Adapting military chapel priorities for relevance with postmodern Marines through appreciative inquiry

This project was an attempt at adapting the Chapel's ministry priorities for relevance with postmodern Marines through appreciative inquiry. The current strategic initiatives within the U. S. Navy Chaplain Corps strive to understand and articulate the current and future needs of Marines and Sailors it is called to serve. Continuous review and adaptation of service and delivery models are required to best meet those needs. This project provides insight for adapting ministry efforts that fit with the spiritual needs articulated through the appreciative inquiry interviews.;The candidate and the Lay Advisory Committee used the appreciative inquiry model for interviews with Marines in December 2009. The implementation phase began in late January 2010 as the Committee considered and shared their responses to the questions and then began to interview ten Marines who were active at some level with the Chapel and ten Marines who were inactive or claimed no religious preference.;By the end of March 2010, the Committee assisted the candidate with consolidating the interview responses and shaping potential plans for experimenting with a new contemporary worship experience, an intentional small group gathering, an element of new technology within the current worship setting and to address social networking in the digital age by creating a web presence for the chapel.;This project produced insights generated from interviews, emerging/emergent literature on postmodern ministry and committee consensus on six priorities for the chapel's future ministry. The insights were: (1) The chapel's focus should be more concerned with small group interactions. (2) Ministry with postmodern Marines must have an authentic relational aspect. (3) Bible Study is effective when group interaction is encouraged and facilitated. (4) Food and Fellowship opportunities should be avenues for friendship and belonging. (5) Ministry cannot be measured by worship attendance. (6) The current worship experience should be enhanced and embrace new technology.