Earlier this year we came to the end of the first Grief Share program to be held at St Michael’s. It ran weekly for 3 months and was held in the Hub at St Michael’s Corrimal. The idea of running a Grief Support Group had been considered for some time at St Michael’s, in response to the expressed personal need of people in the church or others that were known to congregational members. It took some time to train and establishing a team to run the program. 

Grief Share is a Christian based program that provides biblically based guidance and emotional support for people who are bereaved. It has been used in churches internationally for over 30 years to minister to those experiencing the pain of loss and grief which can be very difficult to navigate.  In so doing, God’s love and light was able to shine in some of the most difficult places that we endure in our lives. We were so encouraged to have a very positive response to the publicity that our Communications Team at St Michael’s put in place, and we ran the course with 7-11 participants, and 4 team members, all who had lived experience with grief and bereavement. We also had a little prayer team who faithfully prayed throughout for the participants and God’s leading.

Each week a video was shown, introducing the topic for that week. These are produced by Grief Share and presented by well known Christian pastors, professionals, Christian writers and others, all with one thing in common- they had experienced significant loss and grief in their lives. They shared their own experiences and how God ministered to them in their grief. These presentations provided a springboard for discussion, and many commented that the consequent sharing played a vital part in the journey towards healing for them. It was helpful to know that ‘they were not the only ones’ experiencing what they were going through.

Participants Guides which each person received gave suggestions and exercises for further reflection. It was generally agreed that the meaningful discussions along with looking at the God’s Word and how it provides hope, comfort, encouragement and guidance in our grief, were pivotal in ongoing healing in our journey through the pain of loss.

Our last session ended with a celebration – a luncheon and overview, a presentation of a certificate of accomplishment and a delicate rose, representing both the fragility that grief brings as well as the beauty of God’s workmanship he brings to our brokenness.

Betty, like some of our other participants is very keen to encourage friends in grief, to come along so that they too, can experience the encouragement that she found the program provided, and to share something of the comfort that is found through God’s grace and his Word.

Janice (formerly part of our church family here at St Michael’s)