Community of Hope

Do you want to grow in your relationship with Christ? Do you want to acquire the skills to handle different life situations in your everyday journey? Then the Community of Hope is for you, where you will be challenged in your relationship with Christ, and utilize life skills to help others.

The mission of Community of Hope is to create Christian communities of lay volunteer pastoral caregivers united in prayer, shaped by Benedictine Spirituality, and equipped for and serving in pastoral care ministries.

The volunteer pastoral caregivers remain united in prayer and community as their ministries lead them to serve in the congregation and in the wider community. The program remains rooted in Benedictine Spirituality and is based on the classic clinical pastoral education model used in many hospitals to train pastoral caregivers.

The training is open to and enriched by the representation of many denominations. The Community of Hope training awakens God’s call by helping individuals discover and better understand their own spiritual gifts for ministry. Each participant is encouraged to make this experience a journey into wholeness and to use this opportunity to explore a “rule of life” through practicing sacred silence, Christian meditation, compassionate listening, pastoral identity and Lectio Divina - all within the context of Benedictine Spirituality. This experience builds community and develops spiritually centered pastoral caregivers.

Community of Hope (COH) applications are available on our website or through the church office.

“Care of the sick must rank above and before all else so they may truly be served as Christ, who said, ‘I was sick and you visited me’…

(Matthew 25:36) The Rule of Benedict; Chapter 36