Community Profiles
As a community of care-givers we serve in many different ways and in many different places. Our Community Profiles page will connect you with others who serve to in like-minded ways. Come back often and as we introduce our community members.
Carol Goh
Neighbourhood Chaplain & Pastor for Seniors @ Chilliwack Alliance Church
Carol Goh
Neighbourhood Chaplain & Pastor for Seniors @ Chilliwack Alliance Church
I’m Carol Goh and I serve as the Neighbourhood Chaplain and Pastor for Seniors at Chilliwack Alliance Church. I received an MA in Chaplaincy from ACTS and was ordained with the Alliance in 2023.
The role of the Parish Chaplain is to provide spiritual care for those who live, work, and attend school in our neighborhood. I also collaborate with the schools, churches, government offices, and small businesses in our neighbourhood to weave together the fabric of care for all our inhabitants.
As we provide spiritual care in a multi-faith environment, it is important that we stay rooted in our Christian beliefs. I recommend finding a network of chaplains within your denomination. If you attend an Alliance Church or have been licensed through them, you are most welcome to join the Association of Alliance Chaplains, https://thealliancecanada.ca/chaplains. I am currently chairing the committee for the Pacific District and am happy to help you get started!- Email:carol@mycac.ca
Ross Johnston
Spiritual Health Care Practitioner (Chaplain) @ Salvation Army - Buchanan Lodge
Ross Johnston
Spiritual Health Care Practitioner (Chaplain) @ Salvation Army - Buchanan Lodge
My name is Ross Johnston. For the past eight years I have served as a Spiritual Health Care Practitioner (Chaplain) at The Salvation Army’s Buchanan Lodge, a 112-bed Long Term Care Home in New Westminster, BC. I am also a Sessional Instructor at Booth University College in Winnipeg, MB, primarily in the Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care program. This chaplaincy career followed an almost 40-year career in pastoral and para-church ministry.
With a calling to pastoral ministry and a heart for caring, the chaplaincy role has been a natural fit for me. I am able to continue ministering via preaching and teaching in our weekly chapel and other programs, and also to provide pastoral care one-on-one to seniors in the final chapter of their lives. This often includes end-of-life palliative care. Our ‘congregation’ in this setting also includes resident family members and staff members whom we often connect with. We care for people of Christian faith, other faiths and of no faith. Our first step is to connect with them at the place they are coming from and to be available to provide a listening ear or whatever ministry or friendship that may be meaningful to them. Over time these relationships and our influence often deepen.
I have participated in the Chaplains Connect gatherings, as often as possible over the years and have also benefited from special learning opportunities offered (Seminars on MAiD, etc.). The best resource I can recommend is to pursue whatever and all chaplaincy training you can, to enable your ministry to be as effective as possible. The equipping role of my Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctor of Ministry degrees have been invaluable to me through my years of ministry.
Pamela Franklin
Family Care Coordinator @ Raphael House Langley
Pamela Franklin
Family Care Coordinator @ Raphael House Langley
My name is Pamela Franklin, and I'm currently part of an amazing team that works at a not-for-profit called Raphael House in Langley, BC (https://www.raphaelhouse.ca/). My degree in chaplaincy/spiritual care supports my role as family care coordinator, I am daily inspired by the determination, hope and resiliency displayed by the community I do life with: 435+ families from over 60 countries, multicultural, multifaith, multilingual who encourage and support each other and serve each other in a season of change. Community connections in a place of safety and support foster a home away from home; from the moment someone walks in the door of Raphael they seem to sense that they are loved, invited to belong. We join in with what God is already doing in the lives of those who arrive as Jesus' hands and feet.
I graduated from the Master of Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care program in April 2025, and have continued at Raphael House, where I first volunteered, then fulfilled my chaplaincy practicum. I now serve with a team who exemplify compassion, inclusivity, generosity, and relational community. Meaningful connection wholistically, from food support to community resources, language skill and conversation, referrals to mental health support and relationship building, both horizontally and through prayer and encouragement, example and invitation (as John Mark Comer suggests Jesus models in his book The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry: How to Stay Emotionally Healthy and Spiritually Alive in the Chaos of the Modern World), a ministry of presence, is fostered each day. Beyond the resource mentioned above, another book particularly recommended when serving relationally with newcomers is You Welcomed Me: Loving Refugees and Immigrants Because God First Loved Us by Kent Annan.
Ministry with someone I have never met before often begins with the five languages Sister Gavrilia described decades ago: “The first is the smile; the second is tears. The third is to touch. The fourth is prayer, and the fifth is love. With these five languages I go all around the world.” I love this! A smile, an invitation to a cup of coffee and a pastry, a gentle handshake or touch on a shoulder, open hands welcoming, gentleness and kindness break down so many barriers. I am reminded of Matthew 25:35 "For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in."
Lawrence T. Cheung
Spiritual Health Practitioner @ Providence Healthcare Vancouver
Lawrence T. Cheung
Spiritual Health Practitioner @ Providence Healthcare Vancouver
My name is Lawrence Cheung, and I am currently serving as a clinical chaplain (spiritual health practitioner) with Providence Healthcare in Vancouver, B.C. I also have an adjunct teaching role on the side with the UBC’s school of medicine palliative care division. I had been with PHC since 2010 and previously I worked for a couple of health care authorities as well as in a parish setting?
How would you describe your ministry to someone you have never met before? There’s always a mystical garment hovering what we do as spiritual care providers. Sometimes people see us a purely clergy with religious motives others would think of us from a social work or even counseling angles. Our ministry is always about foot-washing and what I mean by that is to hold space for their illness narratives and sacred trust and love will rise from the contours of our stories which is part of God’s love story for us. What motivates or inspires you to do the work that you do? Over the years I realized it is always the call to this specific ministry that sustains me through out abundant as well as the lean years. I was fortunate enough to have specialization in my clinical work (hospice palliative care) and there were opportunities for integrating spiritual care into the bigger picture via projects and research but at the end of the day it is the call to serve God’s beloved that carries me daily. What is your connection to The Centre? ACTS? MBS? Grad, student, other? I am a graduate of the MBS (then MBBS) Master of Arts in chaplain program. If you could recommend one resource to help someone grow as a chaplain or spiritual caregiver, what would it be? Hmm…this is a hard one, but I would say this…over one’s career as a clinical chaplain there’s always a new book to read, an intensive course on a new therapeutic modality to attend and many distractions to press the exit button when the going gets tough. Please hold onto the gentle love of God and allow his grace to replenish you on a daily basis.
Mark Davis
Acting Captain/Fire Fighter/Chaplain IAFF 4550 TLFD
Mark Davis
Acting Captain/Fire Fighter/Chaplain IAFF 4550 TLFD
My name is Mark Davis, and I currently serve as a chaplain with the Township of Langley Fire Department in British Columbia. Alongside chaplaincy, I serve in pastoral ministry and work in mental health support roles, with a particular passion for caring for first responders and those serving in high-stress environments.
What motivates my work is the deep conviction that presence matters—that sitting with someone in moments of trauma, loss, transition, or uncertainty can become sacred ground. Over the past two decades, I’ve seen how spiritual care can foster resilience, restore dignity, and remind people that they are not alone.
I often describe my ministry as “walking with people through the fires of life.” Sometimes this looks like crisis support on a call; other times it is listening over coffee, praying with someone in grief, or providing long-term spiritual and emotional care after critical incidents.
My connection to The Centre for Spiritual Care is through continued professional development and graduate-level study in ministry. I value The Centre’s commitment to equipping chaplains with theological depth, clinical awareness, and compassionate presence.
If I could recommend one resource for anyone growing in chaplaincy, it would be Henri Nouwen’s The Wounded Healer, a reminder that our ability to serve often grows from our willingness to acknowledge our own humanity and vulnerability.
My name is Ross Johnston. For the past eight years I have served as a Spiritual Health Care Practitioner (Chaplain) at The Salvation Army’s Buchanan Lodge, a 112-bed Long Term Care Home in New Westminster, BC. I am also a Sessional Instructor at Booth University College in Winnipeg, MB, primarily in the Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care program. This chaplaincy career followed an almost 40-year career in pastoral and para-church ministry.
With a calling to pastoral ministry and a heart for caring, the chaplaincy role has been a natural fit for me. I am able to continue ministering via preaching and teaching in our weekly chapel and other programs, and also to provide pastoral care one-on-one to seniors in the final chapter of their lives. This often includes end-of-life palliative care. Our ‘congregation’ in this setting also includes resident family members and staff members whom we often connect with. We care for people of Christian faith, other faiths and of no faith. Our first step is to connect with them at the place they are coming from and to be available to provide a listening ear or whatever ministry or friendship that may be meaningful to them. Over time these relationships and our influence often deepen.
I have participated in the Chaplains Connect gatherings, as often as possible over the years and have also benefited from special learning opportunities offered (Seminars on MAiD, etc.). The best resource I can recommend is to pursue whatever and all chaplaincy training you can, to enable your ministry to be as effective as possible. The equipping role of my Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctor of Ministry degrees have been invaluable to me through my years of ministry.My name is Pamela Franklin, and I'm currently part of an amazing team that works at a not-for-profit called Raphael House in Langley, BC (https://www.raphaelhouse.ca/). My degree in chaplaincy/spiritual care supports my role as family care coordinator, I am daily inspired by the determination, hope and resiliency displayed by the community I do life with: 435+ families from over 60 countries, multicultural, multifaith, multilingual who encourage and support each other and serve each other in a season of change. Community connections in a place of safety and support foster a home away from home; from the moment someone walks in the door of Raphael they seem to sense that they are loved, invited to belong. We join in with what God is already doing in the lives of those who arrive as Jesus' hands and feet.
I graduated from the Master of Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care program in April 2025, and have continued at Raphael House, where I first volunteered, then fulfilled my chaplaincy practicum. I now serve with a team who exemplify compassion, inclusivity, generosity, and relational community. Meaningful connection wholistically, from food support to community resources, language skill and conversation, referrals to mental health support and relationship building, both horizontally and through prayer and encouragement, example and invitation (as John Mark Comer suggests Jesus models in his book The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry: How to Stay Emotionally Healthy and Spiritually Alive in the Chaos of the Modern World), a ministry of presence, is fostered each day. Beyond the resource mentioned above, another book particularly recommended when serving relationally with newcomers is You Welcomed Me: Loving Refugees and Immigrants Because God First Loved Us by Kent Annan.
Ministry with someone I have never met before often begins with the five languages Sister Gavrilia described decades ago: “The first is the smile; the second is tears. The third is to touch. The fourth is prayer, and the fifth is love. With these five languages I go all around the world.” I love this! A smile, an invitation to a cup of coffee and a pastry, a gentle handshake or touch on a shoulder, open hands welcoming, gentleness and kindness break down so many barriers. I am reminded of Matthew 25:35 "For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in."My name is Lawrence Cheung, and I am currently serving as a clinical chaplain (spiritual health practitioner) with Providence Healthcare in Vancouver, B.C. I also have an adjunct teaching role on the side with the UBC’s school of medicine palliative care division. I had been with PHC since 2010 and previously I worked for a couple of health care authorities as well as in a parish setting?
How would you describe your ministry to someone you have never met before? There’s always a mystical garment hovering what we do as spiritual care providers. Sometimes people see us a purely clergy with religious motives others would think of us from a social work or even counseling angles. Our ministry is always about foot-washing and what I mean by that is to hold space for their illness narratives and sacred trust and love will rise from the contours of our stories which is part of God’s love story for us. What motivates or inspires you to do the work that you do? Over the years I realized it is always the call to this specific ministry that sustains me through out abundant as well as the lean years. I was fortunate enough to have specialization in my clinical work (hospice palliative care) and there were opportunities for integrating spiritual care into the bigger picture via projects and research but at the end of the day it is the call to serve God’s beloved that carries me daily. What is your connection to The Centre? ACTS? MBS? Grad, student, other? I am a graduate of the MBS (then MBBS) Master of Arts in chaplain program. If you could recommend one resource to help someone grow as a chaplain or spiritual caregiver, what would it be? Hmm…this is a hard one, but I would say this…over one’s career as a clinical chaplain there’s always a new book to read, an intensive course on a new therapeutic modality to attend and many distractions to press the exit button when the going gets tough. Please hold onto the gentle love of God and allow his grace to replenish you on a daily basis.