Presenting GriefShare to your church leaders:
The 30-minute appointment

Here are a few tips on how to make a request to begin GriefShare at your church.

Schedule a 30-minute appointment

This is key. Otherwise, you’ll ambush your pastor with information he may not be ready to process. Plus, during an impromptu meeting, you’ll likely feel rushed and forget to make key points.

During the meeting

Here’s what you’ll want to communicate during your meeting:

Explain what GriefShare is

If your church leadership isn’t clear about what GriefShare is, they probably won’t give you a green light. So communicate that:

• GriefShare is a Christ-centered, video-based ministry. It helps people grieving a loved one’s death.
• GriefShare is designed to reach and help people inside, and outside, the host church.

Explain what GriefShare consistently does

• GriefShare helps churches grow. This is due to the fact that GriefShare draws people from outside of the host church. These “guests” often join the host church.
• GriefShare introduces people to Christ. About half the people who attend a typical GriefShare group don’t have an active spiritual life and are not followers of Christ.
• GriefShare empowers your church to minister to multiple bereaved people simultaneously.
• GriefShare leads to healing and hope.

Explain why you want to begin this ministry at your church

• Share why you have a passion for this ministry, and what you think could happen if your church supports it. Be sure to articulate your vision and commitment. Church leaders need to know that you will be around to follow through and build the ministry.

Share your plan

• Explain that you’d like to form a team to lead GriefShare at your church.
• Let your pastor know what you think your role will be on the team, the number of other people you’ll need and what you envision their responsibilities to be (a person for publicity, someone to be a greeter, a person to possibly co-facilitate the group with you, etc.).
• Give your pastor a proposed budget for running GriefShare at your church. Remember that GriefShare participants typically pay for the workbooks, so make sure your leadership understands that you will generate income to offset the cost of the books.

Explain why you think the program will be a success

• The kit comes with a free training video and detailed Leader’s Guide.
• GriefShare offers free phone support and an online LeaderZone to help you troubleshoot potential problems. So even though you’re doing something new, you won’t have to bombard the church leadership with questions about how to make it work.
• GriefShare comes with publicity materials (posters, promotional videos, press releases and more).

Tell your pastor what you need

• Support: Let your pastor know that if he allows you to begin GriefShare, you’ll need the church to provide an adequate meeting space, and the time and resources to promote your group inside and outside the church.
• A kit: Ask your pastor if it’s possible for the church to purchase the kit and your initial order of workbooks. (Be sure to have an idea of how much that would cost before your meeting with him.) Let your pastor know that many churches charge a registration fee to offset the cost of workbooks and refreshments for meetings.
• Ask your pastor if he can give you a date as to when he’ll let you know of the final decision.

What to leave with your pastor

The “Introducing GriefShare” sheet – Make sure you leave this with your pastor. It contains a summary of what you’ll have shared with him, plus instructions on where he can go to find more information on GriefShare.

Need more help?

Contact us. We have GriefShare consultants standing by to answer any questions you have about GriefShare and to help you begin this ministry at your church. Just give us a call at 1-800-395-5755.