Redcar Baptist Church

We are from a small seaside town in the Northeast.  We run a successful coffee shop called Common Ground and a community grocery store, in partnership with the Message Trust. The minister of our church approached me about running a bereavement support activity – The Bereavement Journey® programme. 

I strongly sensed the prompting of God in this and then approached Lynn to support me as a helper. I knew she had a heart for bereavement support and asked if she would be interested in helping me. She was really interested, and that gave me the encouragement that I needed, even though I felt inexperienced in the bereavement arena.  

Lynn and I attended the training, which we found helpful. Afterwards, I started to advertise through the community grocery, and the coffee shop. We had an encouraging response and started our first course. This was the beginning, and we now run the The Bereavement Journey twice a year, once in the autumn, and once in the spring, alternating between daytime and evening. 

Nearly everyone has attended the optional faith session at the end of the course. This has produced some great conversations. 

 After the end of each course, we hold a reunion before the start of the next one, and this is always appreciated. One of our groups created their own WhatsApp support group. Lynn & I follow up with attendees, either with an offer of counselling, or meeting up for coffee. A couple of people have completed the course a second time. Several people have attended different churches because of the course, and one of the attendees will be baptised in the new year. 

We find that The Bereavement Journey is a good bridge between the church and the community and feel that it is an incredible help to people.  Participants particularly appreciate the group time as it enables them to hear other people’s journeys through bereavement, not to feel so alone, to be able to talk to others outside their family and ultimately to realise it’s ‘okay not to be okay’.   

I have been able to use what I have learnt in my role supporting students with bereavements, at our local sixth form college, where I am a volunteer chaplain. We have a good relationship with another local church that runs a weekly bereavement support group and exchange referrals. 

 We hope to continue running The Bereavement Journey and our minister is considering reflective services at special times in the year such as Christmas, Easter and Mother’s Day.