30 September 2025
The Revd Andrew Merchant, Priest at St Andrew’s Church in Chelmsford is also a volunteer chaplain at Farleigh Hospice in Chelmsford.
Andrew writes about his ministry working in palliative care with hospice patients, their family and friends:
Farleigh has eleven beds and they support approximately five hundred people in their own homes. My role is also to provide support for all staff and volunteers. I have often found myself with a person as they die and offer their soul to God in prayer.
My work involves walking alongside people as they experience grief and the loss of a loved one. I offer to spend time with all the patients in the In-Patient Unit and their family and friends, it is not dependent on whether they have a faith.
I find myself talking on a variety of topics from football to funeral preparation, from food to family life. Everyone has a story to tell, the spiritual care team provides the time for people to express how they and their family are feeling in the reality that life is both fragile and maybe not be as they had imagined or hoped.
For people that have faith we encourage the leaders of their community to visit them. We also carry a list of contacts that we use if people would like to spend time with a faith leader. It is important to understand that different faiths have different rituals when a person dies.
Within the building we have a place set apart from the rest of the hospice called the Sanctuary to allow time and space for moments of quiet reflection. It is in this place that I often sit with people as I pray with them and they light a candle. It is a real privilege to be part of that final journey with a person and be alongside them and their family and friends as that person dies.
I have been part of some amazing conversations about God and life after death. My experience as a Chaplain is that many people in the world would like to have a conversation with someone of faith.
This article has been taken from the latest edition of WePray, our quarterly prayer diary which brings together our Cycle of Prayer and stories from across our Diocese.
Chaplaincy Newsletter
This autumn we are launching a new quarterly newsletter for chaplains serving in Essex and East London. Written by experienced chaplains, the newsletter will highlight chaplaincy resources and share news and information. Sign up recieve the newsletter here.