“I'm a fellow human being who wants to journey with you”
In this week’s chaplaincy blog, Paul Brasdale shares his experience as Lindsay Lodge Hospice Chaplain in the Lincolnshire Methodist District.
11 August 2025
What is it that you do as Lindsay Lodge Hospice Chaplain?
have been Hospice Chaplain for four or five years now What I do is visit people in their settings, in their rooms, as in patients, as well as having conversations with people who come in for the day. Because it can be a challenging type of chaplaincy, every six to eight weeks, we have a team meeting and time of reflection led by one of the family support councillors. So there is a place for us to share and say, this wasn't good, but this was good, and share how we dealt with it and how we move on. We offer each other mutual support. One of the senior sisters recently asked, ‘Do you want to hug?’ And often it’s yes please.
Why did you feel called to chaplaincy?
It's about getting alongside people, and particularly healthcare, chaplaincy in hospice settings because myself and family members have had cancer.
What is it about Methodism that is different from other faiths and approaches to chaplaincy?
I think it is the getting alongside and we haven't got a hierarchy, we have a ministry priesthood of all believers. And I think that's the key thing for me: we get alongside people who are the same as us and offer them human relationships. What I usually say is, I'm a fellow human being who wants to journey with you, who just happens to be a Methodist minister as well. So to be spiritual, because everybody is spiritual, they've got something that ignites their spirit or gives them joy, excites them about life, even in the hospice. And I think that's the key thing, and that's the connection. It can be about someone feeding birds or else, it’s just about being alongside them.
Tell me about one person you’ve met where you’ve had an impact on their lives.
I think it is being with a family and a person who is on end-of-life care. To be with them and offer prayers and give them peace. I think that's again, it's that journey and alongside and being with them in their situation, being with them at that critical time.