Church Initiative was founded in 1993 by Steve and Cheryl Grissom. Steve now serves as the president of Church Initiative. Cheryl serves as the ministry vice president. Here’s what led to the start of our ministry and how we’re serving local churches all over the world.
From DivorceCare to DC4K
Steve was personally devastated by his divorce and turned to his faith in Christ and his local church for help. Although his church was very caring and helpful, as he healed he came to understand that churches needed a more comprehensive way to minister to people hurting from divorce. As a result, he began leading divorce support groups in his local church, learning methods that would become the foundation of DivorceCare. Steve remarried, and he and his new wife Cheryl soon felt the Lord leading them to devote full time to divorce ministry.
In 1993, Steve and Cheryl designed and developed a biblically based support group recovery program called DivorceCare. Today DivorceCare is in more than 12,000 churches around the world.
From there, Steve realized the need for more resource programs to help churches minister to people in other life crises, such as grief and addiction. So, in 1996, the ministry underwent a name change to Church Initiative, with a vision to create biblical, Christ-centered resources that mobilize lay people to help hurting people, within the context of the local church. The DivorceCare program was joined by DivorceCare for Kids, GriefShare and other dynamic ministry tools created by Church Initiative to minister to people in a life crisis.
Today, over 15,000 churches are equipped with one or more Church Initiative ministry programs. Here are some of the programs we’ve developed:
DivorceCare for Kids, DC4K, designed to bring healing to children of divorce and to give them hope and the tools to develop healthier relationships within their families
DivorceCare, a seminar/small group resource to help people hurting because of separation and divorce
Choosing Wisely Before You Divorce, a marriage crisis intervention tool designed to help prevent divorce and save families
GriefShare, a grief recovery program to help people grieving the death of a loved one
Facing Forever, a fascinating study of the issues of life, death and eternity
Chance to Change, a Christ-centered gambling addiction recovery program to help gambling addicts find freedom from their addiction
Church Initiative has a strong commitment to provide ongoing support to churches using its materials. The ministry provides free consulting, promotional tools and an extensive leadership development website. In addition to the comprehensive leader training resources that come with each curriculum kit, Church Initiative has also developed a one-day intensive Boot Camp training conference for the DivorceCare, DC4K and GriefShare programs.