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In a time when grief plays a more prevalent role in everyday life, people need support and guidance now more than ever. Members of Linden Baptist Church have stepped up to help grieving individuals with their new “Mourning Friends” grief care group. The “Mourning Friends group aims to help members of the community who need support due to grief or loss. The care group will meet on the first Tuesday of every month at 11:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall.

Associate Pastor of Families and Students Joshua Daniels said they created the group after recognizing a need for support in the community.

“Those of us who started this care group have found that what we needed most in our grief was just someone to talk to and share our stories with. We almost universally had this feeling of ‘Will someone tell me I’m not crazy for feeling the way that I feel,’” said Daniels. “We came together around this idea that even though there are other people whose situations and grief may be different, they know the feeling of everyone wanting you to just get over it and move on.”

Daniels said the group was formed as an affirmation to let people know they are not alone in their thoughts on grief, and that there are people out there who want and can help.

As for techniques in the meetings, Daniels said that they are drawing from different sources for techniques to use in their monthly meetings. Some church members have gone through Grief Share, which is a program led by people who understand what others are going through and want to help.

Daniels said it is tremendously important for the “Mourning Friends” care group to become a part of the community, especially now during the pandemic.

“Everyone has lost someone due to COVID, but I don’t know of another church that’s been hit like Linden Baptist Church in the last two years. The local Baptist Association had a meeting with a slide show in remembrance of the people they’ve lost in the last two years. And the list of names was terrifying,” said Daniels. “So we know there’s massive amounts of grief in Marengo County and the surrounding counties right now. We just want to provide what we can to support people.”

All meetings are open to the public and will take place in the Linden Baptist Church Fellowship Hall.