The Bishop’s Response Team of the Alabama-West Florida Conference responds and assists a congregation experiencing a crisis or trauma so that healing can begin. The team is trained to care for and provide support to those who are hurting. The trained team members are both laity and clergy.
The Bishop may send the team after any kind of crisis, traumatic event, or unexpected change that may occur in a congregation. Some examples include sudden death of a pastor, embezzlement or misuse of funds by pastor or layperson, clergy sexual misconduct, laity sexual misconduct directly involving the congregation, sudden sabbatical by a pastor, church closures, sexual abuse of a church member at a church camp or other church event, and any other instance as requested by the Bishop.
The AWF Conference is committed to helping all churches be vital congregations. Churches, like families, can benefit from attentive listening to help guide them through the pain and grief associated with crisis, trauma, and unexpected changes so that they may be vital and healthy congregations.