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What Will Heaven Be Like?

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The Death & Resurrection Doula Newsletter

August 11, 2026

Heaven

We've been reading Heaven by Randy Alcorn this summer at the International Fellowship Café.

It's a great book! Everyone who is reading the scheduled chapters or attending the café to listen is thoroughly enjoying the subject and our group discussion.

The book is about 500 pages including the introduction, appendices, and index. One question we've asked ourselves is this: Is Rev. Alcorn speculating or can we really know this much about heaven?

Answering this question matters!

On Sunday, I was visiting with a man who is on hospice care. It has been a long journey for him.

Almost two years ago, when I first started my doula visits with him, he was enrolled in hospice but graduating after a year of services because his weight and health stabilized.

For this man, losing hospice eligibility felt overwhelming. He was losing access to a volunteer he enjoyed stories and conversations with, a chaplain, and an additional layer of medical and home-health care.

With his particular life-limiting diagnosis, he lacks the physical and mental capacity to take care of himself.

The long decline and loss of mobility and other enjoyable aspects of life, like working, managing finances, driving, owning a home and playing with his dog, make him feel like he has no control over life or death.

He is now back on hospice care. As he approaches his final months on this earth, I have committed to widening his knowledge of heaven.

We've only read a few sections of the book together. On Sunday, he asked me why he's never heard any of these heavenly things before.

For many of us, our picture of eternity is surprisingly vague.

The good news is that Scripture paints a rich picture of God's New Heaven and Earth.

If Randy Alcorn is speculating, it is not without cause. His imagination is fueled by two canons of Scripture that deliciously excite the mind about all that we will see (we will be face to face with God), hear, and do once we are there!

"Come, Lord Jesus!" (Rev. 22:20)

Hear the story behind the creation of the Death in the Body, Life in Christ booklet!

Lisa Bennion, RN is the hospice voice behind the Death & Resurrection Doula Training Program. This year’s revision of the Doula Practitioner module is another example of what sets our training apart: We equip doulas to understand what is happening in the dying body and to accompany the dying person and their family with confidence, compassion, and a distinctly Christian theological framework—all within the doula’s scope of practice.

Tune in to our conversation on the latest Death & Resurrection Doula Podcast!

End-of-Life Doula Training is Where the Work Begins

If we want to see Christian faithfulness restored to the care of the dying, we need more Christians prepared to be present—not simply as volunteers or professionals, but as people formed by the hope of Christ and equipped to serve their communities well.

Training is the heart of our community. And growing the number of Volunteer and Professional Death & Resurrection Doulas is an important part of changing the conversation around death and end-of-life care.

This fall, we are opening the door wider.

We have a limited number of church-based scholarships available for new students enrolling in our Professional or Volunteer Training Programs.

These scholarships are designed for Christians who have a strong connection to a local church and want to develop a meaningful working relationship between their doula ministry and the church community they serve.

And we want the church involved from the beginning. Pastors will be invited to participate in your training so they can better understand the work of a Christian end-of-life doula and consider how this ministry might serve the people in their congregation.

If you have been discerning whether Christian end-of-life doula training is right for you, this may be the time to take the next step.

Complete the registration form and select YES when asked if you are applying for a church-based scholarship. We will email you the scholarship application.

Professional

Training (Certificate)

  • Join our virtual training event Oct. 9 & 10​
  • Engage in monthly doula collaboration opportunities + The Death & Resurrection Doula Support Group
  • Self-paced course work
  • Discussion Boards
  • $1660/payment plans are available

Volunteer Training (Inclusive)

  • Join our virtual training event Oct. 9 & 10​
  • Participate in The Death & Resurrection Doula Support Group
  • Self-paced course work (abridged)
  • Discussion Boards
  • $500
  • Letter of Training Completion

Volunteer Training

  • Self-paced course work (abridged)
  • Discussion Boards
  • $250
  • Letter of Training Completion

All courses require online access (a computer is recommended over a phone or IPad)

Come be formed. Come learn. And come be part of a growing community learning to walk faithfully with the dying in resurrection hope.

203 K S Stratford Road , Winston-Salem, NC 27103
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The Death & Resurrection Doula

The first end-of-life doula training program built on a biblical theology of death, dying, and bodily resurrection. 🌿

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