Grief Care Fellowship
Grief Training and Grief Support Curriculum

 

Grief Training and Grief Support Curriculum For Churches and Individuals

All our materials are written for the churches to help support their ministry to those who have lost loved ones. It is written to comfort people who have lost their loved one, increase their knowledge of what God says about death and the hereafter, and eventually equip them to be an active partner in the church’s care team.

Grief Care Fellowship offers Grief Care and Grief Support Materials

Package 1: Hope Beyond Today

This is a 6 DVD series for small group, Sunday School and Home Group that will provide Hope, Help and Comfort to those who have lost their loved ones.
Hope Beyond Today is for people who have lost a loved one. It will bring comfort, help and hope to those suffering from loss.The series is convenient for Small Groups, Sunday School, Life Groups, Bible Fellowship Groups and Home Groups.Hope Beyond Today contains 6 sessions on DVD, team-taught by Pastor of Care and author, Francis Welch and Grief Care Fellowship Representative, Nancy Self. We have assembled this series in 2 packages.
Package 1 includes: Hope Beyond Today and Minute After You Die
Package 2 entitled: Journey In Grief Care

 

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The next step: How to Care for Others Who Grieve, Package 2 – Journey in Grief Care

 

The Journey In Grief Care is a 12 module series on DVD which equips and prepares God’s people to skillfully help others suffering the hurt and devastation of the loss of a loved one.

The teaching is practical and proven. Churches across the country are already using this important curriculum to equip their people to come alongside those hurting from loss.

 

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The Need For a Grief Ministry Team

grief counseling curriculum

family grief training

Why are well-meaning people in the church timid about reaching out to those who have lost loved ones?

  • People’s hearts go out to those in need of comfort but feel uncomfortable in this situation.
  • Friends are afraid they will cry or cause the griever to cry.
  • They don’t know what to do or say—and sometimes they can say the wrong thing and can make the situation worse.
  • After the funeral, most people get on with their life and think the grief is done. This may be the time, however, when the hurting person needs you the most.

According to II Corinthians 1, God wants people in the church to do the comforting, especially those who have found comfort from God—which is most all of us.

The Journey in Grief Care course will give the grief worker skill and confidence in their work for God. They will know how to say the right things and do the right things. They will bring real comfort to the hurting and bring an eternal perspective to the needy heart.

Most every person will face grief head-on at some point in their life.

Death

One of most emotional and heart wrenching events in the life of the church is the death of one of their beloved members.

Church

Most congregations are unprepared. Jesus gives this important responsibility for comfort to the church. To do this job skillfully, people need to learn about grief resulting from death.

Prepared

People who have taken the Journey in Grief Care course minister with confidence and compassion. Your church can develop a Grief Ministry Team that can be well trained and effective.

Learn From Life Stories

In the Journey in Grief Care course, there are more than 20 personal, powerful stories told in their own words. These stories help tremendously in the learning process. Stories include:

  • A wife whose husband committed suicide.
  • A dad whose son was killed riding his bike.
  • A missionary couple in Argentina, 80 miles from the hospital, that delivered twin boys who died in 24 hours.
  • A successful and godly pastor who has had over 400 funerals shares his personal grief experience.
  • A godly funeral director shares help on comforting the grieving.

Course Features

  • Bible-centered training
  • 12 modules
  • 36 Lessons in HD
  • Student notes
  • Heartwarming, heart-wrenching personal testimonies

journey in grief care training

What people are saying about Journey in Grief Care

Trained grief team solves the time problem

I have conducted between 50 and 60 funerals every year, and I regret that with my regular pastoral duties, it is impossible, time-wise, to minister to the families after the funeral. By helping to create a trained grief team, your curriculum will solve this problem and meet a real need.

JK, Pastor

 

Our folks are more aware and more confident

We have had an opportunity to take a group of church folks through the mentor certification portion of GCF. We are now experiencing the fruit. Our folks are more aware of grieving people’s hurts and struggles and are more confident in being used by God to minister to them.

The material in Journey in Grief Care has equipped our folks with the knowledge and understanding of the grief  process. We also went on a field trip to our local funeral home which gave us a good look at what people experience while making final arrangements. The GCF lessons have taught us to be more comfortable using the loved one’s name when sharing memories. We have found this brings a much needed and welcome personal touch.

Everything that was taught in this class works

My friend’s name is Ken. He owns a barber shop. He and his wife Mary studied the first four modules of Journey in Grief Care in classes at their church. He stated that they learned a lot. A few weeks after they took the course, one of his customers came in for a haircut and told Ken his 21-year-old son wouldn’t be here with him anymore. He was killed in an automobile accident. Ken said it was surprising how God brought back what he had just learned on how to handle this situation. Ken stated, “Everything that was taught in that class works. Thank you.”

Looking forward to the next set of modules

We have already benefited from the material in the first four modules of Journey in Grief Care. We have had several folks near to us pass away recently and were able to put in place some of the things we learned. We are looking forward to getting started on the next set of modules.

Journey in Grief Care Will Benefit your Church

From the Founder of Grief Care Fellowship, Doug Bagg and the Author and Instructor of the Journey in Grief Care curriculum, Francis Welch

“When I needed people the most, they were not there.”

These were the exact words of a lady in a good church in Maine whose husband had died 5 months before. This was a shocking statement from a woman who was loved and supported by her family and a host of friends. The problem was that they did not know how to care for her properly. After the death she was surrounded by family and friends, but when the funeral was over, they went back to their “normal” life. When she returns home there is no one there.

“Grief Care Fellowship is all about teaching people how to come alongside in a time of grief and to help people progress through grief”. Pastor Darwin Vail, Gray, ME

The ministry of comfort will be extended to the hurting after the funeral.

Because life can be incredibly busy, we seem to go about our daily tasks seemingly unaware that people around us are dying every single day. If it is not a relative or someone connected to the family, most of us do not take much notice. The pastor knows, because he is the one who usually gets the first call that someone has died.

A pastor in Connecticut was recently telling me that he already had a number of funerals last week and more coming this week. Another pastor in Ohio shared that over his many years at the church, he has had over 800 funerals. Another pastor in Maine received a call that a young man in their town, who had 3 children, had just committed suicide. This death was tragic, and even though he was not a member of this church. The people in the church are caring and bringing comfort to this family because they have taken the course, Journey In Grief Care, and they know what to do and what to say. One of the modules in the Journey in Grief Care covers suicide deaths and gives practical suggestions.

The church is the very best group to offer real help and comfort for the hurting because God’s people have the correct eternal prospective. Pastoral responsibilities demand much time and it is important to have a grief team equipped to carry on the comfort ministry both before and after the funeral is over and when most all the family and friends have left.

Start equipping the Saints with the training curriculum Journey In Grief Care.

This will tell you about the tools to accomplish this training. From this training course, you will then select a grief team that will be able to share in the comfort and care responsibilities of a person who has lost a loved one even after the funeral. This is a team to support the pastor. Then after the training, get the grief team together and decide on your program such as support group, events for those grieving, reaching out to those who do not attend your church. How your church is located (city, suburb, small town, rural) will play a large part in the type of care program you decide upon.

Many caring people in your church will now be aware and some will be activated into the ministry of comforting those who have lost a loved one.

Most Christians are caring. Most are well-meaning and want to help. Some are very gifted at bringing comfort to those who have lost a loved one. However, most do not always know how to help or what to say. Many are timid about approaching a person who has just lost a loved one because they are unsure of how to handle the situation.

Most hearts go out to the grieving. But the truth is that “well-meaning” just isn’t enough when it comes to helping a grieving soul. Grief is not like any other emotion. Grief permeates every fiber of your being. It hurts! It bushwhacks! It messes with your mind.

Now you can equip your people with the Journey in Grief Care training curriculum. This training has a huge potential for reaching out to church members and also the neighbors in the community who are grieving.

Involve the entire church in the process of the comfort ministry by offering them the opportunity to take the Journey In Grief Care training.