Griefshare at Calvary Baptist to resume February 2
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TAYLORVILLE — Calvary Baptist Church in Taylorville will host GriefShare Counseling beginning February 2nd. Pictured from left are Marianne Adams, Pastor Chad Zueck and Janelle Cornell. Adams and Cornell are co-leaders for the group.
(Submitted photo)
TAYLORVILLE — For those grieving the loss of a loved one, Calvary Baptist Church will again be offering a 13- week GriefShare program starting on Thursday February 2. The group will meet from 6:00-8:00 p.m. in the Upper Room of the church, located at 930 Haner Avenue in Taylorville. Participants can enter the double doors of the entrance on Haner.
Calvary Baptist members Janelle Cornell and Marianne Adams will be leading the program. To register or ask questions, interested people are encouraged to contact the church office by phone (217-824-2324) or email ( calvary@cbctaylorville.com) preferably by February 1, though preregistration is not required.
“If someone shows up unannounced, that is really no problem,” Janelle said, “but it’s nice to know how many to expect.” Even though it is a faith-based program, anyone suffering through the loss of a loved one is certainly welcome to attend. For Janelle and Marianne and other participants, a belief in God and Jesus Christ provides an immeasurable amount of comfort during their grief.
‘I think faith has to be brought into the discussion”, Pastor Chad Zueck of Calvary said, ‘because it’s God that understands everything about us, including all the human emotions around suffering and grief. To me, it’s like without faith, true healing couldn’t exist. We have the shared experience as human beings, but yet, it’s God that provide the ultimate healing, and GriefShare is simply a tool to allow and facilitate that to happen.”
The non-denominational nationwide program features Christ-centered biblical teachings that focus on grief topics associated with the death of a loved one. The video seminars feature dozens of authors, counselors, nationally-respected grief experts, pastors experienced with grief recovery as well as real-life stories of people who have gone through grief. The video sessions are followed by small group discussions about what was seen on the video along with other things they are experiences as they are grieving. Participation in discussion is optional, depending on the comfort level of the participants.
One of the main points stressed in the program is that everyone moves through grief at their own pace, in their own time. Feelings of anxiety, anger, guilt among many other emotions are all quite normal.
The weekly session topics include:
• Is This Normal?
• Challenges of Grief
• The Journey of Grief
• Grief and Your Relationships
• Why?
• Guilt and Anger
• Complicating Factors
• Stuck
• Lessons of Grief
• Heaven
• What Do I Do Now?
Workbooks are available at no cost, thanks to generous contributions from church members. Participants are encouraged to complete workbook assignments throughout the program which Marianne describes as more of a personal journey than anything.
GriefShare is designed to be recurring. If a participant cannot attend all sessions, they are invited to make up those missed sessions when another program is offered, likely in the summer. Many participants do attend the program more than once as people hear things differently each time as they move along in their grief journey. Marianne and Janelle both attended previous GriefShare programs in Springfield before they decided to offer the program locally. Both women have been helped so tremendously following the death of their husbands that they felt led to offer this ministry in Taylorville with the support of Calvary Baptist and its ministry team. Both attested that they found encouragement in their previous sessions by being around others who had similar experiences.
“When you deal with loss, a compelling reason to bring GriefShare into Taylorville is people don’t know what to do,” Pastor Chad said. “You have the first responses to someone who loses a loved one, they say the cliché things, and people mean well; they don’t know what else to say or do. And then what happen after that? People move on with their lives. It’s not that they don’t care. I think it’s just that they don’t know what to do. So for us as a church, we’ll never be able to alleviate all suffering or grief but what we can do is make sure you don’t suffer or grieve alone. That’s why we’re doing what we’re doing by offering this GriefShare program.”
