A church-ready six-session grief ministry
BHWS helps churches walk with people after the crisis has passed—but the grief has not.
Broken Heart… Wounded Soul Groups provide a Christ-centered framework for people living through bereavement, illness or caregiving, divorce or relationship loss, trauma, disappointment, vocational loss, or a major life transition.
Asking questions does not commit your church to launch.
Want to understand the ministry first? Read more:
Why BHWS?
Churches are often present at the moment of crisis: the funeral, diagnosis, hospital stay, divorce, or sudden change. But grief often continues long after meals stop arriving, visitors become less frequent, and everyone else returns to ordinary life.
BHWS Groups create a place for what comes next: honest grief, compassionate listening, Scripture, prayer, guided reflection, and the slow work of learning to live faithfully with what has happened.
Who can it serve?
People grieving a death
People living through serious illness or caregiving
People carrying divorce or relationship loss
People affected by trauma or another deeply disruptive experience
People facing major life transition, vocational loss, or disappointment
People grieving a dream, role, identity, or future they expected to have
BHWS is pastoral support—not therapy. It is spiritual, relational, and church-based support with clear boundaries for referral and safety.
A Complete Church Ministry Toolkit
Your church does not have to invent the curriculum, facilitator preparation, participant materials, safety framework, or launch process. The BHWS package provides a coherent ministry system built around the six canonical Participant Handouts.
The package includes Start Here, the Group Facilitator Training Guide, the Six-Session Leader Guide, six Participant Handouts, the Participant Welcome & Group Covenant, the Pastoral Safety & Referral Guide, the Church Launch Kit, and the License & Activation Package.
The Six-Session Journey
The six gatherings follow an intentional pastoral movement. Participants gather first and then take the devotional into the week afterward. The reading is a companion, not homework.
The reading rhythm is intentionally uneven because the curriculum follows the movement of the devotional: Days 1–7, 8–14, 15–17, 18–21, 22–24, and 25–31.
What Happens in a BHWS Session?
Each formal gathering is designed for approximately 60–90 minutes. Participants are invited into a dependable rhythm of welcome, reflection, guided conversation, prayerful presence, and between-session reading.
Participants may speak, remain silent, write privately, or pass. They are not required to tell the whole story, pray aloud, finish every reading, or prove that they are making progress.
Facilitators Are Supported
A BHWS facilitator does not have to be a therapist or grief specialist. A strong facilitator needs emotional steadiness, good listening, respect for boundaries, comfort with silence and emotion, and a clear relationship with church leadership.
The Group Facilitator Training Guide prepares the person who leads the room. The Six-Session Leader Guide then prepares that leader for the content and movement of each weekly gathering.
Pastoral Safety Without Turning the Group into Therapy
Strong emotion, tears, anger, silence, spiritual struggle, and painful grief language are not automatically a crisis. BHWS helps facilitators stay present while recognizing when someone needs additional care or immediate safety action.
Each church identifies its own pastoral contact, professional referral resources, safeguarding procedures, and urgent-response process before the first group begins.
A Clear Path from Interest to Launch
BHWS is designed to reduce the administrative burden on the church. The launch process is simple enough to understand at a glance and structured enough that leaders do not have to build the program from scratch.
The Church Launch Kit includes the preparation timeline, registration guidance, book planning, communication copy, room setup, facilitator checklist, launch-day checklist, and participant follow-up.
Two Ways to Activate
The church license is intentionally simple. One church receives six months of authorized use and may begin as many BHWS Groups as it can responsibly support during the active term.
$49 — Standard six-month church license
One church • six months • unlimited BHWS Groups beginning during the active term.
OR
12+ new books — Complimentary six-month activation
Available with verification of 12 or more new copies of Broken Heart… Wounded Soul purchased for BHWS ministry use.
Groups begun during the active term may complete their planned six-session cycle after expiration. Renewal is another six months for $49 or another qualifying purchase of 12+ new copies.
Is BHWS a Fit for Your Church?
Do people in your congregation need somewhere to go after the funeral, diagnosis, divorce, caregiving crisis, trauma, or major change?
Would your church value a Christ-centered approach that makes room for lament, doubt, silence, and honest grief without rushing people toward answers?
Do you have a steady leader who can listen well and work within clear boundaries?
Can your church provide pastoral oversight and local referral resources when someone needs more than a group can provide?
If the answer is mostly yes, the next step does not have to be a commitment. It can simply be a conversation about fit, leadership, timing, and what your church would need to begin.
Tell us a little about your church and the people you hope to serve.
About Broken Heart… Wounded Soul
Broken Heart… Wounded Soul is a 31-day Christian devotional for healing after loss and grief by J. Brent Eaton, M.Div. BHWS Groups extends the devotional into a church-ready ministry experience centered on presence, honest grief, whole-soul awareness, spiritual honesty, compassionate community, and the permission to live again without leaving love behind.
You do not have to walk through this alone.