannia Royal Naval College that my faith would provoke a hostile response, but this simply wasn’t my experience.

Everyone was at the very least respectful, but the majority were spiritually curious, some even desperate to know how to begin their own faith journey. The questions came whenever there was a gap in the programme: at mealtimes, whilst polishing shoes, huddled around steaming mess tins cooking ration packs in the open or on yomps across Dartmoor. Most wanted to know my story of becoming a Chaplain, several asked me to teach them to pray and all of them insisted that I gather them together to pray before any big test or event. They owned me as their ‘Bish’ from week one and it was a precious thing to serve them. At the end of that first precious term at BRNC, 12 of my shipmates asked to be baptised in the college church with others confirming their faith publicly.

Several others expressed a desire to do the same but wanted to wait until family could be present. I was bowled over by the attraction to Jesus there; it felt like I had witnessed a true move of the Spirit in the college.

I am now at Commando Training Centre for Royal Marines in Lympstone working with recruits aged 16- 32 and their training teams. I am delighted to say that the same openness and interest in faith in Christ is clearly here too. Most recruits have not really thought much about faith or had to attend to their spiritual lives before embarking on their training. Once here though, the training is demanding enough to cause them to dig deep for strength and courage, they reach beyond themselves for the will to succeed and many look to the Lord to gain a sense of purpose in their new vocation. 

We Padres (that’s what they call us on the green side!) help them to explore the moral components of combat and give them the tools they need to attend to their own spiritual health and to develop a deep and practical faith for themselves if they choose.

And we are not without help! The Holy Spirit seems to have placed one or two passionate believers in nearly every troop here. These courageous young evangelists in uniform are having a powerful affect on their oppos. They are like mini-padres for their troop and are finding that the questions are coming at them thick and fast, just like they did for me at BRNC. It is my great privilege to support and pray for these lads daily as they shine a light for Jesus here. 

One such gentleman led his friend ‘J’ to Christ, and just before ‘J’ left training he too asked to be baptised. After serving here for just six weeks, I had the privilege of watching ‘J’ be baptised in the tank of the assault course in front of 20 or so of his shipmates who had come to support him. His testimony was so moving and you could feel the Spirit of God moving through the crowd looking on. I am praying for the tank on the assault course to become a site of holy pilgrimage as many more sons and daughters are welcomed into God’s family there. 

We are not responsible for these young adults turning to Christ, God is doing that on His own! And we know that it is a wonderful thing for the British Royal Marine Corps. 

Having a faith in God and a working moral and ethical compass adds so much to the strength and integrity to those who find it. The MOD has known this for a very long time which is why Chaplaincy and Chaplains are so well respected across the board.

Yielding to this new call to ministry was a real step of faith into the unknown for me, but the reality has exceeded my hopes thus far. I thank God continually for my team, the constant opportunities for new ministry experiences and for every person he sends my way to serve.