Capt. Jennifer Bowden: Leading with Faith in the Coast Guard

“We are calm in the midst of chaos — proof that there is something greater than ourselves,” said The Rev. Navy Capt. Jennifer Bowden, chief chaplain for the U.S. Coast Guard.

The first woman and first United Methodist chaplain assigned to the Coast Guard, Bowden offers assurance and God’s grace to those facing some of their most difficult moments. She is one of 154 United Methodist-endorsed chaplains serve in the military with 60 in the Army, 49 in the Air Force, and 45 in the Navy, including the Marines and Coast Guard.

Bowden is a veteran of several military deployments, with her first being in 2008-09 to Al Asad, Iraq, where she spent nine months with a Central Marine Corps unit building airfields. In her current role with the Coast Guard, she oversees all other chaplains within the branch.

But her role is more than a job. It is a calling that requires deep faith and an adventurous spirit, whether ministering on the front lines in Iraq or coordinating chaplains who support first responders. “Every day is an adventure,” she said. “We are walking with personnel through battlefields, offering God’s grace.”

Bowden’s journey to chaplaincy has been deeply shaped by her education and faith. After graduating from Middle Tennessee State University with a degree in exercise science and earning a master of divinity from Emory University’s Candler School of Theology, Bowden’s career took a pivotal turn when she answered a call to youth ministry in Florida at Silvan Abby UMC. She worked five hours a week there, and it was in that time that she discovered her true calling. “I realized I was most fulfilled in those five hours,” she said, prompting her discernment toward chaplaincy.

She then received a doctor of divinity from Wesley Seminary. A member of the North Georgia Conference, Bowden is an elder in The United Methodist Church. As a United Methodist Endorsed chaplain, she provides spiritual support to military personnel, regardless of their faiths, in the same way missionaries engage with diverse beliefs.

“The history of military chaplains is a shared experience,” Bowden said. “That shared experience makes us much more effective. There is a sense of camaraderie, and it allows us to meet miliary personnel and face their life experiences. The world is our parish.”