Welcome to my passion project
My heart has always been with kids, teens, and the Church. This is where I’ve served for the past thirty years.
As a child, attending church with my family and a close-knit K–8 religious school nurtured my faith in Christ.
As a teenager, other experiences led me to this work.
For a time, I didn’t have language for what I experienced. Years later, I came to understand aspects of it as spiritual coercion and church hurt, which many faithful Christians wrestle with while still wanting to walk with Jesus and remain in their faith.
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Today, I serve as a church camp resource for leaders within my faith community in the western United States. I’ve also served as a program leader, camp director, and religious educator for high schoolers for many years.
Outside of church, I’ve worked in early childhood education and with a nonprofit dedicated
to implementing evidence-based programs for delinquent youth.
My name is JEN
Nice to meet you, and thank you for visiting this site.
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You may be wondering who I am, what this space is about, and whether everyone is truly welcome here. The answer is yes.
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I’m Jennifer Weaver—a mom of three grown children I’m grateful to share close relationships with, and an empty-nester married to my best friend of over 30 years.
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As a teen, I had impactful experiences in my childhood faith community that stayed with me. Years later, those experiences resurfaced in unexpected ways. Places that had always brought me joy were suddenly flooded with unwanted feelings. Working through that opened my eyes not only to how common this is, but also to my Savior’s ability to heal.
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More recently, I’ve seen some of what I experienced as a teen (with adults outside my family) described as coercion in my church’s youth protection training. Now, I’m gathering the resources I wish had been available back then, and the support I needed while mentoring the faith of my teens.
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If you’ve ever felt confused, pressured, or uneasy in relationships where faith played a central role, you may find encouragement here. If you still believe in Jesus Christ but feel confused or unsettled by certain experiences, you are not alone. Faith can be reclaimed without deconstructing it entirely.
Our Savior understands everything we have ever experienced. He stood by us then. He stands by us now. With His help, we can overcome and reflect Him.
Your friend in faith and hope,
Jen Weaver
“You may have noticed definitions of spiritual abuse that seem to condemn entire faith communities. Remember how Jesus ate with ‘sinners’? He kept everyone at the table.
Just as Jesus Christ never gave up on people, I believe He doesn’t give up on families—or on entire faith communities—either. He cares deeply about us all. No one is beyond His reach.”
—Jennifer Weaver
The Book
The Girl Who Dropped Jesus and Then He Carried Her is my upcoming book about faith, belonging, and the subtle ways fear, humor, beauty, and shame shape both faith and family. From childhood mishaps like dropping Jesus in church to barely surviving a faith change at a religious high school, my story is one of being caught between two faith communities and three generations—and my Savior’s power to heal spiritual wounds.
Art in frame by Jorge Cocco Santángelo
