AMESBURY— When first meeting the Rev. Joel Grossman, one might be thrown off by the fact that he wears a yarmulke and is called reverend.

Although the title "reverend" might not be a typical term for a Jewish man, Grossman achieved his title by being ordained in interfaith ministry. This led him to start the Massachusetts campus for the Chaplaincy Institute of Maine in Amesbury five years ago.

An interfaith seminary, ChIME is also described as a wisdom school. It was started seven years ago by the Rev. Jacob Watson in Portland, Maine, for those who want to learn how to help guide another's spiritual path, no matter what religion or faith they might subscribe to. Watson and Grossman were ordained together at Chaplaincy Institute for the Arts and Interfaith Ministry in Berkeley, Calif., in 2000.

Grossman said that ChIME is completely nondenominational and respects other religious paths as it works toward "enlivening the spirit." This includes exploring the arts with creative expression, nature, relationships and love, and the service of helping others.

"The program is very personally intense, and people do a lot of personal growing, not only spiritually, but psychologically as well because you're meeting with a regular bunch of students over two years, and it's all personal sharing, so there's a lot of dynamics," Grossman said. "You really are learning how to work with people."

The experience-based program teaches the students about all the major world religions to better understand the common threads to religious practices. In the first year, students are required to complete 150 hours of community service, as well as a planetary chaplain report, which is focused on a person who the student feel has made a difference to the spiritual life of the planet. It also includes a world religion report, which requires the students to research a different religion and present it to the class.

"We're starting from the basis of understanding about the range of religions and other ways because more and more people are spiritual but not religious," Grossman said.

In the second year, students have to complete 150 hours of a chaplaincy internship with an agency, such as hospice. They also have to present their senior project to the class the day before their ordination.

On June 7, the most recent class of ChIME had five students become ordained at Newburyport's Belleville Congregational Church. The students included Denise DeSimone of Amesbury; Lillian Reilly of Ipswich; Mary Margaret Mulligan of Keene, N.H.; Jan Gurley of Beverly; and Sarah Pirtle from Western Massachusetts. Each of these students completed internships required by the program, including working with Women in Transition, as hospice chaplains, or in a continuous living community. Pirtle created a program called Holding the Light for people who have gone through trauma.

"The process of ChIME, for me, has been a life altering experience," said DeSimone, who is a throat cancer survivor. "It has given me my own process of getting out there and seeing where my own ministry will take me."

When the students complete the program, they receive a certificate of graduation, and if they choose to, the students can be ordained as an interfaith minister. Grossman said students who don't get ordained usually choose not to because it doesn't fit in with their religion.

The ordination ceremony begins with songs from many different religions, such as Native American flute music, an African welcome song and a Christian hymn. Each student then gives an address. The Jewish prayer shawl is held over the students, and Grossman gives priestly blessings over the students' heads. Once the students are ordained, they can take the title of interfaith minister or reverend.

"What makes me feel even better is knowing that these people are going out and going to be affecting other people's lives by helping people and spreading this orientation that we can all get along and all respect and understand other people's beliefs and ways of spiritual life," Grossman said.

FACTS ABOUT ChIME

A two-year program from the months of September to June.

Open to people of all ages

Cost is $5,400 total for the two years.

Classes are one night a week from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the ChIME studio in Amesbury.

One weekend a month, the class meets in Portland, Maine, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, and these are open to the public for a small fee.

Class size ranges from three to eight people.

A total of 300 community service hours completed between the two years.

Introductory talks about ChIME will be held July 8, July 23 and Aug. 11 at 7 p.m. at the Newburyport Public Library.

ChIME is currently accepting applications for classes for the coming year.

Contact the Rev. Joel Grossman at 978-363-2063 or by e-mail at joelandsheilag@earthlink.net.