By Aaron Weaver

Hospital chaplaincy

Owen offers ministry of peaceful presence and hospitality in an emergency environment

Renée Owen has long felt at ease around doctors, nurses and their patients. “I’ve always felt comfortable in a hospital,” said Owen. While growing up, Owen found herself spending countless hours in hospitals with her sick mother who suffered from chronic pain. Out of those experiences, Owen discovered a passion for caring for people and sharing God’s love for them.

A native of Oxford, North Carolina, Owen answered a call to ministry in 1990 after graduating from Campbell University. This call took her to nearby Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Realizing soon that, as a woman, Southeastern was no longer a good fit, Owen left and enrolled at nearby Duke Divinity School.

During her time at Duke and initial years as an ordained minister, Owen served several Baptist churches in various roles, such as youth and children’s ministry, preaching and leading worship. But she missed the hospital and experienced a strong call to chaplaincy and sought endorsement through CBF.

Over the last 13 years, Owen has ministered as a CBF-endorsed chaplain at hospitals in Southern California and children’s hospitals in Miami, Fla. and Orange County, Calif. Since 2012, Owen has served as director of pastoral care at WellStar Kennestone Hospital in Marietta, Ga.

As a hospital chaplain, Owen does not have “typical” days. “No day is ever the same,” according to Owen. With each day different from the rest, Owen stresses the need to be a calming influence. “I’ve learned that it is so important to bring a peaceful presence in the midst of the chaos because you never know what kind of chaos you are going to run into,” she said.

WellStar Kennestone Hospital is a Level 2 Trauma Center with neonatal and neurological intensive care units, as well as a growing emergency department that serves the northwest metropolitan Atlanta area. In this emergency environment, Owen views her role as a pastor whose mission is to offer a ministry of presence.

“Having the opportunity to walk with people of diverse faiths and cultures through sacred times in their lives involves being with a patient at end-of-life or celebrating with a family the birth of a new baby. And sometimes it means having to say goodbye with a family at the same time they are saying hello to a new baby. Other times it means just sitting quietly with someone and holding their hand. That is a ministry of presence,” said Owen.

Owen emphasizes that chaplains also provide a ministry of hospitality. How are you doing today? Would you like us to contact your pastor? How can we support you? These are a few of the questions that Owen regularly asks patients when making her rounds.

To journey with others through their times of vulnerability, chaplains must connect with their patients. “As a chaplain, we are here to make sure that the spiritual and emotional needs of our patients are being met. I have to be willing to make myself vulnerable to enter into that spiritual or emotional pain with them,” Owen explained.

This ministry of presence and hospitality has its challenges, especially in a pluralistic setting. Once, a young Muslim girl was rapidly approaching the end of her life. Owen attempted to get in touch with a local imam to come be with the girl and her family. Since it was midday and area mosques were holding afternoon prayers, an imam could not be reached. Owen began to panic. “How was I going to meet this family’s need?” she asked.

Owen, however, was able to find a Quran and gave it to the family. She stood silently in the back of the hospital room as the large family surrounded the dying girl, reading their scripture and saying prayers. “Everything worked out just beautifully, a truly sacred moment. In the end, it was okay that the imam wasn’t there,” said Owen.

In a profession that can be so emotionally draining and spiritually taxing, Owen notes the vital need to relax and refill. She refills by having her own time with God, whether reflecting during a few quiet moments or on a brief walk. “Running has also become a prayer time for me. I get lost in those runs and pray and often feel God’s presence,” she said. Being fully replenished allows Owen to effectively continue this all-important ministry of presence and hospitality.

This article appeared in the June/July 2013 issue of fellowship! magazine.