| This paper seeks to substantiate the claim that faith communities — or any community of people — grieve in much the same way as individuals grieve. However, unlike individuals, who are normally capable of processing grief in a relatively healthy manner, doing so as a faith community is much more complex. The author suggests that faith communities are often unable to work through grief seasons without intentional leadership mindful of the complexities of the communal grieving process. Such faith communities will often try and insulate themselves from various grief-inducing stimuli, rather than embracing and working through the grief as the suffering followers of Christ. The author also posits one process wherein the intentional Christian leader can help the faith community identify its grief and, through repentance and reconciliation, strengthen its communal bonds, rather than allowing its untreated communal grief to destroy it. While this process was not successful in the author's ministry setting, he suggests several alternative strategies to help other leaders find success in their own settings. |
