Helping a person die with grace is one of ministry's most significant privileges. But it is also an awesome, serious, and intimidating task. Here are a few things I've learned while shepherding people through the valley of death's shadow.
Little Things Say That I Care
A veteran pastor once told me, "When life is threatened, little things mean more than before." That stuck with me. Ever since then ...
DEVOTIONS Deathbed Questions The stages of grief, questioning, and how you should respond. Linwood H. Chamerlain, Jr.
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Grief occurs in both psychological and theological stages. People face death asking many questions about God and the meaning of life as they go through the grief process.
Denial: Rejection of evidence—That isn't true, is it?
When people hear they will soon die, an avalanche of new thoughts, information, questions, and demands for decisions rushes down on them. It's overwhelming—too much ...
DEVOTIONS When Death Is Near Four steps for healthy ministry and a reminder of what the dying person needs to express. Wendy Murray Zoba
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Edwina Taylor, executive director of Cahaba Valley Health Care in Birmingham, Alabama, who is also an RN intimately acquainted with care for the dying says, "When a person dies, it takes a whole lot of pulling together." She offers these four steps as healthy tasks for ministry in the final days and hours of life.
1. Power of presence. "You don't abandon people," Taylor says. "Nobody wants to die alone. ...
Here are some important things to keep in mind for your ministry to a person who is dying. Review this advice prior to a hospital or home visit to help your care be the best it can be.
Remember:
• People with terminal diseases know it. Our failure to talk about it doesn't shelter them; it isolates them. Whether now or later, they need to talk about it.
• The adjustment to a new (and often inferior) ...
In over forty years as a pastor, Kenneth Nelson sat by the hospital bed of hundreds of dying Christians. Now in retirement, he reviews his modus operandi.
• If there's no response to word or touch, I don't demand recognition.
• If from another world she calls me by a different name or asks about dead friends, I don't correct her.
• I share bits of news—something I saw, a mutual friend ...
Few church leaders and pastors are trained to prepare their congregations for the assaults of our final enemy, death. Even in the Bible, believers at Corinth and Thessalonica had questions and concerns about death. Here are some biblical and pastoral ways to get your congregation thinking about and preparing for death.
Lay a Theological Foundation
This work is best done before the congregation needs ...
With the widely documented "graying of America," families increasingly wrestle with how to care for a terminally ill loved one. Pastors and church leaders, who have long offered counsel and comfort to the sick and dying, find themselves asked many questions. One of the most common: how to choose among the main options for caring for the terminally ill—hospitalization, home care, and hospice.
DEVOTIONS After the Death Ministry doesn't end when a person dies; if refocuses on those left behind. Rodger Murchison
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Healing is a difficult process—especially for close friends and family who have lost a loved one. Helping guide people through their grief is an important ministry.
While the process of grieving varies from individual to individual, it typically follows a pattern. When the progression toward healing is obstructed, people often need help. And pastors, church leaders, or trusted friends, can help ...
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