Bridging Faith and Creativity from Abroad
This story is a part of our ongoing series called Stories of Faithful Resonance.
I grew up deeply rooted in the church, as the daughter of two Christian parents—my father, a UCC pastor, and my mother, a choir member and church lay leader. I was baptized at seven months old and attended worship services upwards of 95% of Sundays until I departed for college at the age of 18. In addition to worship, there were Wednesday night bible studies, Sunday school, children’s choir, dance ministry, and many holiday programs where I played a piano piece or acted in a skit. I was a church kid, on both the days I wanted to be and the days I didn’t.
I was born in Florida and six years old when we moved to Denver, Colorado. So, I consider the United Church of Montbello in Denver, Colorado, to be the faith community that I grew up in—the place where I developed a church family for the first time. This community was full of many people that looked like me, that shared my beliefs, that loved me, and that valued my presence just as much as I valued theirs. So when I went off to college in another town, I wanted to have something similar.
Well, as you know, life has a way of happening and once in college, I found myself engulfed in classes, meeting new people, and exploring Fort Collins, Colorado, as much as I could. One day, during the second semester of my first year, I decided to attend a study abroad information session on a whim, and nothing’s been the same since. I chose to study abroad in Paris, France, for the second semester of my sophomore year.
While in Paris, I came to realize just how strong my passion for traveling was and how much I craved new adventures. I crammed in as many countries I could visit in five months there with the few euros I had in my pocket, because I loved learning about different cultures and how other people live in different parts of the world. I knew I wanted to continue seeing the world, and after graduating from college in December 2019, I immediately took an internship in Senegal, West Africa, and have been living here since.
The global pandemic hit within two months of my arrival in Dakar, Senegal. Covid, the language barrier, and that Dakar is more than 90% Muslim, made it difficult to find a Christian church community. Surprisingly, the physical and geographical distance and the pandemic brought me and my mother even closer together as I began working for the firm she launched in late 2019, Kindred Communications.
Through our work with Kindred Communications, we were presented with an opportunity to join the newly formed Storyteller Team for Juniper Formation. I had already been engaged with United Church of Christ churches, so learning that Juniper Formation was a new church in the same denomination made me feel aligned. Diving deeper into their mission of radical love, centering the margins of the church in leadership, and creating a space where folx of all different backgrounds and identities were loudly and proudly welcomed, resonated completely with me.
Having this space to learn and grow, spiritually, while also being able to do what I love, storytelling, all while living abroad is special to me. Juniper Formation has reopened the door to me practicing my faith and my passion through leadership and creativity, and it has done so through a virtual community accessible to those like me who live abroad or travel often. At Juniper Formation, there is space for faith seekers, creatives, and travelers of all ethnicities, abilities, neurodiversities, gender identities and expressions, sexualities, and more. We accept you how you come and from wherever you choose to be/stay in the world.
To support Juniper Formation, make a donation. Whether it is a one-time donation, recurring monthly, or an annual gift, we appreciate your support of our people and ministries that live out our mission of prophetically reimagining the Church from the margins.
