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Jen Bradbury
Nov 07 · 5 min read

A blessing for youth leaders nurturing faith beyond youth group

This is for the teenagers in your community.
The ones whose families have been hurt by churches so much that they won’t (or can’t) go back.
The ones whose very identities make them afraid they'll be reduced to an “issue” that needs to be solved.
...

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#church #youth ministry #discipleship

Jen Bradbury
Apr 11 · 5 min read

The tearing of the curtain

Several years ago during an overnight event at the church I served, my high school youth ministry filed into our sanctuary and participated in a prayer ritual around the altar that involved lit candles. Unbeknownst to me, the wax from the candles...

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#Prayer #church #communion #worship #culture of welcome #discipleship #faith formation #scripture #Holy Week #youth ministry

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
Apr 19 · 5 min read

What it means to be a Bradbury

I first met Grandpa Elmer when I was 19. After a summer apart from each other, my then boyfriend, Doug, invited me to join him for Perry Pioneer Days - a local festival that included a parade that he and his Grandpa always walked in.

As clowns.

...

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#identity #story #church #marriage #culture of welcome

Jen Bradbury
Aug 11 · 5 min read

Jesus & justice

Is it easier to bring Jesus to the progressives or social justice to the evangelicals?

This is the question I’ve spent most of my professional life wondering, as I’ve alternated between evangelical and progressive settings, respecting both for...

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#Jesus #ecumenical #justice #church #worship #culture of welcome #hospitality #communion

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
Jun 11 · 5 min read

Church Shopping

The last time I went church shopping I was a freshman in college. My first Sunday on campus, I walked to the Methodist church that was a block from me. I’d grown up in the Methodist church and truly expected to find a church just like the one I...

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#college #Community #confirmation #church #Jesus #culture of welcome

Jen Bradbury
Apr 26 · 5 min read

10 QUESTIONS TO HELP YOU DECIDE WHETHER TO STAY OR GO

Note: I wrote this piece a while ago, in connection with my new book, Called. In the days since when it live, however, I have accepted a new job with Fuller Youth Institute and so am now (ironically) in the process of transitioning out of my role...

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#vocation #conflict #parents #church #youth pastor #youth ministry

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Latest Posts

  • A blessing for youth leaders nurturing faith beyond youth group
  • The tearing of the curtain
  • Messy Ashes
  • What it means to be a Bradbury
  • Jesus & justice
  • Beautiful Hospitality
  • On not being welcomed at church
  • On finding a new church home
  • Church Shopping
  • 10 QUESTIONS TO HELP YOU DECIDE WHETHER TO STAY OR GO

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