A collaborative initiative providing high-quality, practical training content and tools to help institutions, organizations, and denominations equip chaplains for real-world ministry.
The Marsh Institute for Chaplains, Clinical Pastoral Education International, Community Chaplain Network, Hope Thru Faith Foundation, and CAREForce have established the Chaplain Resource Network (CRN), a strategic alliance designed to help institutions, organizations, and denominations equip chaplains with high-quality, practical training resources.
Across the chaplaincy ecosystem, seminaries, denominational leaders, endorsing bodies, and chaplain organizations often face the same bottleneck. The growing demand for chaplains requires consistent, credible training content and specialized expertise.
The Chaplain Resource Network helps close that gap by providing a shared resource hub so training organizations can deliver well-structured, usable content without having to build resources from scratch.
CRN reduces the time it takes to stand up training and educational tracks by providing ready-to-deploy modules and materials.
Resources are built for real-world chaplain ministry, usable in cohorts, workshops, online delivery, and organizational training.
Content is modular and can be combined into certificates, courses, online classes, and CEU-ready learning pathways.
CRN is structured as a clearinghouse and distribution platform to deliver content across multiple formats, channels, and languages.
Each organization retains its mission and identity, with clear licensing and attribution rules to protect content integrity.
The network supports consistent competencies, ethical practice, institutional readiness, multilingual expansion, and contextual delivery in diverse settings.
The the CRN library includes 238 lessons in total, with 40 complete and 198 in development, and more modules to be approved. The network is designed to support chaplain formation in multiple contexts and to provide resources that can be distributed across formats, channels, and languages.
CRN's delivery model is designed to equip and support chaplains in diverse and global settings, helping organizations scale training without sacrificing quality or practical relevance.
A Chapter-by-Chapter Formation Experience
Across communities, institutions, and crisis environments, the need for trained chaplains continues to grow. Chaplain Resource Network highlights the increasing demand for trusted caregivers who can step into moments of trauma, loss, and uncertainty — offering steady presence and holistic support.
The Heart of a Chaplain responds to that need.
Each chapter is paired with a focused one-hour lesson, creating a structured pathway into the practice and posture of chaplaincy — designed to prepare individuals to serve where spiritual, emotional, and relational care are essential.
These sessions translate real-world chaplain experiences into practical formation, equipping you to engage people and systems with clarity, compassion, and discernment.
Through this experience, you will:
Each lesson builds on the last, forming a rhythm of learning, reflection, and application grounded in frontline realities.
This series offers a preview of the broader HOAC formation pathway — an opportunity to step into the kind of care increasingly needed across today's secular and crisis-facing environments, and as an example of the broader CRN efforts.
Ken Schlenker
Chaplain Resource Network
Director, Resource and Network Operations
Board Member, Marsh Institute for Chaplains
Email: [email protected]
The Chaplain Resource Network was established by the Marsh Institute for Chaplains, Clinical Pastoral Education International, Community Chaplain Network, Hope Thru Faith Foundation, and CAREForce.