#heathypastor - Community

    Who are your people, your tribe, the folks you turn to when times are hard and when you have joys to celebrate? While it is important to have friends, I think it is just as important to have larger communities where you can support one another in your needs. For me, such community comes from two places.
     First, the Young Clergywomen Project (http://youngclergywomen.org), is an online community for folks up to the age of 40 who are ordained. We represent a variety of denominations and ways to live out ministry. We ask each other for ministry ideas, advice about how to get through difficult situations and we celebrate life's amazing and joyous moments with one another. While many of us may not meet face to face, we support one another and share the love of Christ without one another as a community.
    Second, the Order of St. Luke (http://saint-luke.net), is a religious order who pray for one another and commit to a daily office with one another. We focus together on liturgy and the sacraments, but as whole we also support one another through the practice of ministry, education and scholarship.
    These are simply my people - but I have to ask, who are your people? We can't do ministry alone, we need community to lean upon and who point us back to God continually. We need a healthy community to be a healthy pastor.