SPRING BAY—The 13-week GriefShare program at the Spring Bay Pentecostal Church will be returning due, somewhat unfortunately, to popular demand.
“We ran it before,” said Pastor Dan Thompson. “In fact, this will be the third time we have offered the program. There are, unfortunately, a lot of people on the Island struggling with grief. One gentleman just approached me this week saying he had just lost his wife of 46 years.”
No matter how well prepared we are for the loss of a loved one, the loss still can have a devastating impact on someone as the reality of their no longer being there in our lives hits home.
“I just can’t imagine what that would be like, to lose someone like that,” he said. Pastor Thompson said that being approached about the grief counselling program is not an isolated incident. “I have had people from every community come to me to ask if there was any chance your church will start a support group.”
GriefShare seminars and support groups are led by people who understand what people in grief are going through and who want to help. In addition to supportive people, GriefShare provides resources to help a person recover from their loss and provide support to help them move forward to rebuilding their lives.
Pastor Thompson has had many visceral experiences with grief through his pastoral work, but he has also suffered deep personal grief as well. “My son was shot and killed in the line of duty as a police officer eight years ago,” he said. His adopted son was only 37 when he was shot and killed during a routine traffic stop. He left behind three little boys.
Following his own struggle with grief, Pastor Thompson searched out “good Christian material” and came upon the GriefShare program.
Although Pastor Thompson is a Pentecostal minister, the GriefShare program itself is ecumenical. “It is open to everyone,” he said. Grief knows no denomination.
The GriefShare program will take place every Thursday for 13 weeks beginning on April 5 and ending the last week of June. It will run from 7 pm to 9 pm.
“The idea is to not have it run into the busy time of summer,” noted Pastor Thompson. For more information contact Pastor Thompson at the Spring Bay Pentecostal Church, 705-377-5060.
