Kenneth Brown, assistant director of first-generation student support services at Elon University, is continuing his journey toward becoming a chaplain. Though Brown can’t pinpoint the specific moment he decided to become a chaplain, he said the discovery of this passion was more like pulling the strings from various areas of his life together as he explored what made him “come alive.”.
Rev. Kirstin Boswell, Elon’s university chaplain and dean of multifaith engagement, said a chaplain is someone who supports people in their faith and spiritual journeys, within an institutional setting.
“We are helping people to figure out their pathway forward, and how we can support that from the wisdom that we’ve learned from the world’s great religious, spiritual, and ethical traditions,” Boswell said.
Brown announced via LinkedIn that he had accepted an offer to the hybrid Master of Divinity program at Duke Divinity School.
Chaplains are commonly found in hospitals, higher education institutions, prisons, the military and even in National Parks.
Brown described his emotions when ideating over pursuing chaplaincy as feelings of lightness and joy, and a sense that he could be in that role forever, without getting tired of it.
“I was thinking about those moments of connecting with students, talking with students, and also thinking about my own spiritual evolution,” Brown said.
In his current role, Brown works to support and provide guidance for first-generation students at Elon. He said he knows firsthand how transformative college and being a young adult in general can be, as people learn more about themselves and the world around them. He said for some people, this transformative period can include a shift in their faith.
“I want to help young people navigate that tension and that journey,” Brown said.
Brown is a Christian, and grew up in the historic Black church and the United Methodist Church. He said faith was a non-negotiable for him and his siblings, and they found themselves in church on most Sundays and many weekdays.
Despite some of the hardships he faced growing up in a low-income family of 10 in Green Springs, North Carolina, Brown said his parents’ faith gave them a sense of optimism that things would get better.
“I tend to believe that we, as humans, always imagine the worst case scenario,” Brown said. “But if we always imagine the worst case scenario to happen, then we also have to imagine the best case scenario to happen as well, and that is just formed by my faith.”
When applying for divinity school, Brown said it was very similar to any other college application, but slightly more personal due to its connection to his personal faith.
Brown said he relied on his faith during the application process and often prayed for God to make it clear whether this path was right for him. He said when he received an acceptance and full tuition scholarship from Duke, it felt like his prayers were being answered.
“It’s like, ‘You are listening, you are hearing these words I’m putting up to you,’” Brown said.
Besides his full tuition scholarship, Brown also chose Duke because of its proximity to Elon and Mebane, where he lives. In addition, Duke Divinity is a Methodist seminary, which will be logistically helpful for Brown as he figures out whether he wants to be ordained in the United Methodist Church.
Having already received her Master of Divinity from The University of Chicago Divinity School, Boswell gave insight into the types of courses taught through these programs.
While in divinity school, Boswell took courses ranging from ministry, general and specialized religious studies, ethics, sociology, anthropology, human development, and studied three languages.
“As a chaplain you encounter everything across the entire spectrum of the human experience,” Boswell said. “The things that I’ve learned, both at divinity school and also just through my own personal journey over the years, those things tend to pop us as meaningful background reflection all the time.”
While Brown is excited to begin his masters of divinity program, he also never expected he would be a student again and said he thinks that academically, the program will challenge him to think differently about faith and religion in general.
“Typically when people read the Bible or their particular religious texts, it's for personal edification,” Brown said. “But here you’re reading these texts and objectively analyzing it.”
Brown will continue to work at Elon while pursuing his masters of divinity, thanks to the hybrid nature of the program he is enrolled in.
He said there are a lot of parallels between the work he does at Elon and the work he would be doing as a chaplain. Both require listening to people, being there through their ups and downs, and helping them figure out where life is taking them. As a chaplain and with his divinity degree, Brown said he hopes to continue to build community and provide support for people through the hardships of life.
“I want to be a part of the number that inspires people to not give up yet,” Brown said.