Revealing Hope

Beloved CommunityProphetic Ministry For...Reimagining Church
Written By Jenny Whitcher (she/her)

This week's Advent reflection is offered by Rev. Dr. Jason Whitehead. Jason is part of Juniper Formation’s Spiritual Well ministry team. He also does congregational accompaniment and one-to-one coaching with Juniper Formation.

Hope is a direction. It is the moment we see what is possible and what is probable. It is equal parts imagination, adventure, and determination. It is seeing a great light, but also following it.

For me, 2020 has often been a year of probable rather than possible. It’s been easier to see what is and create expectations about what’s next based on a pragmatic reality. It’s been harder to see what is possible.

There have been moments of creativity; flashes of insight and inspiration; visions of what may come. These are great spaces of innovation and imagination. These possibilities can be easily overwhelmed by the probabilities. They shouldn’t be.

The Spiritual Well is one place where possibility and probability still have equal footing. It is a source of hope for me as I look at what it means to be a part of transformative ministry. The Spiritual Well is our way of addressing the mental health and well-being of congregations and the people that belong to them.

Conceived in ecumenical conversation, The Spiritual Well is all about recovery. It is about drawing from the deep reservoirs of church experience to help individuals and communities co-create spaces of belonging. Through the Spiritual Well we want to help transform the ways congregations meet people and welcome them.

Through our work we want to partner with congregations who recognize how people with mental health issues are marginalized in churches. We want to co-create spaces where people can speak freely about what ails and find the balm needed to go on.

Our hope in starting this ministry is that we can have the difficult conversations about mental health and well-being. It is also that we come to experience our faith and congregations as deep wells of care, love, and hope. Bringing together our faith and our mental well-being offers us a greater chance to experience the wholeness God hopes for us.

I see Advent and Christmas as God’s time at the well. It is the revelation and reminder that God is always with us. It is a time when love and hope are revealed through God’s imagination. As we embark on our journey with the well, we hope you will join along the way.

The Spiritual Well is a new ministry of Juniper Formation with a communal approach to co-create communities of spiritual health and integrated well-being within congregations and their communities. You can learn more about the Spiritual Well here, and make a designated donation to support the Spiritual Well here.

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Jenny Whitcher (she/her)

Rev. Dr. Jenny Whitcher is the Minister of Prophetic Formation and founder of Juniper Formation, an entrepreneurial and ecumenical faith community of the United Church of Christ (UCC), with the mission of "prophetically reimagining the Church from the margins."

She is a pastor, entrepreneur, community organizer, artist, public scholar, and theologian committed to liberation and social justice.

Her areas of expertise include: professional, personal, spiritual, and organizational formation and leadership; religion and public life; democratic culture, leadership, and pedagogy; community organizing; and social change theory and practice.

Whitcher previously served as the faculty Director of the Office of Professional Formation and Term Assistant Professor of Religion & Public Life at Iliff School of Theology, after serving as Iliff's Director of the Master of Arts in Social change (now M.A. in Social Justice & Ethics) and Director of Service Learning.

As an interdisciplinary public scholar committed to social justice and human rights, Whitcher bridges fields of religious, theological, and civic studies within local, national, and international contexts. Prior to working at Iliff, Whitcher served as Associate Director of the Center for Community Engagement & Service Learning (CCESL), where she taught Community Organizing and Denver Urban Issues and Policy courses; created and led student civic development curricula; trained faculty in public scholarship and pedagogy; led local and international Immersion Programs; and was the creator, editor, and contributing writer of the "Public Good Newsletter" at the University of Denver for five years.

Her career in higher education started in 2004 at the University of Denver's Office of Internationalization Study Abroad Program. Whitcher transitioned into higher education from the nonprofit sector where she worked locally in Denver with populations experiencing homelessness and globally on affordable housing with Habitat for Humanity International where she was also the "Advocacy Alert" columnist for Frameworks Magazine.

Whitcher's publications include book chapters, articles, and public resources on civic and spiritual development and formation, relational community organizing, experiences of organizers and public life, and democratic education. She is co-author and co-editor of the first and second editions of the Community Organizing Handbook (2009, 2010).

Whitcher's public scholarship, teaching, leadership, and ministry have included work with various local congregations and denominational leaders across the U.S. and across denominational, faith, and spiritual identities. In addition, she has worked with various nonprofits and foundations, including, but not limited to:  WorldDenver, La Academia at Denver Inner City Parish, Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF), Interfaith Alliance of Colorado, Diyar Consortium, Everyday Democracy, Colorado Progressive Coalition, Puksta Foundation, the Kettering Foundation, El Centro Humanitario, Denver Public Schools, American Commonwealth Project, Urban Peak, and Habitat for Humanity International.

Internationally, Whitcher has travelled and partnered with local leaders and communities in Palestine, Israel, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Hungary, Italy, and Spain.

She is the recipient of the Peacemaker Award from the Rocky Mountain Conference of the United Church of Christ (2006) and the Young Philanthropist Award by Women in Development of Greater Boston (2004).

Ordination: Metro Denver Association of the Rocky Mountain Conference of the United Church of Christ (UCC).

Education:

B.A., New York University
M.A., University of Denver
Ph.D. Iliff School of Theology & University of Denver

https://www.jennywhitcher.com
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