Why Community Is Vital for Our Success as Writers

When I started my writing and blogging journey six years ago, I was isolated and disconnected, like a leaf floating above the water. My only supporter and helper was my husband. Although he did a great job — encouraging me in my calling, promoting my work, and helping me with all technical things — that was not enough. Something vital was missing. 

I began praying not only for an audience, who God could bless through my message, but also for a tribe, a community to which I could belong in this new role God gave me. God answered my prayers for both and faithfully led me to form connections with other Christian writers. 

Why is community vital for our success as writers? Here are four reasons to be part of a supportive community and to pursue connections and collaborations with other Christian writers. 

• Understanding. 

No one can understand a writer better than another writer or creative. I am sure you know this already. Writers struggle with specific doubts and fears. It is like a balm for the writer’s soul to share her frustrations and struggles and to hear, “Me too.” Being understood in our intimate and specific struggles is powerful. 

• Mentoring and Counsel. 

Understanding is just the beginning. Based on this, the community can provide us the mentoring and counsel we need to overcome our challenges and keep writing. It can be professional mentoring aimed at increasing our skills and expertise as a writer, but it could also be spiritual mentoring. 

Christian writers often face spiritual attacks because of the nature of their calling. That’s why having several close writer friends and mentors is indispensable. 

• Encouragement and Support. 

Community is vital not only for our success as Christian writers but also for our well-being. Being part of a community enables us to ask and receive encouragement and support. 

As a writer, I know that one of the biggest struggles is discouragement, especially when we don’t see the obvious or expected fruit of our work. That’s why being regularly encouraged and motivated by other writers and their journeys is so important. Besides other writers who have already traveled the path we face now can be valuable sources of help and support. 

• Growth and Success. 

The fourth reason to pursue community is because community speeds up growth and sets us up for success. When we are connected, we can receive nourishing and healthy ingredients for our growth, flowing through our connections and fellowship. We can grow and mature as writers but also as God’s servants.

It is in the community and in the interactions where God often tests our hearts and purifies our motivation. The community is also the place where God opens for us new possibilities to expand our reach.

Our writing and creative ministries are not a single-person show. We need each other to succeed and grow. We need the right people in our lives to support us with their knowledge, mentoring, counsel, encouragement and prayer. As Christian writers, we need communities like COMPEL. 

Every one of us has been assigned a small portion of the wall to rebuild, but people are working beside us, behind us, and in front of us. Be active, and don’t be afraid to approach others and take the initiative. Ask God regularly in prayer to expand and deepen your network and provide you with the right people you need in the current season. 

Blessings,

Hadassah Treu

Ready to take your next step in using the gift God has given you and connect with other Christian writers? Registration for COMPEL Writers Training is only open a few times a year, and it’s open for a limited time right now! Our online training community has everything you need to share the story God has written for you. Don’t wait! Click the link to sign up today!