Faith in Action: My Journey Using the GPS Model in Faith-Based Communities

By Nelly Willis, GPS Program Director

When I first encountered the GPS Group Peer Support model, I recognized something deeply familiar: a reflection of the way many faith communities already walk alongside one another in prayer, compassion, and hope. Yet GPS also gave me the language, structure, and grounding to what I had long felt in my spirit— healing happens when we make space for honest conversation, shared humanity, and the divine presence that meets us there.

As both a believer and a facilitator, I’ve come to see GPS not only as a therapeutic framework, but as a spiritual practice of connection and a way to live out the call to love our neighbors and ourselves.

Where Faith and Healing Meet 

I have witnessed resilience born from struggle while working with refugee communities and immigrant families. These are people who have rebuilt their lives after loss, and who carry both hope and heartbreak in equal measure. For these individuals, faith often provides them with strength, but it can also bring unspoken pressure to “stay strong,” “be grateful,” or “trust without doubt.”

In our GPS faith-based groups, we invite a different kind of honesty, one that welcomes both faith and doubt as companions on the journey. In GPS, we remind one another that faith and doubt can coexist, and that expressing our pain is not a lack of belief, but rather it’s an act of living our truth.

Over time, I realized that many people turn to the church first when seeking guidance, comfort, or direction during difficult seasons of life. It makes sense to integrate support groups with prayer and scripture, as it has proven to be deeply effective, combining emotional healing with spiritual nourishment.

I’ve seen firsthand how this faith-based approach helps people not only process pain but also reconnect with their faith and community. I adapted and translated the GPS model into Spanish for faith-based Latino and immigrant communities, ensuring cultural and spiritual relevance.

What I found was remarkable: The faith-based adaptations worked beautifully in both English and Spanish, because the structure, sequence, and spirit of the GPS model works across cultures and languages. Its design is flexible enough to honor every community’s unique way of expressing faith, while preserving the heart of GPS: connection, presence, and mutual care.

A participant once shared something that has stayed with me:

“I always thought I could only go to church to pray—but not to share. I didn’t know I could let go of my burdens in a group and let God take over.”

That moment captured exactly what GPS offers within a faith-based setting: a way for people to bring their whole selves before God, to speak what they carry, and to experience what it means to truly rest in community and in grace.

I’ve seen the GPS model strengthen the very heart of the church. It helps transform congregations from places of worship into spaces of healing, where ministry flows both ways where the pastor can receive prayer, where the caregiver can rest, and where the immigrant mother can share her story in her own language and feel heard.

Through GPS for faith-based communities, people learn that God’s love is reflected through mutual care. Healing doesn’t only happen at the altar it happens in a circle of chairs, where one person says, “I understand,” and another whispers, “Me too.”

Why I Believe

As a believer and as GPS Program Director, I hold deep conviction in this truth:

Healing happens when we share our stories, witness one another’s pain, and remember that God meets us in our humanity.

The GPS model honors both evidence-based practice and spiritual wisdom that bridges psychology and faith. For me, it is not just a professional tool, it’s a calling.

Every time I witness a group member find peace, reclaim hope, or rediscover their voice, I am reminded that this is sacred work. GPS is more than a program—it is a ministry of presence, a way to live my faith out loud.

Want to learn more about GPS’s programs for faith-based communities? Check out our Circles of Connection program.