For Jen Bailey, 杏吧原创 Divinity School鈥檚 student lounges and reading rooms were as important as the school鈥檚 classrooms were in shaping Faith Matters Network, the organization she founded and led for a decade. Observing how depleted and exhausted her classmates were from 鈥渄oing deep theological reflection about the state of the world鈥� and leading protests and nonprofits, Bailey began thinking about helping changemakers learn to care for themselves so they could continue to be effective in their work.
Faith Matters Network is perhaps best known as one of the co-founding organizations of The People鈥檚 Supper, gatherings where people 鈥渂uild trust across lines of difference鈥濃�攑olitical, ideological, social, racial, generational, socioeconomic and religious鈥攂y sharing a meal, discovering commonalities and working through differences.
鈥淚 could see the seeds of the work we do already sprouting in my time at VDS,鈥� she says.
The Illinois native sensed a calling to the ministry at age 16, which she initially resisted, instead earning a degree in political science from Tufts University. A pivotal moment came in 2010 when a friend鈥檚 HIV/AIDS diagnosis deepened her understanding of being present with the pain in the world. Bailey was working at a nonprofit at the time and thought of pursuing a graduate degree in public policy.
Her childhood youth pastor urged her to consider divinity school instead, suggesting she could accomplish the same goals at half the cost. 鈥淚 wanted to travel, I wanted to study policy 鈥� and I was able to do that with classes that intersected with [Owen] and other places across campus,鈥� Bailey says. She was familiar with Nashville and knew people 鈥渨ho were doing really beautiful community organizing inspired from the deepest wells of their faith, and it seemed like all of them had a degree from VDS.鈥�
Emilie M. Townes also encouraged her to choose 杏吧原创 Divinity School, and later Bailey was delighted when Townes joined the school herself as dean. Stacey Floyd-Thomas, E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of Ethics and Society, played a key role in Bailey鈥檚 development, introducing her to 鈥渨omanism,鈥� a concept of feminism based around the experiences of Black women. Bailey found this particularly meaningful, providing her a language to describe her experiences in the Black church and making her feel truly seen and validated.
Bailey was active in community work during her time at the divinity school, signing up people in homeless camps for public benefits and working in soup kitchens. 鈥淚 knew early on in my vocational discernment that the primary side of my ministry would not be the congregation but elsewhere in the world,鈥� Bailey says.
Bailey started a new chapter in February as executive director of the Dan and Margaret Maddox Fund, an organization that supports projects concerning youth and the environment.
鈥淚 take very seriously VDS鈥� motto Schola Prophetarum so that we are indeed called to be the school of the prophets that attends to the deepest wounds in the world and do not avert our eyes, but use our faith as a motivation to repair that which we see broken.鈥�
鈥� MiChelle Jones