Legacy brought her to Drew, Drew brought her to chaplaincy
March 2024 – When Tiffani Green T’20 felt a calling to ministry, she turned to Drew Theological School, her mother’s alma mater and a campus where she lived when she was a child.
Green never considered chaplaincy until an internship at Drew changed everything.
Today, Green is a Chaplain and Bereavement Coordinator at LilyCare Hospice of New Jersey, where she forms and nurtures relationships with terminally ill patients and their families. In addition to weekly patient visits and family calls, she runs a bi-weekly bereavement group and is part of the interdisciplinary team of providing patient care.
“I’ve sat at the bedside of the dying, attended their funerals to support their loved ones, prayed with/for some, and helped others hear recitations from the Quran,” said Green. “I serve as an interfaith chaplain. My job is to find out what/who my patient looks to for comfort and help them express coping skills integrating their sense of holy.”
Read on to learn more about Green’s journey to chaplaincy.
What led you to Drew Theological School?
I grew up a “Drew Brat,” what we affectionately used to call children of Drew students who live on campus. My mother, the Rev. Theresa Green C’92, T’01, both worked at Drew University and graduated from Drew Theological School with her Master of Divinity. When I finally decided to answer my call to ministry, I became licensed and ordained under Theological School graduate, Rev. Dr. Leora Liggins T’00, completed my bachelor’s degree in Ministry, and began looking at Drew when it came time to pursue my master’s degree.
There was a community of support at Drew that I had the privilege of being exposed to before attending, which became the ultimate catalyst in my deciding to attend school at my mother’s alma mater. Additionally, having professors like Traci West [James W. Pearsall Professor of Christian Ethics and African American Studies] who continuously encouraged me during my learning process was something that I know was divinely placed in my path by attending classes at Drew.
How did Drew prepare you for chaplaincy?
During my last year at Drew, Dean Bennett [Associate Dean for Vocation and Formation] suggested that I look into becoming a chaplain for my internship. I honestly had never thought about chaplaincy, but after the first few weeks of my internship being a chaplain at Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital (under the supervision of another Drew alum, the Rev. Dr. Emily Hall T’12), I fell in love with this form of spiritual care. I knew then that I was meant to be a chaplain.
Through the education and guidance I received at Drew, I was stepping into a new path—but a path that I was perfectly designed to be a part of. Many Drew Theological School alums have had a hand in guiding me on this path that the Lord had set before me. Drew was the BEST decision for what God has in store for me. I was born and raised Baptist. I grew up in church. I knew the ins and outs of church protocol. So to have an internship in a traditional church setting would not have stretched me the way that chaplaincy has.
