Undertaken With Love

Additional Resources 

Here are a few resources that have to do with sustaining a strong, viable home funeral committee that will continue to serve the community:

The blog Thresholds carries an extensive Q&A with Ahmad-Rufai Abdullah about the work of the Islamic Burial Society of North America, which has organized itself to be a self-sustaining training organization for Muslim communities caring for their own dead. Read it with an eye toward borrowing practices that can be applied on a smaller scale within your local group.

Caregiving: Hospice-Proven Techniques for Healing Body and Soul, by Douglas Smith, suggests such techniques as dialogues, meditations, life reviews, breathing exercises, body revitalization methods and evaluation tools for improving caregiving at the end of life. Many of his ideas make good ideas for small group exercises that will help keep your committee members engaged and dedicated.

When Autumn Comes: Creating Compassionate Care for the Dying, by Mary Jo Bennett, has much wisdom that can be applied to caring for the family after death comes. Written by a hospice volunteer, its advice is suitable for secular as well as religious settings.

Real Small Groups Just Don't Happen: Nurturing Relationships in Your Small Group, by Neal McBride, is a good pick if your home funeral committee is in a congregational faith setting. At only 150 pages, it offers many good tips for keeping small groups intimate and sensitive to the needs of their members and community.

Another good variation on the theme is Simple Small Groups: A User-Friendly Guide for Small Group Leaders, by Bill Search, which focuses on three Cs: connecting, changing and cultivating members in any congregational group.

Breaking Robert's Rules: The New Way to Run Your Meeting, Build Consensus, and Get Results, by Lawrence Susskind, is a good introduction to the nuts and bolts of consensus building as a small group management style.

Oh -- and we do hope you will contact us to let you know how your group studies went and what you plan for the future!