Mission
Caring for those who are grieving as they journey to new hope.
Vision
We encourage and equip local churches as they guide those who are grieving towards new hope in Jesus Christ.
We have this hope as an anchor for our soul.
Hebrews 6.19
About Us
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The apostle Paul wrote words that have traveled through the centuries to us today: We do not grieve as others do who have no hope (1 Thess. 4.13). We believe that such hope is to be found in the person of Jesus Christ. Placing our hope in Jesus does not dismiss or negate our grief; rather, it allows us to put grief in its meaningful place.
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I have found comfort knowing that the sovereign God who is in control of everything, is the same God who has experienced the pain I live with every day. No matter how deep the pit into which I descend, I keep finding God there. He is not aloof from my suffering but draws near to me when I suffer. He is vulnerable to pain, quick to shed tears, and acquainted with grief. God is a suffering Sovereign who feels the sorrow of the world.
- Gerald Sittser, A Grace Disguised
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While grief takes place individually, it is the care and support that comes from the company of others who are also grieving that is enormously comforting. Grieving individuals need opportunities to tell their stories of grief again and again. They need to feel safe to explore the details of their grief experience in order to make sense of it.
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New Hope Grief Care provides needed opportunities to find comfort and connection with those who have experienced the death of a loved one. Understanding the ways that grief impacts our mind, body, soul, emotions and relationships allows for the griever to ride atop the waves of grief and not be pulled under by it. Through loss specific grief care groups (6 weeks), special workshops, connection groups and individual grief counseling, individuals may begin to experience the many ways that God uses our grief to take us on a journey to a new hope that is firm and secure.
Our Story
Jacky Gatliff
For more than 20 years, Jacky has guided and cared for others who are grieving in every ministry she has served. A graduate of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Jacky studied and taught spiritual care and bereavement at Madonna University, Livonia, MI. She served as the Director of Grief Support Services at Arbor Hospice in Ann Arbor, MI, for seven years. She did further studies to understand how God meets and transforms us in our grief for her Doctor of Ministry thesis project, “The Soul Work of Grief.” Caring for those who are grieving has been a consistent theme in the variety of ministry settings where she has served.
Within a period of 27 months, Jacky experienced the death of her ‘soul-friend’ Gretchen and both her parents. All three were lingering hospice deaths. Her personal experience of grief and knowing how God is a transforming presence during the overwhelming and difficult days gives her a hope, firm and secure that she offers to those who are grieving.
Contact Jacky Gatliff: jacky.gatliff@gmail.com
Stacey Laho
Offering comfort and care to the bereaved community began for Stacey several years after personal losses of her mom’s death from a cancer diagnosis followed three years later by her 11-year-old son, Kodey’s sudden death.
Out of her personal pain of loss, she eventually began facilitating grief care groups for bereaved parents in her local church which then led to formal education with a certificate as a Grief Recovery Specialist with the Grief Recovery Institute.
Stacey has led workshops and retreats in her community on grief, including Memory in the Mirror, daughters reflecting on the death of their mother created by Rev. Dr. Jacky Gatliff. Her membership with the Patient and Family Advisory Council at Michigan Medicine has allowed her to engage and present to professionals and parents on the topics of grief and end of life.
Her work on A Lament For Your Loved One; What you need to say to God to begin healing, developed during her personal grief trauma of losing her child. She believes the invitation to lament is a gift from the Lord to carry us in the darkest days of grief.
She currently offers the six-week New Hope Grief Care course online. God’s steady helm in the dark days of her grief moves her to share this anchor of hope with those who suffer.
Almost twenty years ago, we stepped onto a shared path of grief that each of us was immersed in at that time. It has been our long held hearts’ desire to offer to others what we know and believe about the way God uses the grief in our lives to draw us to trust and experience a New Hope. New Hope Grief Care is the result of that desire.
Contact Stacey Laho: lahostacey@gmail.com