Diaconia ECCB helps people who often experience borderline life situations. Such a task makes questions about the meaning of life more urgent. That is why spiritual care is part of Diaconia’s services. It offers the opportunity to discover values ​​that can be trusted. Chaplains are now the professional pillar of spiritual care in Diaconia. We spoke with pastor Michael Pfann about his path to chaplaincy at the Diaconia school and Center in Vrchlabí.

At the age of seventeen, you decided to become an Evangelical pastor. Did you consider it in connection with Diaconia at that time?

Not at all. We lived in a village, there was no Diaconia Center or school of Diaconia nearby. I had minimal knowledge about Diaconia, even though I studied at the Evangelical Theological Faculty, where you can study the field of “diaconics”, but I was interested in modern church history. It was only when I started as a pastor in Vrchlabí that my intensive cooperation with Diaconia began, first with the Diaconia special school and then with the Center.

How did this happen?

I inherited the cooperation with the Diaconia school from my pastor predecessor. It was about so-called Bible lessons, which I think is an inappropriate name. I actually go to the school among children and adults with disabilities, with whom we sing, tell Bible stories, and play various games.

And cooperation with the Center?

About a month after arriving in Vrchlabí, I went to see the then director of the Center, Tomáš Hawel, to get to know each other. We were birds of a feather, which continues to this day. When we finish this interview, I will go to have a lunch with him. At our first meeting, we agreed to cooperate on a festival that I planned to organize in Vrchlabí. Thus began an intensive cooperation with the Center.

And cooperation with the Center?

About a month after arriving in Vrchlabí, I went to see the then director of the Center, Tomáš Hawel, to get to know each other. We were birds of a feather, which continues to this day. When we finish this interview, I will go to have a lunch with him. At our first meeting, we agreed to cooperate on a festival that I planned to organize in Vrchlabí. Thus began an intensive cooperation with the Center.

What kind of festival is this?

It’s called the Garden Festival. This year we are planning the sixth year. We are bringing a slightly alternative type of culture, music and theatre to Vrchlabí. At the same time, we are creating a space for people of all generations, including families with children, to meet. The festival takes place in the parish garden, which we share with Diaconia and the Tamar association, which emerged from our congregation. The proceeds from the entrance fee supported the Diaconia Center in the first years and the local congregation last year.

Did you have any experience with people with disabilities before you started working with Diaconia?

No, I felt a special shyness towards them. My close friends organized camps for people with disabilities. I never found the courage to get involved in that too. I didn’t have the confidence that I could manage to work with people with disabilities.

How did you feel when you first visited them at the special school in Vrchlabí?

I didn´t feel well. Anyway, I got over it quickly. I found out that the students at the school are very grateful people – cheerful, active. They enjoy the programs that I prepare for them. Like me, they can’t sing very well, but they like to sing, so we enjoy it together. Especially when I energetically play the guitar a lot… The cooperation with the teachers and assistants at the school is also good.

Does such a meeting have a spiritual dimension, or is it more of a fun thing?

There are different forms of communication about matters of faith. The form that I use at the Diaconia school is close to how the church works with children. We start with songs from the evangelical hymnal Svítá.

Specifically, it is the song „Thanks!“ which the schoolchildren love. They know it by heart. Then I tell stories from the Bible, which we dramatize in various ways with the involvement of the students, or we support the stories with pictures. What remains in the students‘ heads from this is just as elusive as it is for people who come to church on Sunday. However, I always try to make my story have some ethically generalizable point: for example, to behave decently towards other people. I feel that some students can handle this minimum.

You also talked about the teachers and assistants at school. How do they perceive you as a chaplain?

I don’t know much yet. Sometimes I hear that my interview was interesting. But I haven’t managed to break the barrier of shyness from adults at school yet. Diaconia employees usually have only minimal contact with Christianity. As a chaplain, I bring them something new and speak to them in a language they are not used to. I have had very few personal conversations with school employees so far.

Is it similar at the Diaconia center?

My chaplaincy there officially started last January. With the new director, Bára Tauchmanová Omrtová, we are still looking for a way to do it. I participate in meetings of the employees of the individual services. The director suggested that their leaders meet with me individually. That went well. I spoke to everyone and I had the impression that I was doing what I do best. I see the foundation of chaplaincy as building relationships. That is what is happening at the Center now.

Chaplaincy in Diaconia is not supposed to be a mission. So what is it supposed to be?

I can’t answer that clearly. So far, I see chaplaincy primarily as support for Diaconia employees, which happens through personal relationships and about important things that a person is experiencing at the moment. It is close to psychotherapy, but it is not psychotherapy. As a chaplain, I rather provide a space in which a person can express themselves – calmly and without reserve.

Does chaplaincy also include any rituals?

Yes, for example, a Christmas meeting. We met with the Center’s employees in the church, I gave a short encouragement and then I prepared a quiz for everyone. It was a very nice time spent together. Or another example: when the former director of the Center, Tomáš Hawel, left, he asked me to take charge of the farewell party. There was also a prayer. But I am careful with this so that no one feels any missionary pressure.

As a pastor who speaks the language of Protestant Christianity, can you really meet people who grew up outside of the churches and have not experienced the Christian language?

I think there is a lowest  common denominator: we believe in something and we care about the relationships in our lives. That is where we meet. And then with mutual respect we can talk about what is above that lowest denominator.

Can you find any topics that are typical of your conversations with Diaconia employees?

For example, the overlap between work and personal life. Overwork is present almost everywhere in social services. It is easy to lose sight of the boundaries. They give in to clients and colleagues at the expense of their families and their own children. This cannot be satisfactorily resolved at the moment, partly because work in social services is extremely demanding and severely underfunded. Neither the service managers nor the Center director are to blame for this. This is how the distribution of wealth is systemically set up today. However, it is important to make this topic a subject of conversation. It could be the beginning of a solution.

Has working with Diaconia changed your view of your vocation?

Diaconia is nominally Protestant, but it is based on people who actually have little in common with the church. They often think about the same things as I do, but in a different way. Meeting them is one of the imaginary channels for me to observe what the world looks like outside the Protestant/Evangelical bubble. It is very important for me to cross the boundaries of the church. That is why we organize a festival. That is why we organize various discussions on current topics, for example with journalists. As a congregation, we try to be part of the local community in Vrchlabí. Working with Diaconia is one of the ways to connect with the local community.

Michael Pfann (1988) comes from a clergy family. He completed his studies at the Protestant Theological Faculty with a doctorate. In his dissertation (published in a book under the title K svobodě je dlouhé putování (A Long Journey to Freedom), he professionally processed the life of the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren during the period of so-called normalization. He came to the congregation in Vrchlabí in 2020. He was ceremonially introduced to the chaplaincy service at the Diaconia school and Center in Vrchlabí last May. He is married and has three children.