Churches show up in crisis with compassion and strength. They long to walk faithfully with people in every season, yet often face the challenge of limited resources when supporting believers in long term struggles like chronic illness, ongoing grief, mental health challenges, or faith shaken by pain.

In those seasons, the questions can run deep:
Where are you God?
Why am I not being healed?
How do I continue to pray when I don’t feel heard?

This is where The Lament Project comes alongside to help.

We partner with churches to provide structured programs, resources, and training that extend effective care and reintroduce a lost language of faith: biblical lament. Not as a last resort, but as a regular rhythm of authentic, hope-filled discipleship. We do this in a number of ways including:

  1. Church Facilitator Training: The Lament Project’s 4-week Sickness and Suffering Series
    Creates space for honesty with God in suffering, lighting the path to hope. People across many ages and stages of life have journeyed through this series and experienced new freedom, deeper joy, and a renewed connection with God.

  2. Small Group Leader Training
    Equips small group/bible study leaders with the tools to better walk alongside those with chronic conditions, mental or physical health struggles, and the spiritual questions that accompany them.

  3. Resources for the Global Church
    Practical, ready-to-use resources for people experiencing sickness, suffering or hardship created by a team of professionals across the fields of theology, psychology, communication and pastoral ministry.

Despite what it might sound like, lament is not the end of faith, but the doorway into it during difficult seasons. When we bring our pain to God, He meets us with His presence, and that changes everything.

We have found that churches who embrace biblical lament and adopt a structured approach to caring for the unwell and hurting do not grow darker, but deeper, more joyful, more hopeful, and more connected.

We believe this is one of the most exciting shifts the church can make right now: to recover biblical lament for the hurting, and ensure our leaders are equipped to comfort those in any affliction with the comfort we ourselves receive from Him (2 Corinthians 1:3–4).

About The Lament Project

Karra Eloff

As founder and director, Karra Eloff brings together psychology, theology, and communication to shape The Lament Project. This unique blend ensures every resource is highly practical, biblically rich, trauma informed, and scalable for churches and communities worldwide.

For over a decade Karra has been the Co-Founder and Director of the Australian mental health company, Eloff & Andrews Clinical Psychology, an organisation that has delivered over 80,000 hours of one-on-one psychological care. Her academic background includes an undergraduate degree in applied linguistics and languages and a masters degree with research, equipping her to translate complex ideas and text into language that is practical and life-giving.

Karra’s lived experience navigating a rare bone disease, Endometriosis, and a spinal tumour, which required her to relearn how to walk, gifted her compassion and credibility. Professionally, her work as a speech pathologist as well as teaching anatomy at the University level deepened her understanding of human conditions, suffering, and resilience.

Alongside her professional background is a personal calling. Karra has many times experienced a crushed spirit and a crisis of faith until she learnt the power of biblical lament. In 2019, she sensed God calling her into this work but felt He had chosen the wrong person. The call only grew stronger. Karra began interviewing pastors and theologians to understand how the modern church engages with suffering. These conversations evolved into Friday night gatherings in her home for Christians navigating sickness and pain, where she offered gospel hope and practical teaching. After a year of these gatherings, the name emerged: The Lament Project. What began locally soon drew interest from national and international communities.

Karra also consults for global companies on chronic illness/persistent pain and high-performance in the workplace, an area she and innovative employers believes is a new frontier of workplace mental health and wellbeing (more information here).

She is an international keynote speaker and author of The Chronic Pain Couple® (now translated into multiple languages) which provides people navigating pain and illness, a practical path to living and loving remarkably.

L-T Hopper

For more than twenty years, L-T Hopper has helped churches and leaders grow in faith, discipleship, and resilience. He currently serves as Director of Content and Partnerships at Katoomba Christian Convention (KCC), one of Australia’s most influential Bible-teaching ministries, where he shapes large-scale events and partnerships that reach thousands across the nation.

With formal training in theology and mission from Sydney Missionary and Bible College, L-T has led churches across three denominations, from youth pastor to Senior Pastor. He has trained the next generation of ministry leaders, leaving a legacy that ripples outward through churches and communities.

As a teenager, Romans 5:8 became his life verse, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” That truth has shaped his life and ministry, giving him a passion to glorify God in all he does, to live for Jesus, and to make Him known.

At The Lament Project, L-T anchors the pastoral and theological foundation of the movement, ensuring every program is biblically faithful and able to serve the wider church. His work is not only informed by his extensive professional background, but also a personal experience of long-term suffering related to Rheumatoid Arthritis and depression that’s deepened and enriched his faith and proved the power of biblical lament.

Outside of ministry, L-T is one of those cyclist types…he also enjoys running and surfing, embodying the resilience and commitment he champions in leadership and faith.

Dr Johann Eloff

Clinical Psychologist Dr Johann Eloff contributes to The Lament Project by facilitating the integration of trauma-informed principles across its programs and resources. With over 15 years experience working directly with clients and advanced training in complex trauma treatments, he brings both depth of knowledge across mental health areas and compassionate insight to the way content is developed and delivered.

In 2024, Johann was named the inaugural Australian Patients Association Outstanding Psychologist. He was also a finalist for the Australian Allied Health Awards Psychologist of the Year. He holds a Professional Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the University of Queensland, is an AHPRA-endorsed supervisor, and is co-founder and clinical director of Eloff & Andrews Clinical Psychology.

Outside of his professional work, Johann is an avid surfer and enjoys unhurried time at the beach with his family.