Grief & Grace

About

Biblical hope and patient care for those walking through loss.

Grief & Grace is a ministry of Gilbert Bible Church providing biblical care, compassionate community, and lasting hope for those walking through grief. We believe sorrow should be met with honesty, patience, and the truth of God’s Word.

Grieving people do not need shallow answers or pressure to move on. They need help knowing how to mourn worshipfully, faithful people willing to walk beside them, and the enduring hope found in Jesus Christ.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”
2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Who is it for?

Grief & Grace is for anyone walking through a season of significant grief or loss. Grief often follows the death of someone we love, but loss can take many forms. It may accompany a serious illness, physical disability, miscarriage, infertility, a broken relationship, family estrangement, job loss, an unexpected transition, or another painful trial that has changed the shape of life.

Although these experiences are not all the same, each can bring genuine sorrow, uncertainty, and questions that are difficult to carry alone. We do not need to compare our grief with the grief of others or decide whether our loss is significant enough to receive care.

It is also for family members, friends, pastors, and ministry leaders who want to care faithfully for someone who is hurting.

Our mission

Understand grief through the truth of Scripture
Bring sorrow honestly before God
Experience the care of God’s people
Walk faithfully through the changing realities of loss
Find enduring hope in the gospel of Jesus Christ

We do not believe grief follows a simple formula or predictable timetable. Every loss is personal, and every person’s experience of sorrow is different. Our purpose is not to hurry people through grief but to walk beside them with biblical truth, compassionate care, and patient encouragement.

What We Offer

Grief & Grace provides several ways for grieving people and those who care for them to receive help.

Gatherings

Our gatherings provide a setting for biblical teaching, honest conversation, shared encouragement, questions, and prayer. No one is required to speak or share more than they are comfortable sharing.

Personal Support

We seek to connect grieving individuals and families with compassionate, biblically grounded care. This may include prayer, pastoral encouragement, conversation, or help identifying an appropriate next step.

Biblical Media

Through podcasts, sermons, conversations, testimonies, and other audio and video resources, we address the spiritual and practical realities of grief.

Help for Churches and Caregivers

We desire to equip pastors, ministry leaders, friends, and family members to care for grieving people with greater wisdom, patience, and compassion.

What Guides Us

These convictions shape the way Grief & Grace teaches, encourages, and walks with those who are grieving.

The Word of God+

We believe the Bible is God’s inspired, inerrant, authoritative, and sufficient Word. Scripture gives us the truth we need to understand God, suffering, death, hope, and faithful Christian living. While the Bible does not remove every mystery surrounding our losses, it gives us a sure foundation when our circumstances and emotions feel uncertain.

The Character of God+

Grief often raises difficult and painful questions. In the midst of those questions, we anchor ourselves in what God has revealed about Himself. He is sovereign, wise, loving, faithful, and good. His character does not change when His purposes are difficult for us to understand.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ+

Our greatest hope is not that grief will become easy or that life will return to what it was before our loss. Our hope is Jesus Christ. Through His sinless life, sacrificial death, and bodily resurrection, Christ has conquered sin and death. Everyone who repents and believes in Him is forgiven, reconciled to God, and given eternal life. Because Christ is risen, Christians grieve deeply, but not without hope.

The Body of Christ+

God did not design His people to suffer alone. The church is called to weep with those who weep, bear one another’s burdens, offer patient encouragement, and speak the truth in love. Grief & Grace seeks to provide care within the community and accountability of the local church.

The Hope of Eternity+

Death is an enemy, but it is a defeated enemy. A day is coming when Christ will return, His people will be raised, and God will make all things new. This future hope does not make present sorrow insignificant. It gives us the strength to endure sorrow with confidence in God’s promises.

The Importance of the Local Church

We believe the local church is essential to the Christian life, especially in seasons of grief and suffering.

God has not designed His people to walk through sorrow alone. Within the local church, believers gather to worship, sit under the teaching of God’s Word, pray for one another, bear one another’s burdens, and receive the care and oversight of faithful shepherds. It is often through these ordinary expressions of church life that God makes His sustaining grace visible.

A specialized ministry can provide helpful teaching, shared understanding, and focused support, but it cannot replace the ongoing care and community of a faithful local church. Grief and Grace exists to serve alongside the church, not as a substitute for it.

Because Grief & Grace is a ministry of Gilbert Bible Church, our gatherings and resources operate under the oversight and accountability of local church leadership. We also encourage those we serve to remain connected to their own church families or, if they do not have a church home, to seek a faithful, Bible-teaching local church where they can be known, loved, shepherded, and encouraged.

The road through grief can be long. We need more than occasional help along the way. We need the enduring care of God’s people as we continue walking together in faith.

Our Leadership

Grief & Grace is led by Josh Kellso under the oversight of Gilbert Bible Church’s elders. Josh and Julie sought to begin the ministry after experiencing the death of their five-year-old son, Caleb.

Through their own journey, they have experienced the sustaining grace of God through His Word, His people, and the hope of eternity. Their desire is not to present themselves as having mastered grief, but to come alongside others as fellow sufferers who have found God faithful in the valley.

A Ministry of Gilbert Bible Church

Grief & Grace operates as a ministry of Gilbert Bible Church and under the oversight of its church leadership. This connection provides biblical accountability, pastoral care, and a community in which grieving people can be known and supported.

Our beliefs are consistent with the doctrine and ministry commitments of Gilbert Bible Church. You can learn more by reading the church’s full doctrinal statement.

There Is Grace for the Valley

Grief may change the shape and capacity of your life. The road may be longer and harder than you expected. But you do not have to walk it alone. God’s Word is sufficient. God’s people are present. God’s promises are sure. And God’s grace is available for every step through the valley.