Chaplaincy

Tollendale Village’s mission is to provide self-reliant seniors with a residential setting and the opportunity to participate in community life in an environment that is guided by Christian values and principles.

The Chaplaincy Program at Tollendale Village is a significant part of seeking to accomplish that mission. At Tollendale Village we enjoy the presence of a full-time Chaplain who is an ordained Christian minister. Our Chaplain organizes and oversees Christian spiritual activities to support our residents. Such activities include the weekly Sunday evening Chapel, Communion services, Bible studies, and grief support groups. Our Chaplain also supports our residents through pastoral care, emotional encouragement, and visiting. The residents themselves also arrange for Christian activities such as hymn sings, choirs, Bible studies, and Easter and Christmas events.

The residents of Tollendale Village come from a wide variety of Christian denominations and backgrounds. This has proven to be a rich blessing at Tollendale Village as we truly enjoy one another’s company as Christians. We are diverse, yet also one in Christ. The Chaplaincy Program seeks to be sensitive to this diversity while remaining faithful to core Christian teaching as expressed in Tollendale Village’s Statement of Faith (Who We Are page).

Tollendale Village has no formally organized on-site church; this is deliberate. Tollendale Village does not want to be in “competition” with local churches, nor does it desire to take residents away from their own churches. For this reason, we do not schedule morning services of worship, Good Friday services, Christmas Eve services, or any other services which would force residents to have to choose between attending their own church events and Tollendale Village events. For this reason, as well, we call our evening worship Chapel not Church, and we call our Chaplain Chaplain not Pastor, recognizing that many residents have their own pastor.

We expect all residents to recognize and accept that we are a deliberately Christian community, yet we also leave it to the residents themselves how they will practise their Christian faith. Each resident is free to participate in the various spiritual activities offered through the Chaplaincy program, or not, as they wish. Likewise, pastoral care from the Chaplain is available to all, but residents are free to decline it if they wish, preferring instead the pastoral care offered through their own church.

In all we do we desire to bring glory to God. (1 Corinthians 10:31)