Factors Hindering Churches from Giving Holistic Grief-and-Bereavement Care and Support

Abstract

Grief and bereavement care remain very critical for bereaved individuals. The church has a biblical mandate to bear one another’s burdens: “Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ” (Gal 6:2, NLT). The church’s grief-and-bereavement care and support are insufficient and inconsistent, frequently neglecting to meet the emotional, spiritual, and practical needs of the bereaved, including timely counseling, support groups, and resources for coping with loss. This article seeks to assess the underlying factors that hinder the church from providing holistic grief and bereavement care and support at Christ Is The Answer Ministries (CITAM) Clay-City Church in Nairobi, Kenya. The obstacles to holistic grief care and support typically include limited resources and inequitable assistance, inadequate training for carers, unclear policies intended to direct bereavement care, and socio-cultural impediments. The church needs to strategically reframe its policies and plans to address these barriers and provide holistic care to the bereaved. Moreover, there is a great need for the bereaved members to be facilitated to accept the loss, validate the grief, cope with the grief process without breaking, and adapt to the life changes after loss, through healing and restoration. The study is guided by the Grief theories and the Pastoral Circle (Social Analysis) framework. A qualitative phenomenological design was used to capture the lived experiences of bereaved members and the church leaders. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with purposively selected participants, including recently bereaved congregants, departmental leaders, elders, and a pastor. The research found that CITAM Clay-City church provides immediate bereavement care and support to its members. However, several factors hindering the church were uncovered, including social capital dependency, resource constraints, congregational barriers, institutional policy inconsistency, socio-cultural barriers, and theological tensions. The study recommends more structured and sustained pastoral care programs, including strengthening church policies, expanding counseling services, enhancing post-burial follow-up, and promoting theological teachings on lamentation and grief to improve the church’s ministry toward grieving families.