Christian End-of-Life Doula & Trainer
David H. | New York, NY
"Laurel Marr provided invaluable service to a large community of friends as our dear friend was being treated for a mysterious cancer and ultimately died. Laurel was a close and trusted friend of his. He welcomed her offer to act as a liaison, communicating health updates to the larger group and coordinating visits during the peak of the Covid 19 epidemic, visiting him regularly, making sure any need that could be met was met. This she did with the highest sensitivity to all concerned, but also with a most positive, even cheerful demeanor, which strengthened us all. All this while maintaining a full academic schedule. I will always remember and be grateful for Laurel's dedication and skill in her doula capacity. She is uniquely gifted for this role."
Introducing the International Death & Resurrection Fellowship Café!
The Fellowship Café is open to all! Join this wonderful opportunity to connect with a diverse group of people in end-of-life discussions.
We meet each Monday at 1 pm EST. Invite a friend, brew a cup of coffee or tea, and meet someone new!
Click here for the Zoom link at laurelnicholson.com.
The Fellowship Café is open to all! Join this wonderful opportunity to connect with a diverse group of people in end-of-life discussions.
We meet each Monday at 1 pm EST. Invite a friend, brew a cup of coffee or tea, and meet someone new!
Click here for the Zoom link at laurelnicholson.com.
|
About Laurel
|
What is an End Of Life Doula Ministry?
.After a century of outsourcing death care to hospitals and funeral homes, individuals are revisiting the idea of dying at home, and families are finding themselves in a new role of becoming caregivers to the dying. Death Doulas are emerging on the scene as an essential role in the future of death care and as forerunners of a Death Positive movement, a culture shift ushering in a positive mindset around death as part of living well. There is an increasing need for change in end-of-life care in America. At this time, the American population is facing an eldercare crisis because of the large number of aging individuals of the Baby Boomer Generation. The changing trend of individuals making plans to die at home is thrusting families into a caregiving role they are likely unprepared for. End of Life Doulas assist in caring for the dying.
The Death and Resurrection Doula training program is a comprehensive training program for anyone who feels called to become a caregiver for dying people, their families, and their communities. It is offered for individuals or groups. Together, Christians can change the way we care for the dying by bringing the Good News of Jesus Christ to the world. The program includes training in theology, pastoral care, end-of-life planning, elder care advocacy, and caregiving to the dying individual, their families, and their communities. For those in need of a professional Christian Death Doula, the Death and Resurrection Doula Community is building a complete network of trained doulas to meet the needs of Americans as we face an elder care and death care giving crisis.
The mission of this ministry is to lead a movement to reclaim the Christian meaning and experience of death. There is a direct correlation between seeing death and the stability of our faith. Laurel Marr explores this correlation in depth alongside a vision for service to our neighbors in their time of greatest need. Jesus said, "There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends" (John 15:13). Christian healing ministries abound in this age, yet the arrival of Postmodernity presents a new challenge to belief unprecedented in the history of the Church. The Death and Resurrection Doula combines Christian theology with a comprehensive training program for serving the dying offering a refreshing purpose for a charismatic Christian healing ministry in an age of unbelief. This program provides a radical alternative to healing ministries and Doula training programs. The theological component of this Death Doula training program is grounded in Scripture and tradition and dominated by a theology of the cross. We have arrived at a time such that a ministry of healing prayer must finally speak about death.
In the second century and the early days of the Church, a theologian Irenaeus of Lyons, formulated from Scripture a systematic response in order to protect Church doctrine from the heretical beliefs of Gnosticism, a mystic and divine knowledge of God made apparent through the senses. Irenaeus' recapitulation theology, emphasizes Christ as the new head of mankind, which is emphasized throughout both the Old and New Testaments. In fact, the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the restoration of humanity back to God’s image and likeness that was lost through Adam and Eve’s disobedience recorded in Genesis 3. Ireneaus envisioned salvation as a single economy or a continuous arc from the creation of all things to the return of Christ, or the parousia. Our individual lives are lived within this economy, and our experience on earth, including death, cannot be separated from the actual transformation and completion in Christ. Adam (the standard of the human being) was created only as a "pattern of the one to come" (Romans 5:14), and therefore, the original formation of Adam is brought to completion in Christ, which is the life he is to grow into “by learning through experience” (1). This experience includes death.
Ireneaus' recapitulation theology will be joined with Martin Luther's theology of the cross (16th century) and Christoph Blumhardt's charismatic ministry of healing (19th century), creating a refreshing theological foundation desperately needed in a culture that has dismissed death from a holistic understanding of what it means to be a human being. Without a comprehensive understanding of the renewal of life in Jesus Christ -- a post-modern re-acceptance of death will lack the most fundamental aspect of well-being, which is to be made complete in Christ.
Real Life. Real People. Real Experiences. Laurel uses Convene Communities as a training platform, community network, and collaborative business resource. Convene Communities was founded by Matt Currin, former U.S. Marine and a leader of scenario-based training for organizations. Beyond a training platform for mentor programs of all types, Convene communities offers members the potential to grow programs through referral income.
Visit The Death and Resurrection Doula to learn more about the only Christian training program for Death Doulas and how to get involved in growing this ministry in Christian communities.
______________
(1). John Behr, “Irenaeus of Lyons,” In Christian Theologies of Salvation, ed. Justin Holcomb (New York: New York University Press, 2017), 44.
The Death and Resurrection Doula training program is a comprehensive training program for anyone who feels called to become a caregiver for dying people, their families, and their communities. It is offered for individuals or groups. Together, Christians can change the way we care for the dying by bringing the Good News of Jesus Christ to the world. The program includes training in theology, pastoral care, end-of-life planning, elder care advocacy, and caregiving to the dying individual, their families, and their communities. For those in need of a professional Christian Death Doula, the Death and Resurrection Doula Community is building a complete network of trained doulas to meet the needs of Americans as we face an elder care and death care giving crisis.
The mission of this ministry is to lead a movement to reclaim the Christian meaning and experience of death. There is a direct correlation between seeing death and the stability of our faith. Laurel Marr explores this correlation in depth alongside a vision for service to our neighbors in their time of greatest need. Jesus said, "There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends" (John 15:13). Christian healing ministries abound in this age, yet the arrival of Postmodernity presents a new challenge to belief unprecedented in the history of the Church. The Death and Resurrection Doula combines Christian theology with a comprehensive training program for serving the dying offering a refreshing purpose for a charismatic Christian healing ministry in an age of unbelief. This program provides a radical alternative to healing ministries and Doula training programs. The theological component of this Death Doula training program is grounded in Scripture and tradition and dominated by a theology of the cross. We have arrived at a time such that a ministry of healing prayer must finally speak about death.
In the second century and the early days of the Church, a theologian Irenaeus of Lyons, formulated from Scripture a systematic response in order to protect Church doctrine from the heretical beliefs of Gnosticism, a mystic and divine knowledge of God made apparent through the senses. Irenaeus' recapitulation theology, emphasizes Christ as the new head of mankind, which is emphasized throughout both the Old and New Testaments. In fact, the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the restoration of humanity back to God’s image and likeness that was lost through Adam and Eve’s disobedience recorded in Genesis 3. Ireneaus envisioned salvation as a single economy or a continuous arc from the creation of all things to the return of Christ, or the parousia. Our individual lives are lived within this economy, and our experience on earth, including death, cannot be separated from the actual transformation and completion in Christ. Adam (the standard of the human being) was created only as a "pattern of the one to come" (Romans 5:14), and therefore, the original formation of Adam is brought to completion in Christ, which is the life he is to grow into “by learning through experience” (1). This experience includes death.
Ireneaus' recapitulation theology will be joined with Martin Luther's theology of the cross (16th century) and Christoph Blumhardt's charismatic ministry of healing (19th century), creating a refreshing theological foundation desperately needed in a culture that has dismissed death from a holistic understanding of what it means to be a human being. Without a comprehensive understanding of the renewal of life in Jesus Christ -- a post-modern re-acceptance of death will lack the most fundamental aspect of well-being, which is to be made complete in Christ.
Real Life. Real People. Real Experiences. Laurel uses Convene Communities as a training platform, community network, and collaborative business resource. Convene Communities was founded by Matt Currin, former U.S. Marine and a leader of scenario-based training for organizations. Beyond a training platform for mentor programs of all types, Convene communities offers members the potential to grow programs through referral income.
Visit The Death and Resurrection Doula to learn more about the only Christian training program for Death Doulas and how to get involved in growing this ministry in Christian communities.
______________
(1). John Behr, “Irenaeus of Lyons,” In Christian Theologies of Salvation, ed. Justin Holcomb (New York: New York University Press, 2017), 44.
