WAKE FOREST, NC (ANS) -- Many people who have lost loved ones find they are depressed and that coping with the holiday hustle-and-bustle is just too much to bear.

In order to help those dealing with grief during the holiday season, many churches across the nation are now hosting GriefShare 'Surviving the Holidays' seminars to help grieving people deal with the painful, debilitating emotions they face during the holiday season.

A media release says the total participation from non-churched people has exceeded expectations.

Churches are finding this two-hour, video-based seminar consistently draws people from the community into their churches, the news releases states.

Chevelle Lewis, who led an event at Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Knoxville, TN, said, "Our hope was to have 20 attend. God blessed us with 78!"

Why are these programs so effective?

Dr. Michael Lindsay, a sociologist at Rice University specializing in religion and culture, says: "In times of death or divorce, people are most likely to reengage in a church."

With a Surviving the Holidays seminar, churches act as an oasis, providing on-target help when people are hurting the most. A one-session seminar is a low-risk, low-commitment way for newcomers to step into a church environment for help.

"We had 48 people registered," said Rev. Jim Bates of Faith Reformed Presbyterian Church in Quarryville, PA. "A few came from our church congregation. Most of them were from outside in the community."

The news release explains that the lay-led, biblically based Surviving the Holidays seminars begin with a 40-minute video presentation. The video features short interviews with Christian counselors, authors, speakers and other people who have faced the holidays after a loved one’s death. Experts interviewed include H. Norman Wright, Paul Tripp, Sabrina Black, Robert DeVries and Susan Zonnebelt-Smeenge.

After viewing the video, seminar attendees participate in small group discussion focused on information presented in the video and personal grieving experiences. Topics discussed include:

**Is it normal to feel depressed during the holidays?
**How do I decide what activities I’ll participate in this Thanksgiving and Christmas?
**What should I do if I get emotional at a social event?
**How can God and others help me this season?

Is it too late to plan an event? Churches have reported up to 60 people attending, even when planned at the last minute. The kit materials and online resources make planning an event simple.

The Surviving the Holidays resource comes as a complete kit, which includes a DVD video session, a Leader’s Guide with instructions for hosting an event and suggestions on how to promote the seminar throughout the community, Holiday Survival Guides to pass out to attendees, and access to free, online promotional tools. Kits can be ordered online at www.griefshare.org/surviving  or by phone, 800-395-5755.

GriefShare is a network of over 7,000 churches worldwide equipped to offer grief recovery support groups. A searchable database of GriefShare groups is located on the web at www.griefshare.org . GriefShare is a ministry of Church Initiative of Wake Forest, NC.

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Media Contact: Samuel Hodges
Executive Producer, www.churchinitiative.org  
1-800-395-5755, ext. 247, shodges@churchinitiative.org  

** Michael Ireland, Chief Correspondent of ANS, is an international British freelance journalist who was formerly a reporter with a London (United Kingdom) newspaper and has been a frequent contributor to UCB Europe, a British Christian radio station. While in the UK, Michael traveled to Canada and the United States, Albania,Yugoslavia, Holland, Germany,and Czechoslovakia. He has reported for ANS from Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Israel, Jordan, China,and Russia. Michael's volunteer involvement with ASSIST News Service is a sponsored ministry department -- 'Michael Ireland Media Missionary' (MIMM) -- of A.C.T. International of P.O.Box 1649, Brentwood, TN 37024-1649,at: Artists in Christian Testimony (A.C.T.) International where you can donate online to support his stated mission of 'Truth Through Christian Journalism.' To suggest a news or feature story idea for Michael, write to him at:ANS Chief Reporter.