What Does It Take to Be a Chaplain?
There is no single path into chaplaincy. We bring together people curious about the work, students beginning their formation, working chaplains, educators, and Board Certified Chaplains — so you don't have to walk it alone.
What Does It Take to Be a Chaplain?
There is no single path into chaplaincy.
Unlike professions such as nursing, social work, or medicine, there is no one national license that one must pass to become a chaplain. Different employers — and different kinds of chaplaincy — have different expectations.
An entry-level chaplain position can look very different from the requirements for becoming a Board Certified Chaplain.
Board Certified Chaplains must meet a rigorous standard — a master's degree (usually 72 hours), 4 units of Clinical Pastoral Education (1600 internship hours), an ecclesiastical endorsement, 2000 additional clinical hours, the creation of a portfolio demonstrating competency, and an interview before a panel of peers.
But you do not necessarily need to have all of these things before you begin working as a chaplain.
For many chaplains, becoming professionally credentialed happens one step at a time.
What do I need to work as a chaplain?
There is no universal set of qualifications for entry-level chaplain positions. Hospices, correctional facilities, senior living communities, behavioral health programs, corporations, military organizations, and other institutions establish their own requirements.
Some positions may look primarily for:
- ministry or spiritual care experience
- theological education
- ordination or recognition by a spiritual or religious community
- a bachelor's degree
- one unit of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE)
- experience working with people in crisis, grief, illness, or transition
Other positions — particularly in larger healthcare systems or highly competitive clinical settings — may expect considerably more.
The question is often not: "Am I fully qualified to be a chaplain?"
It is: "What would qualify me for the next opportunity?"
You Don't Have to Start at the Finish Line
It is easy to look at the requirements for board certification and assume that you need to complete everything before you can begin.
Most people don't.
Proficiency as a chaplain often happens progressively.
You might begin by taking a course in spiritual care.
Then complete your first unit of Clinical Pastoral Education.
That experience may help you qualify for a PRN, hospice, volunteer, or entry-level chaplain position.
As you gain experience, you might continue your theological education.
Then complete additional CPE.
Eventually, what began as an exploration of chaplaincy can become the foundation for professional board certification.
Think of it as a pathway rather than a gate.
You can begin moving before you know exactly where the path will lead.
A Common Path Into Chaplaincy
Explore the Work
Before committing to years of education, learn what chaplains actually do.
Talk with working chaplains. Attend conversations and workshops. Learn about healthcare, hospice, military, corrections, workplace, and community chaplaincy.
Ask yourself whether accompanying people through suffering, change, uncertainty, meaning-making, and spiritual questions feels like work you want to learn how to do.
We've built a free community where you can establish relationships with chaplains, educators, and leading figures in the field.
Build a Foundation in Spiritual Care
Some people enter chaplaincy with years of ministry experience. Others found a calling as they walked with others through life crises. For many, chaplaincy is a second career.
You may need additional theological or clinical experience. The important question is what education makes sense for where you are now and where you hope to go next.
Complete Clinical Pastoral Education
For many people, one unit of Clinical Pastoral Education is the bridge between wondering about chaplaincy and actually learning to practice it.
CPE places you in real spiritual-care encounters while giving you structured education, supervision, reflection, and feedback.
You learn to care for people whose beliefs may be very different from your own. You begin developing a professional identity. And you discover things about yourself that no classroom alone can teach.
One unit of CPE may also open doors by demonstrating to employers that you're able to work in religiously diverse settings rather than faith-based settings like churches and parachurch ministry.
What About Board Certification?
Board certification is different from simply being employed as a chaplain.
It is a professional credential demonstrating that a chaplain has reached an established level of theological education, clinical formation, professional experience, accountability, and competency in the field of chaplaincy.
For federal and hospital positions, in particular, board certification is often considered the professional standard.
For someone just entering chaplaincy, the list of requirements needed for board certification can feel enormous.
But most chaplains earn it piece by piece.
- Your first theological course counts.
- Your first CPE unit counts.
- Your first chaplain position counts.
- Your second and third CPE units count.
- The master's degree you finish while already working counts.
Eventually the collection of experiences that formed you into a chaplain may also make you eligible to demonstrate your competency as a chaplain through board certification.
Entry-Level Chaplaincy and Board Certification Are Not Opposites
There can be a tendency in chaplaincy to divide people into two groups: "qualified" and "unqualified."
Professional formation is usually more complicated than that.
Someone with one CPE unit is not a Board Certified Chaplain. But they are also not standing in the same place they were before completing that unit of CPE.
Someone working toward a master's degree has not yet completed graduate theological education. But they are moving toward it.
Someone serving in an entry-level chaplain role may still have considerable formation ahead of them. They are also gaining experience that can shape the chaplain they eventually become.
Professional standards matter.
So does creating pathways that allow people to grow toward them.
How Far Do You Want to Go?
Maybe you want enough preparation to serve as a volunteer chaplain or get your first paid chaplain position.
Maybe you already work in ministry and want clinical training.
Maybe you want to become a Board Certified Chaplain.
Maybe you aren't sure yet.
Rather than looking at the destination, sometimes you just need to take the next step.
A Pathway Can Look Like This
Just Exploring
Learn about chaplaincy and spiritual care.
Beginning Formation
Take introductory courses or begin theological education.
First Clinical Experience
Complete your first unit of CPE.
Working Chaplain
Begin pursuing positions for which your education and experience qualify you.
Deeper Professional Formation
Continue graduate theological education and additional units of CPE while gaining experience.
Board Certified Chaplain
Complete the education, clinical formation, experience, endorsement, and competency requirements of a recognized certifying organization.
There isn't only one way through the pathway. What matters is knowing where you are, where you hope to go, and what your next step might be.
Not Sure Where You Fit?
That's exactly why the Spiritual Care Collaborative exists.
We bring together people who are curious about chaplaincy, students beginning their formation, working chaplains, educators, Board Certified Chaplains, spiritual care leaders, and people who have spent decades in the profession.
You don't need another credential before you're allowed into the conversation.
Come learn. Ask questions. Meet people doing the work. And figure out your next step from there.
Take Your Next Step
Whether you're just exploring, mid-formation, or working toward board certification — there's a place for you here.