Chaplaincy Counseling Module Completed

During the month of September 2011 the Counseling Module of the first Bulgarian Master of Chaplaincy Ministry Program in Bulgaria was successfully completed. This was the last of three modules, which further included two semesters’ long study of chaplaincy and theology taught at the United Theological Faculty of the Bulgarian Evangelical Theological Institute in Sofia, Bulgaria.

A total of fifteen students attended this final module. Ten of these students successfully finished their masters’ level studies and are now set forth for practicum in their respective areas of ministry and consecutive thesis defense prior to their graduation in the spring of 2012. Many of them are already ministering in hospital and prison settings, as well as among military and police personnel.

During the course of the program, we were able to finalize the long awaited negotiations with New Bulgarian University and signed an agreement with which every student chaplain will be able to graduate with a government accredited diploma from the Bulgarian Ministry of Education and New Bulgarian University.

This program in its entirety was only made possible through the personal efforts and tireless teaching of the following friends and partners in the ministry: Major General Clay Buckingham, USA (ret), Chaplain Colonel Rich Young of the IAEC, Dr. Jim Ellis from Union University, legal consultant on European Union religious issues, Dr. Hristo Berov from the Potsdam University in Germany, Dr. Roumen Bostandjiev from the Psychology Department of New Bulgarian University in Sofia, Bulgaria, Dr. Dona-Gene Mitchell from the Political Science Department of the University of Nebraska and professors from the United Theological Faculty under the supervision of Dr. Dony & Kathryn Donev from the Bulgarian Chaplaincy Association.

Read more about chaplaincy in Bulgaria in the following HISTORY of EVENTS