FBFI CHAPLAINCY APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS

NOTE: There are three forms you will need to submit, one at a time.

Reference these instructions for each form; make sure you submit the correct form based on your readiness for endorsement. Incomplete or incorrect forms cannot be processed by the Endorser.

• Chaplain Questionnaire
• Preliminary Chaplain Endorser Application, Short Form
• Request for Endorsement, Long Form

Your first official contact with the FBFI Endorsing Agency must be made on the Chaplain Questionnaire. After you have submitted the questionnaire, we will acknowledge receipt  and give you  further instructions on how to proceed.

1. All forms must be submitted electronically.
2. Make sure you are submitting the correct form for your current status.
3. Do not use the Long Form unless you can document your completed seminary qualifications, your ordination, and your required ministry experience. Again, if you are still in seminary, if you have not yet been ordained, or if you do not have the required ministry experience, you must use the Short Form.
4. Take time to prepare a neat application, giving attention to spelling and grammar. This is a professional application for a professional position.
5. Include with your short form application the following:
   a. A digital color photo (family, if applicable). The photo need not be studio quality but must be clear.
   b. Your $150 Application Fee. Contact the home office for payment options.
6. The FBFI Home Office will contact all references, order a background check, and schedule  your initial personal interview.
7. Before you are accessioned in the chaplaincy, you will have to report any legal citations, including traffic citations, civil legal actions against you including bankruptcy and the status of all outstanding financial obligations. Any such matter in your life will require a “moral waiver” by the military branch or civilian agency to which you are applying for chaplaincy and must be fully disclosed to your endorser in writing who will be required to acknowledge in writing that the disclosure has been made and that endorsement is granted with full awareness.
8. Plan to attend subsequent FBFI Regional Fellowship meetings in your area and all Annual Fellowship meetings after your initial application form is submitted. These meetings are listed on the website under the “Regions and Fellowships” tab.
9. Chaplain training is conducted during the Annual Fellowship in June and is required for applicants and endorsed chaplains. If you are unable to attend training at the Annual Fellowship, a make-up session will be conducted the following spring.
10. Endorsement for military chaplaincy can only occur when your endorser files a DD2088 (Department of Defense Form 2088), but the DD2088 is the LAST step in your lengthy application and qualification process. (All administrative actions take place on the DD2088.) This is a lengthy process.  Please be patient. If you are applying for a non-military chaplaincy, you will follow other protocols, explained below.
11. Fire Service, Health Care, Hospital, VA, Law Enforcement, Civil Air Patrol, Corporate, and/or any other local community chaplaincy will complete both Short Form, followed by Long Form at the appropriate time.
12. Depending on where you are in your educational pursuit, readiness for ordination, and/or ministry experience, it can take several years for an interested applicant to become a chaplain. It is a long and comprehensive process.
13. At the beginning of the application process, the Home Office will send you the FBFI Chaplain’s Manual. You will need to read this document thoroughly and affirm the FBFI Statement of Faith.
14. Do not create a crisis for yourself by starting this process too late, missing deadlines, failing to communicate, asking for waivers, exceptions, or failing to note anything on your application forms that will require them to be amended later.
15. After you have been fully endorsed, there are many regular responsibilities to maintain. You cannot finalize your application to the military branch or agency until you have been fully endorsed: DD 2088 for military, or letter of endorsement for civilian chaplaincy. If you change endorsers without permission from both sending and receiving endorsers, or if you fail to maintain endorsement from a qualified endorser at all times, you will be discharged from the military and possibly dismissed from the civilian agency where you serve.