Hosting funerals and organizing meal trains for those who are grieving are typical ways that congregations tend to those who grieve, usually when the losses are fresh. But grief can last a long time, especially if it is complicated by not resembling a typical loss we publicly acknowledge well. Faith+Lead hosted a Book Hub last November that gave participants some tools for facilitating public grief and lament. You could use these video segments as an individual or with a group to raise awareness and sensitivity to those emotional needs within our faith communities:
This interview with author Jennifer Grant illuminates some “best practices” for talking through grief and anxiety with children and adults. When we do so in small groups, we may even lower our defenses and build community, in addition to tending to participants’ emotional needs.
The leader who is also grieving will find solidarity in gentle guidance in this blog post from Collette Broady Grund: “Grieving While Leading.”
For more in-depth training in ministry with grieving people, here are a variety of resources designed for Faith+Lead by Dan Eisenhauer, founder of Coaching at End of Life:
“A Healthy Grief Mindset” blog post
Free e-book Life Lessons from Dragonflies: Helping Us Face the Inevitable End of Life Issues Ministering to Grieving People self-guided course
