Resourcing Members of Highlands Community Church, Renton, Washington, to Minister to Bereaved Parents

Abstract

Jesse Austin Campbell, D.Min.

The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2019

Faculty Supervisor: Dr. Michael E. Pohlman

The gospel of Jesus Christ is the only meaningful hope to be offered parents bereaved by infant loss and miscarriage. A curriculum of six sermons delivered in the medium of a conference expositing passages on child loss may resource the church to minister to the bereaved. This project takes a Christ-centered hermeneutic to passages throughout Scripture including 2 Samuel 12 that share the gospel with unsaved bereaved parents while discipline Christian bereaved parents. Answers to the question, “Why did my child die?” are offered from Scripture and qualified hope for the salvation of infants is presented from Matthew 18. The curriculum then turns to mobilize the bereaved parents and equip them to minister to other bereaved parents with this hope that is found only through Jesus Christ, finding some degree of healing for their hearts and finding a sense of redeemed purpose in the deaths of their children.