May 15, 2000
Texas needs more chaplains to help police
___By Dan Martin
___Texas Baptist Communications
___More than three-quarters of the police agencies and sheriff's departments in Texas do not have a chaplaincy program, according to Amarillo police chaplain Merrill Gilbert.
___And many Christians and churches do not see the "first responders"--police officers,deputies, emergency medical technicians, fire and other personnel--as people who need ministry and nurture, he added.
Law Enforcement Appreciation Sunday
May 21
___Gilbert and his wife, Doris, are chaplains to the Amarillo Police Department and the Potter County Sheriff's Department.
___They joined with Kenny Martin, a former policeman with the Houston Police Department who now heads the Texas region of Police Officers for Christ, in talking about the need law enforcement personnel have for ministry.
___The three encouraged Texas Baptists to observe May 21 as Law Enforcement Appreciation Sunday to say thanks to criminal justice professionals.
___"There is no group confronted with more situations that can demoralize and create emotional, mental and spiritual burdens than the law enforcement professional," Mrs. Gilbert said.
___The Gilberts are consultants with the church ministries department of the Baptist General Convention of Texas and are available to consult with churches, communities and others about establishing chaplaincy programs to minister to those in the criminal justice system.
___In addition, "there are lots of things churches and Christians can do to support law enforcement," Martin said. These range from waving and being friendly to giving certificates of appreciation, to praying for and with lawmen, to giving such tangible support as parties.
___The Gilberts were law enforcement professionals--he in the Amarillo Police Department and she as a deputy medical examiner--before their retirement and involvement as full-time chaplains to the Panhandle city.
___Mrs. Gilbert said the criminal justice system "is like a cocoon which binds together three disparate organisms." Each has its own pain but "is required to rub against the other two, and the abrasive action serves to continually renew the suffering."
___First, "victims and their families feel violation and hatred for the offenders who have caused the pain. They also may feel animosity toward the criminal justice professionals who failed to keep them safe."
___The second group is the criminal justice professionals who "hate the offenders who keep causing them trouble and with whom they must do battle. They also often become exasperated with the victims and their families who fail to understand the difficulty of their jobs."
___The third group is offenders, who hate the lawmen.
___"Each group is fully involved in suffering as well as hatred for others to whom they are bound by the criminal justice system," she said.
___With the Restorative Justice Ministry Network emphasis now under way, the focus of ministry has shifted from ministering only to inmates in prisons and jails to ministering to victims, criminal justice professionals and the families of all three groups, leaders of the Restorative Justice Ministry Network of Texas said.
___The Gilberts and Martin led a workshop at the recent Restorative Justice Ministry Convention in Houston that emphasized the need to minister to criminal justice professionals.
___"The first and foremost thing you have to remember when ministering to people in law enforcement is that they are care-givers," Mrs. Gilbert said. "If they did not care about people, they would not be in those professions. These professionals are usually Mother Teresas in a John Wayne suit."
___Yet law enforcement professionals often find it difficult to ask for emotional or spiritual help, her husband added.
___The three encouraged communities to consider establishing chaplaincy programs with the various law enforcement departments and to minister to the people on both sides of the bars.
___Churches can make a huge difference in the lives of law enforcement people simply by showing support, Martin said.
___His organization is promoting the Adopt-A-Cop program, which aims to strengthen links between officers and the local community. In the program, he said, the church adopts in prayer all those working in law enforcement in a local area.
___Martin encouraged churches to pray for officers by name as well as in larger groups.
Send this story to a friend
Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!
