How Churches and Chapels Can Serve One Another

Since I began working as a prison chaplain, I’ve heard countless testimonies of men and women coming to Christ in the most unlikely of places—combat zones, jail cells, nursing homes—because a faithful chaplain shared the gospel, offered biblical guidance, or simply helped them understand Scripture. To be sure, prisons, war zones, and nursing homes seem barren, but even there, chapels can function as oases of spiritual nourishment.

But what exactly is a chapel? How does it relate to the local church? Can a chapel ever function as a church? And how might healthy local churches come alongside chapel ministries?

I don’t have all the answers, but I offer a few biblical reflections on how chapels can serve local churches and how local churches can support chapels.

The Chapel Is Not a Church

Most chapels exist in institutional settings and are designed to host a variety of religious activities. They often serve as multi-faith, multi-purpose spaces overseen by a chaplain. On any given day, a chapel may host a Catholic Mass in the morning, a Muslim prayer gathering at noon, a Jewish holy day in the evening, and a Wiccan circle in the next room. That same week, a prosperity preacher may hold a service one day, and a faithful Baptist pastor might preach the gospel the next.

Even when Christian programming is the predominant thing on offer in a chapel, there’s often no clear confession, no defined membership, no biblical leadership, and no covenantal accountability. A chapel may be filled with Christian activities, but that doesn’t make it a local church in the biblical sense. After all, chapels lack the necessary marks of a true church, such as clearly defined gospel doctrine, ordinances rightly administered, and a covenant-bound body of believers walking together in mutual care and discipline.

In short, the chapel is not the church. But . . .

The Chapel Can Be Where the Church Meets

In many chapels, especially in long-term institutional settings, there are genuine believers (members of the invisible Church) who regularly attend Christian services and long to grow in Christ. But many of them are unable to meaningfully join a local, visible church. In prisons, military bases, or nursing homes, the chapel is often the only spiritual community available.

Are these believers doomed to spiritual isolation? I don’t think so.

While the chapel is not a church, it can become the place where a church meets. Just as a school auditorium might host a church plant on Sundays, chapels can host biblically ordered churches.

For example, in the Florida Department of Corrections (where I serve), we partner with New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary to train inmates in theology and pastoral ministry. Many of these men go on to plant churches in the chapels of their respective prisons. Often these are healthy churches—with preaching, discipleship, membership, and biblical leadership. The gospel is proclaimed. People are shepherded. Even behind bars, Jesus builds his church!

In cases such as the churches being planted in prison chapels throughout Florida, outside churches can lend support by mentoring inmate pastors, helping with doctrinal training, and ensuring the church inside remains faithful and accountable. Alternatively, where a prison lacks a pastor to plant a church, a church from outside could send a minister to preach in the chapel with an eye to eventually plant a church inside.

Even though chapels would continue to function as a religious hub for their respective institutions, local churches can often use the space to gather during a set time each week. Membership can be clearly defined, discipline exercised, and ordinances administered. Over time, elders and deacons may be raised up from within the congregation. Even in prison, the church can exist and grow healthily.

A Word to Those on the Outside

You may be hearing all this for the first time. Or perhaps you resonate with the vision but aren’t in a position to plant a church inside an institution. If so, let me offer a few practical ways you can support chapel ministry in the meantime.

1. Send Solid Resources

Most chapels have libraries or book tables, but these are often filled with material you wouldn’t want handed out in your church. For example, prison chapels are often inundated with prosperity gospel literature. You can help by donating biblically sound books. A well-placed book can have a lasting impact.

2. Volunteer Your Time

Call your local prison, nursing home, or hospital and ask how you can serve. Lead a Bible study. Mentor a resident. Encourage the chaplain. You don’t need a platform, just a heart for discipleship and a willingness to show up.

3. Pray

Pray for chaplains to be faithful. Pray for administrators to allow gospel work to flourish. Pray for church planters to rise up. Most of all, pray that God would encourage the believers in these places and use them to shine as lights in the darkness.

Conclusion

I’m not laying out a complete strategy for church planting in chapels, but I want you to see what’s possible. With some creativity, a high view of the local church, and a commitment to the means of grace, chapels can become staging grounds for gospel growth. They may not be churches by default, but they can become a space where churches gather to proclaim Christ.