WAKE FOREST, NC (ANS) -- Churches across America are hosting DivorceCare Surviving the Holidays seminars to help people in divorce or separation deal with the painful, debilitating emotions they face during the holiday season. The total participation from non-churched people has exceeded expectations.

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According to a news release from Church Initiative, churches are finding this two-hour, video-based seminar consistently draws people from the community into their churches.

Don Hooper, who led an event at Worthington Christian Church in Columbus, OH, said, “We were overwhelmed with the turnout … 40! There were 10–15 who had never walked through the door before!”

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.

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 separation or divorce. Experts interviewed include H. Norman Wright, Paul Tripp, Sabrina Black and Elsa Kok Colopy.

After viewing the video, seminar attendees participate in small group discussion focused on information presented in the video and personal experiences of divorce or separation. 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?
* Child custody issues
* What to do if you’re alone during the holidays
* How can God and others help me this holiday season?

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.divorcecare.org/surviving or by phone, 800-489-7778.

About DivorceCare
DivorceCare is a network of over 12,000 churches worldwide equipped to offer divorce recovery support groups. A searchable database of DivorceCare groups is located on the web at www.divorcecare.org. DivorceCare is a ministry of Church Initiative of Wake Forest, NC.

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

Dan Wooding, 68, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 46 years. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS). He was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC., and now hosts the weekly “Front Page Radio” show on KWVE in Southern California and which is also carried on the Calvary Radio Network throughout the United States. The program is also aired in Great Britain on Calvary Chapel Radio UK. Wooding is the author of some 43 books. Two of the latest include his autobiography, “From Tabloid to Truth”, which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, press this link. Wooding, who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, also recently released “God’s Ambassadors in Japan” which is available at amazon.com.