After bereavement: how churches can offer light and hope

After bereavement: how churches can offer light and hope

Churches can have a huge role to play in helping grieving people recover.

So says Rev Cassius Francis, project co-leader and church trainer with CRE Midlands 23 exhibitors Loss and Hope, a Christian coalition offering resources to help churches support bereaved families.

With many years’ experience ministering to those who have suffered bereavement, Cassius will speak on the need for Christians to provide support – and how Loss and Hope can help (3pm, Wed 8 Nov). He will introduce the Bereavement Journey, a course that is rapidly being taken up by churches in more than 200 locations across the UK. The specific focus of the talk will be on the benefits of the seven-session format for not only supporting grief but preventing mental ill-health and transforming lives. Click here for more information on Cassius’ contribution at CRE Midlands.

‘Our vision is that no bereaved person in the UK should be unable to find support when they need it,’ he explains. ‘It will be great to be at Cranmore Park and sharing within my home city of Birmingham. The exhibition will provide another platform for followers of Jesus to showcase what we are doing to provide support in this city, the wider region and around the UK.

‘There has rightly been a national focus on mental health support for communities as we emerge from the pandemic, but we and our colleagues in the bereavement sector have become increasingly concerned about the lack of focused support for people experiencing grief.  People often confuse bereavement with mental illness and unsupported grief can be suppressed leading to mental ill-health.

‘Our bereavement signposting website, ataloss.org, currently has the greatest number of people referred to it from mental health charities, because grieving people don’t know where else to turn or because unresolved grief has been identified as the root cause.  In fact, unresolved grief is behind many of society’s problems. The Bereavement Journey is designed to help people explore past losses as well as those who are recently bereaved. Leaders are reporting exciting results, of many people attending from outside church and lives being changed by the hope that is offered.’

• Loss and Hope are on stand DS27 at CRE Midlands 23

Revd Cassius Francis is the Church Trainer and Resourcer for Loss and HOPE, a coalition project of AtaLoss, equipping churches in bereavement support. He is also a minister with the Wesleyan Holiness Church and a community paediatric chaplain with Birmingham Women’s & Children’s NHS Foundation Trust.

Book your ticket for CRE Midlands 2023 here from as little as £3

Organisations looking to book a stand should contact James Batterbee 0161 250 2306 (E: james@creonline.co.uk) or Carol Malpass 0161 250 2467 (E: carol@creonline.co.uk)

Click to view the latest floorplan and price list for available stands