Find Healing through Community

Loving relationships with family and friends can be one of the sweetest joys in life and provide support when you are going through difficult challenges.

Three women smile outside of a church building together

Even if you feel you’re facing your trials alone, God will always be there for you. A community of friends and family who love you can also be a powerful aid in healing from trauma and coping with life’s biggest struggles.

Jesus Christ taught His disciples to be united in faith and purpose. He commanded everyone to love and serve each other—not just family and friends but strangers and even enemies. Following His example can help Christians today continue to build a loving, supportive community that helps everyone come closer to the Savior.

Coping with Grief

Loving friends helped these families when they were grieving the loss of a family member.

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Today’s technology makes it easier for people to become isolated. But church can continue to be a place that brings people from all different backgrounds and interests together with a common goal. It’s a place where you can connect not only with God but with other members of your community.

A strong community is one where people give and take—sometimes helping others and sometimes receiving help. In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we try to keep that balance through a practice we call “ministering,” where everyone is assigned people in the congregation to help look out for and people who will check up on their own needs.

As you work to embrace the healing power of community, these ideas can help you build up your support network:

Church is a great place to build strong, lasting relationships. Missionaries can help you find our church near you.
Host an event like a neighborhood barbecue or a game night with your coworkers.
Find a food pantry or other place in your community that needs regular volunteers, and sign up to help.
Look for local events where you can meet people with shared interests, such as story time at the library for families with young children.
Set up an online video get-together with friends and family who live far away.

“For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”

—Matthew 18:20 (New Testament)

“And he commanded them that there should be no contention one with another, but that they should look forward with one eye, having one faith and one baptism, having their hearts knit together in unity and in love one towards another.”

—Mosiah 18:21 (Book of Mormon)

“Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.”

—James 1:27 (New Testament)

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