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Jen Bradbury
Feb 22 · 5 min read

Messy Ashes

It’s Ash Wednesday. I was supposed to be serving at church today, imposing ashes on people for an hour this afternoon.

Strangely, I was looking forward to it. While Ash Wednesday is morbid, there’s also a sacredness to it that I appreciate.

...

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#church #Pandemic #Jesus #youth ministry #liturgy #justice #Community #Lent

Jen Bradbury
Sep 04 · 5 min read

Notes from the pandemic: The plight of young (unvaccinated) children & their parents

Last Tuesday, exactly one week after the girls started school, we got the dreaded call that 6-year old Hope had been in close contact with someone at school who tested positive for COVID.

Because of the close contact, Hope had to quarantine for...

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#toddlers #children #education #grief #Pandemic #privilege #parenting

Jen Bradbury
Aug 05 · 5 min read

Beautiful Hospitality

Surely there’s a church somewhere that practices the kind of hospitality Jesus did, right?

I wanted desperately to believe this after my family found itself unwelcome at church during the last several weeks. Since then, I’ve continued to wrestle...

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#hospitality #worship #church #children's ministry #Pandemic #Jesus #youth pastor #scripture #Community

Jen Bradbury
Jul 17 · 5 min read

On not being welcomed at church

Last Sunday during worship, I sat in the comfort room with my two-year old, Kendall, in tears.

To be clear, I was the one in tears, not her.

We’d gone into the cry room to nurse. When we returned to the sanctuary, she started chattering. A LOT...

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#toddlers #parenting #church #worship #breastfeeding #baptism #books #youth ministry #Community #student leadership #culture of welcome #Pandemic

Jen Bradbury
Jun 22 · 5 min read

On finding a new church home

“You guys are making me not even want to go to church anymore!” shouted Hope, my six-year old daughter, from the backseat of our van as we headed home from our first day of church shopping.

We began church shopping at a local church that’s part...

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#church #worship #children #children's ministry #youth ministry #Pandemic #discipleship #faith formation #Community

Jen Bradbury
Feb 23 · 5 min read

Notes from the Pandemic: Pandemic Babies

NBC news has recently been airing a series of reports about the mental health toll of the pandemic on young people. As a youth pastor, I’m well aware of these. I’ve seen the toll this pandemic has taken on the young people in my ministry. I’ve...

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#youth pastor #children #Pandemic #marriage #parenting #books

Jen Bradbury
Feb 08 · 5 min read

Review: How to Listen So Your Kids Will Talk

Filed in Book Review

I’m an introverted youth pastor who has, for years, considered myself to be a pretty good listener. Sadly, I fear that I sometimes listen BETTER to other people’s kids than I do my own. Having recognized this in myself, I was excited to read Becky...

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#books #introvert #youth pastor #parenting #children's ministry #children #Pandemic #conflict

Jen Bradbury
Feb 03 · 5 min read

7 reasons to do Virtual Sunday School as a Live Event

I’ve gotten a few questions about my post, 7 Things That Are Working Well in Virtual Sunday School, that make it clear I need to clarify how we do Virtual Sunday School.

In our context, virtual Sunday School is a LIVE event, held (almost) weekly...

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#Sunday School #children's ministry #Community #church #small group #Leaders #Pandemic #confirmation #Teaching

Jen Bradbury
Feb 02 · 5 min read

7 things that are working well in virtual Sunday School

We woke up to about 9 inches of snow on Sunday morning and all I could think was, “I’m so glad Sunday School is virtual this morning!” Had we been in person, we would NOT have had any kids. Instead, we had a lively and robust morning of virtual...

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#small group #parents #Teaching #Godly Play #Pandemic #children's ministry

Jen Bradbury
Jan 29 · 5 min read

4 ways to utilize leaders in virtual ministry

Recently, I’ve seen an increasing number of posts in various children and youth pastor’s forums about how to rebuild an adult leadership team that’s been decimated by the pandemic. It seems that as many people switched to virtual ministry, their...

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#small group #Leaders #Pandemic #youth ministry #children's ministry

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Tags

youth ministry books church Jesus parenting Missions scripture student leadership Leaders youth pastor babies Pandemic worship Prayer toddlers

Latest Posts

  • Messy Ashes
  • Notes from the pandemic: The plight of young (unvaccinated) children & their parents
  • Beautiful Hospitality
  • On not being welcomed at church
  • On finding a new church home
  • Notes from the Pandemic: Pandemic Babies
  • Review: How to Listen So Your Kids Will Talk
  • 7 reasons to do Virtual Sunday School as a Live Event
  • 7 things that are working well in virtual Sunday School
  • 4 ways to utilize leaders in virtual ministry

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