The denominational agency that provides support and superivison to Seventh-day Adventist chaplains serving in hospitals, prisons, the armed forces, the Veterans Administration, industries, and on campuses. When the matter of Seventh-day Adventist ministers serving in the armed forces of the United States arose early in World War II, the General Conference Committee questioned whether the church should favor such service on the grounds of separation of church and state. However, at the Spring Meeting of the committee in 1942, in response to the urging of some ministers, a compromise action was passed that tended to discourage ministers from entering the chaplaincy, yet allowed that if a person felt the call to serve, the decision be left up to individual conscience. It was subsequently learned that the government would commission only a person who had ecclesiastical endorsement. Thus matters stood until Floyd E. Bresee became the first Seventh-day Adventist chaplain to enter the U.S. Army on Sept. 28, 1942, on the recommendation of the Central Union Conference. W. H. Bergherm became the second such chaplain the next year. Robert L. Mole became the first SDA chaplain in the U.S. Navy in March 1953, while Christy M. Taylor was the first in the U.S. Air Force in September 1953.
Because Army chaplains were of considerable help to SDA service personnel during the war years, the Autumn Council in 1950 voted to place no barrier in the way of those who felt called upon to serve as chaplains. Those who chose to serve in this capacity were to receive their credentials from the General Conference. The National Service Organization was asked to look after the needs of these chaplains who were issued ministerial credentials by the General Conference. The National Service Organization now is part of the Adventist Chaplaincy Ministries. See National Service Organization .
After World War II the various military forces made available openings for chaplains based on the ratio of the church’s membership to the population of the country. At the peak of U.S. military strength in 1989, 50 chaplains served in the military in ranks ranging from lieutenant to full colonel, and in assignments including troop units, aircraft carriers, paratroops, and staff assignments at the Pentagon.
There is no general denominational policy respecting SDA chaplains in the armed forces of countries other than the United States. So far as is known, there has been only one such chaplain—a Belgian minister, Daniel Peyffer, who served his country in the Korean War.
Chaplains serve in the U.S. military as part of the uniqueness of the U.S. Constitution, which mandates the free exercise of religion for all citizens, including those serving in the armed forces.