Name: Jessie Faerber

Job Title: Founder of Belle and Theology Student

Meet Jessie: Jessie is the founder of Belle: a Christian Ministry passionate about girls discovering their true value, beauty and purpose. She is 20 years old and studying at St Mellitus for a degree in Theology and Youth Ministry. Jessie is bold in her message and steadfast in her mission to inspire a generation.

 1.Who is Jessie Faerber in your own words?

Jessie Faerber is a follower of Jesus, adventuring life with God. She is a daughter, sister, friend, mentor and role model. Jessie is laid-back, smiley, approachable, sometimes lacks common sense, funny (because she sometimes lacks common sense), caring, loving, bold and hopeful.

Jessie is passionate about seeing a generation released from socially distorted perceptions of value, beauty and purpose in a society ever-increasingly preoccupied with self-image and social media. She is passionate about journeying with girls in their story, being real and authentic with her own story and embracing all that Belle is in God’s master-story.

2. What does beauty mean to you? 

Beauty, to me, is about the heart. I gave up make-up for lent this year and was reminded that we are so much more than our image. What is truly beautiful is being truly ourselves: it’s about discovering who we are as God’s beloved. Beauty is more than the outward appearance; it is what radiates from deep within. (1 Samuel 16:7). Although I spent lent without make-up (which I’d highly recommend to everyone!), I found confidence in knowing that I was beautiful because I was me: I realized that all the characteristics and traits that make me myself make me beautiful.

“Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself” – Coco Chanel.

 3. What inspired you to start Belle? What is the work you do as an organisation?

My own journey with self-esteem, self-discovery and God-discovery inspired me to start Belle. I always struggled with putting my value in my appearance but when I fully sought after God, he gave me a new lens through which to view myself and those around me. I felt surrounded (physically and digitally) by other girls struggling with self-esteem and after complaining about not seeing much done about it, I realized this was an assignment from God to use ‘normal me’ to embark on a journey of inspiring change.

Belle primarily runs workshops in schools and youth groups on value, beauty and purpose (as well as courses and mentoring). We believe that many issues have arisen from increasing social media usage so we aim to have a persistent, positive social media presence to continually empower and encourage girls and women.

 4. When you look at your journey so far, what is the biggest struggle? How did you/ overcome?

My biggest struggle has definitely been my impatience! Society is consumeristic and instantaneous so I know I struggle with wanting results and progress fast. However, I’m learning that our approach to ministry has to be countercultural. I try to cultivate a Kingdom mindset when it comes to Belle: when we are obedient to God’s holy nudging’s, he does immeasurably more with what we can do than we can imagine.

 5. What are your greatest accomplishments?

 To be honest, my greatest accomplishment is more of an ongoing pursuit: trusting in God. That may not seem like the sort of answer you were looking for but I believe we are co-creators with God in ministry. Therefore, in obeying and trusting in his call, he can accomplish great things through us. I treasure every opportunity that is put in Belle’s path. Each one is as special as the next because they’re all a part of our journey!

 6. Personally what is the biggest challenge you face daily when it comes to self-esteem? 

Self-esteem is a journey of a life-time. We have good days and bad days, ups and downs, progress and fallbacks. With our ever-increasing preoccupation with social media and self-image, we are naturally drawn to compare our backstage with someone else’s edited and filtered highlight reel. The biggest threat to being our true selves is the distraction of comparison.

Therefore, the biggest challenge I face daily is shifting my perspective from a worldly one to a Godly one. I love what Romans 2 says in The Message version: “God pays no attention to what others say (or what you think) about you. He makes up his own mind.” God, our designer and creator, gets the final say about who we are.

Belle’s ethos is Ephesians 2:10: “For you are God’s masterpiece, created anew in Christ Jesus to do the good things he planned for you long ago”. We explore the idea that a masterpiece is an intricately designed, original, beautiful, purposeful and valuable creation: that is exactly how God sees you and I.

 7. How did you know Theology was what you wanted to pursue at university? 

I knew I wanted to journey deeper in my knowledge of God and preferably gain some sort of qualification! To be honest, I kind of fell into studying theology but I wouldn’t change it. The degree develops my leadership skills, investigates my faith, encourages my research into self-esteem and is theologically challenging and supportive of Belle. I am surrounded by people living inspiringly and wholeheartedly for God at St Mellitus and I will be ever grateful for doing this season of life with them.

 8. What’s your favourite quote or mantra you live by?

I had to pick my 3 favourites!!

 – You are God’s MASTERPIECE

– Life is either a daring ADVENTURE or nothing

– If only our eyes saw souls instead of bodies, how very different our IDEALS of beauty would be

 

WEBSITE: www.belleministry.com   

 

FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/belleministry

 

TWITTER: www.twitter.com/belle_ministry

 

INSTAGRAM: www.instagram.com/belle_ministry