“In times of death or divorce, people are most likely to reengage in a church.”
- Dr. Michael Lindsay, Sociologist, Rice University
Wake Forest, NC (PRWEB) November 18, 2009
Churches across the nation are hosting GriefShare Surviving the Holidays. They’re finding it consistently draws people from throughout the community into their churches. Chevelle Lewis, who led an event at Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Knoxville, TN, said, “Our hope was to have 20 attend. God blessed us with 78!”
Why are these programs so effective? Dr. Michael Lindsay, a sociologist at Rice University who specializes in religion and culture, says, “In times of death or divorce, people are most likely to reengage in a church.” With a Surviving the Holidays seminar, churches act as an oasis, providing on-target help when people are hurting the most. A one-session seminar is a low-risk, low-commitment way for newcomers to step into a church environment for help. “We had 48 people registered,” said Rev. Jim Bates of Faith Reformed Presbyterian Church in Quarryville, PA. “A few came from our church congregation. Most of them were from outside in the community.”
Churches typically hold the lay-led, two-hour, biblically-based seminars in November or December. They begin with a 40-minute video presentation. The video features short interviews with Christian counselors, authors, speakers and other people who have faced the holidays after a loved one’s death. Experts interviewed include H. Norman Wright, Paul Tripp, Sabrina Black, Robert DeVries and Susan Zonnebelt-Smeenge.
After viewing the video, seminar attendees participate in lay-led, small group discussion focused on information presented in the video and personal grieving experiences. Topics discussed include:
Each seminar participant will then take home a Holiday Survival Guide, containing over 30 encouraging readings, helpful articles, a holiday planning chart and information on additional resources for those in grief.
The Surviving the Holidays resource comes as a complete kit that makes it easy for a church to reach people in their community through a holiday seminar. Each kit includes:
Is it too late to plan an event? Churches have reported up to 60 people attending, even when planned at the last minute. The kit materials and online resources make planning an event simple.
To help with planning, GriefShare, the parent ministry of Surviving the Holidays, provides free, personal telephone consulting and email help for churches with any questions about starting or running a holiday event. They even allow churches to list their Surviving the Holidays event in the GriefShare online, Find a Group search engine. This allows grieving people to find a Surviving the Holidays seminar near them by entering their zip code at the Surviving the Holidays participant website.
The cost of a Surviving the Holidays kit is $95 (plus S/H), which includes the items described above. Additional participant Survival Guides are $4. The complete kit can be ordered online at http://www.griefshare.org/surviving or by phone, 800-395-5755.
About GriefShare
GriefShare is a network of over 7,000 churches worldwide equipped to offer grief recovery support groups. A searchable database of GriefShare groups is located on the web at http://www.griefshare.org/findagroup/. GriefShare is a ministry of Church Initiative of Wake Forest, NC.
Media Contact:
Sam Hodges
1-800-395-5755, ext. 247
PO Box 1739
Wake Forest, NC 27588
http://www.churchinitiative.org
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