The Church Times headline of 4 July – “How does the Church of England prepare for war?” – is as unsettling as it is timely. As General Synod prepares to hear from Brigadier Jaish Mahan and consider legislation affecting Army chaplains, the Church is being invited to reckon with the possibility of direct UK involvement in armed conflict. Alongside prayers for peace, the Bishop to the Armed Forces has urged us to begin conversations about how the Church might respond.
At St Luke’s, we’ve already been engaging with one part of that response.
Since 2020, we’ve partnered with the Royal Army Chaplains’ Department (RAChD) to deliver the Footsteps programme – a pastoral supervision scheme for Army chaplains. These are clergy who serve wherever soldiers serve. They are non-combatants, but they walk alongside those who are. They minister in contexts of trauma, ambiguity, and moral complexity. And they do so often without the familiar structures of diocesan or congregational support.
The Footsteps programme offers these chaplains a confidential space for theological reflection, emotional processing, and spiritual resilience. It is not therapy, but it is deeply therapeutic. It is not command oversight, but it is accountable. It is, in many ways, a model of what clergy wellbeing can look like when it is taken seriously – even in the most demanding of environments.
But what does it mean to prepare clergy for war?
This question cannot be answered without grappling with the concept of moral injury – the psychological, emotional, and spiritual distress that arises when individuals perpetrate, witness, or fail to prevent acts that transgress their moral or ethical code. Originally developed in military contexts, the concept has since been applied to healthcare, policing, and – increasingly – ministry.
Moral injury is not the same as PTSD. It is not about fear, but about guilt, shame, and betrayal. It is the wound to the soul that comes from being part of something that violates one’s deepest values – or from being abandoned by the institutions one serves.
For Army chaplains, moral injury can arise in multiple ways: from accompanying soldiers through ethically fraught missions, from witnessing suffering they cannot alleviate, or from feeling complicit in systems they cannot change. But chaplains can also be agents of healing. Research suggests that moral injury is most effectively addressed not through clinical intervention alone, but through meaning-making, ritual, and relationship – the very tools of ministry.
In this sense, chaplaincy is both vulnerable to moral injury and uniquely placed to respond to it.
As an established Church, we must also ask hard questions about our own institutional role. If the UK were to enter armed conflict, how would the Church of England – with its historic ties to the state – navigate the moral terrain? How would we support clergy who feel torn between loyalty and conscience? How would we ensure that our chaplains are not only licensed, but truly equipped – spiritually, emotionally, and ethically – for the burdens they may bear?
These are not abstract questions. They are questions of formation, of accountability, and of care.
At St Luke’s, we are proud to support the Footsteps programme. But we also recognise that pastoral supervision is not a luxury – it is a necessity. If we are to prepare clergy for war, we must also prepare to tend their wounds. And we must do so with humility, courage, and a commitment to the wellbeing of those who serve.