message from the Chaplain
SHEMA CHAPLAINCY Be-ing precedes do-ing. Consequently, SHEMA SCHOOL has crafted a pro-active Chaplaincy team composed of resident, consulting and visiting professional chaplains to meet the socio-spiritual needs of SHEMA fraternity. This integrates with other SHEMA SCHOOL care services to address ‘whole-person’ needs. The SHEMA SCHOOL mantra of “Building Blocks to Royalty” is born of the Christian Education convictions from the Bible in Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and Isaiah 54:13.
SHEMA SCHOOL Chaplaincy- spiritual care beyond the conventional worship centers, caters to the existential and emotio-spiritual concerns, enhancing learners and staff wellbeing while helping SHEMA corporate leadership to maintain purpose by living their values while serving their clients. Services Our Chaplaincy ministry gives focus to the following:
Our primary audience are the SHEMA SCHOOL learners. At their young age, their impressionable minds ought to be channeled to know, embrace and live out positive life virtues that ultimately mold them to true royalty. Whereas our learners come from varied faith backgrounds and convictions, the Chaplaincy services to them are NEVER a ground to proselytize but through the Spiritual Programs like the Royal Circle and other worship services, their minds are pointed to God who alone is the true source of knowledge and wisdom and whose Word alone can mold them to be men and women of Character and Light. We are also on standby to serve our learners during critical life moments like birthdays, graduations, rites of passage, illnesses and so forth.
Chaplaincy helps SHEMA SCHOOL management to audit and track on their identity especially as pertains company values, ethics, and workplace best practices on matters of learners, parents and staff welfare. This is achieved by Chaplaincy participation in staff orientation to enhance clarity on SHEMA SCHOOL values (Service, Honesty, Excellence, Motivation and Adventure), while confronting unethical workplace practices that normally ensue from ‘home-baggage’ . The Chaplains help management by representation or accompaniment in critical moments like funerals, weddings, lay-offs or even emotionally significant notifications as well as during company celebrations like anniversaries, launches, celebrating milestones e.t.c, where the chaplaincy team will be at hand to both set a tone of gratitude and greater aspirations as well as saying and giving blessings!
Staff and their immediate family are another major domain of Shema Chaplaincy ministry. Services to them include, counseling, prayer, consolation and presenting the human touch where chaplains offer non-threatening presence, ‘intentional loitering’ where in the midst of great automations and targeted culture, the human bit of workers feels void. Shema Chaplaincy also facilitates Faith at Work initiatives where safe spaces for the staff members are preserved by our advocacy. All these ultimately enhance employee morale and discipline to foster workplace productivity.
As appropriate, Shema Chaplaincy services sometimes benefit our other clients in situations we need to communicate care and concern to enhance customer relations.
The Shema Chaplaincy team lead out in Ordinances like New Year prayers/ celebrations, Worship services organized by the School, giving blessing in school events and meetings, presiding over deaths, marriages, births in families, birthdays, and other life significant events of SHEMA SCHOOL fraternity.
A critical component that Shema Chaplaincy team undertakes is the linking and referral service to other community resources especially whenever a SHEMA SCHOOL stakeholder needs specific ministry say a visit, professional counseling or service of a particular clergy of their faith persuasion, we act as an important link in facilitating the same. The overall impact of all this is enhanced wellbeing of every stakeholder especially our learners and staff, positive work environment and SHEMA growth.