We can change the way we do death care because we believe in the power of the gospel.

In the spring of 2013, my grandmother died at age ninety-seven. As her life drew to a close, I glimpsed my own future if I continued living under the control of eating disorders—a harsher manifestation of the same preoccupation with body image and weight that had quietly shaped her life.

My own battle with anorexia nervosa had begun years earlier, when I was fifteen. What started as a quiet desire to be thinner slowly grew into a relentless pursuit of control. Food became mathematics, the mirror became a judge, and my body—fearfully and wonderfully made—became an enemy to conquer rather than a gift to receive. After twenty years of struggle, I realized no human effort can remake itself; transformation must come from God.

I was immersed in the study of supernatural healing practices desperate for miraculous freedom. When it did not come, I faced deep doubt—about God, faith, and prayer. But suffering, I learned, is never wasted. We often don’t see the purpose in our struggles until later—when we look back and realize how God was working through them for our good. 

In his letter to the Philippians, Paul addresses his fellow believers: “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death” (Phil. 3:10, NRSV). Death is the transformation to real life. It is more important than any other experience since and including birth.

Our culture goes to great lengths to avoid thinking about death—chasing youth, ignoring the need for end-of-life plans, and pretending we can outrun mortality. But this denial comes at a cost. Without real hope beyond death, people often begin to feel that life itself has no lasting meaning. That emptiness can grow into despair, and in some heartbreaking cases, even lead to suicide.

Yet even in our deepest despair, God’s grace remains. Salvation does not depend on our strength, our mental state, or our ability to hold ourselves together. It rests on Christ alone—by faith, not by works (Galatians 2:15–16).

Over the past century, belief in God has steadily declined. Many today believe we can find meaning without Him. But when we push God aside, we are left with emptiness. Christianity offers a better answer: the cross.  The cross reveals a God who entered into death for us.  Suffering brings us to the place where God's grace alone can remake us. Healing isn't about immediate relief—it’s about death to self and resurrection into a new life of trust. Every loss, disappointment, and trial becomes an opportunity to be shaped more into the likeness of Christ.

Today, the secular Death Positive movement is gaining momentum, teaching that death is something to embrace as natural and good. But for Christians, death is never good. Death is the enemy—the last enemy to be destroyed (1 Corinthians 15:26). We do not embrace death. We proclaim Christ's victory over it.

The Christian movement is a Spirit-led, grassroots movement rising up to answer this cultural moment. Rooted in the truth of Scripture and fueled by the hope of the resurrection, this movement calls believers to walk faithfully with the dying—not to glorify death, but to glorify the God who conquered it.

Christians are urgently needed to carry this hope into a world longing for meaning in the face of mortality. Through training, service, and proclamation, we are called to bear witness to the life, death, and resurrection of Christ—and to the promise that death does not have the final word.

It is out of this deep conviction that the Death and Resurrection Training Program was born. And now, by God's grace, we have the opportunity to expand this work even further. The Death and Resurrection Training Program has launched a Giving Fund with the National Christian Foundation (NCF). Since 1982, NCF has mobilized more than $21 billion for over 90,000 churches, ministries, and charitable organizations, and we are honored to now be part of this incredible network. Every dollar donated will help ensure that Death & Resurrection Doula training retains is excellence. This includes everything from program development to scholarships. Certifying Christian Doulas is one of the best ways possible to advance the Christian movement!