Jennifer Garner – inspiring spiritual connection

Jennifer Garner – inspiring spiritual connection

Jennifer Garner has recently starred in one of the most-watched movies on Netflix with The Adam Project, but few would know she reconnected with her Christian faith after starring in a Christian film in 2016 – Miracles from Heaven.

Gaining traction in 2001 from her role in thriller TV series Alias, Jennifer Garner has starred in various tv and film projects for almost two decades. Perhaps she is also well known for her high profile marriage and divorce from Ben Affleck with whom she has three children.

She hasn’t always been open about her Christianity even though she had practiced her faith by going to church growing up, Garner stopped attending church when she arrived in LA as a budding actress.

It wasn’t until she got a role in a 2016 film called Miracles from Heaven that she started participating more strongly in her faith. This led her to recommence her routine visits to church with her children and now ex-husband Ben Affleck.

The film that rekindled her faith – Miracles from Heaven — follows a real-life story of a young girl who was fully healed of an incurable disease, after also experiencing a near-death experience of falling down a 30ft tree. Following the incident, she recounted that God had visited her and cured her.

Jennifer played the role of the mother of the little girl, and immediately felt touched by the film, saying in an interview, “I grew up going to church every Sunday and, you know, Ben [Affleck] and I took our kids home to West Virginia to be baptised in my family’s church.”

The church she’s talking about is Christ Church United Methodist, where her son Samuel was baptised at 16 months old.

Tying it back into the film, she added, “and the thing about this film was it kind of encouraged me to reengage in participating and not just believing, but actually participating in raising my children so that they had the same background that my parents gave my sisters and me.”

Watch her full 2016 interview speaking on the impact that Miracles from Heaven had on her faith below:

Garner spoke further about the film’s influence on her faith in another interview, stating: “There was something about doing this film and talking to my kids about it and realising that they were looking for the structure of church every Sunday.”

As well has having starred in multiple film and television roles, Garner has also taken on the role of philanthropist and entrepreneur. Jennifer has held the position of Artist Ambassador for Save the Children for over 10 years. In addition to bringing Save the Children’s early childhood education programs to her home state of West Virginia, she has advocated on in the US Senate and traveled all over the United States to meet with lawmakers, press and philanthropists to raise awareness and funds for the organisation.

In 2017, Garner co-founded the organic-food company “Once Upon a Farm” with Cassandra Curtis and John Foraker. Together the visionaries have grown the company with a goal of providing children with the best tasting, most nutritious and highest quality food utilising sustainable methods.

During the pandemic, her Instagram feed has been a source of spiritual inspiration for her 12.5 million followers, with prayer and meditation each week shared with faith leaders such as Rabbi Rachel Kobrin and Nadia Bolz-Weber and more recently updates from Save the Children on the ground in the Ukraine.

Garner has said when she reconnected with her faith that “you can’t have faith only if things are going to be good. The world is a complicated place and our faith helps us makes sense of it.”

In an industry where spectacular falls from grace seem to regularly occupy the headlines, like the recent Oscar incident with Will Smith and Chris Rock, Garner seems to be quietly inspiring millions and using her influence to inspire and raise awareness.

Miracles from Heaven is available to stream with an Amazon Prime Video subscription and The Adam Project is available to stream on Netflix.

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2 thoughts on “Jennifer Garner – inspiring spiritual connection”

  1. I use to see her and her three children in 2017 / 2018 going to church every Sunday. Sometimes even her Ex would attend especially since this was during his rehab time and he was seeking guidance and help not only from God but making amends to his family. Then the pandemic hit us all for two and half years. However, I haven’t seen their return to church? God is everywhere Yes, but services fell by the wayside. Now Ben feels he is clean and sober in love, buying cars, homes with J. Lopez and Jennifer Garner is letting the kids get to know their soon to be new bonus family, plus she too is in a new relationship meeting his children of what might be one large blended family. If they knew better with all the ex’s, bonus children, and new partners, God our Father, His Son our Saviour, and The Holy Spirit should have been First and Foremost above all their other things deemed important. I have never seen J Lopez go to church, nor her family? Shopping Yes. Jennifer Garner at least you, please take hold of yours again and maybe ask if your new bonus children want to attend too. Some people think just because they had them Christened as a baby with Godparents, that’s it. It is not. There is more to it. Godparents should have done their duty if the parents didn’t. But you can’t lead if you don’t know yourself. Amen and Amen

  2. I grew up in Charleston, WV also and like Jennifer, my parents took us to church every Sunday. I was baptized when I was 13 yo. So I had a firm foundation thanks to devoted parents. I drifted away from God in my 20’s as so many of us do. But a wonderful friend at my job at Charleston Area Medical Center (I’m a nurse) led me through the Sinner’s Prayer one day while at work. My life changed at that moment and I knew that Jesus Christ would be the Lord of my life from then on. But as I got older and the distractions of life got in the way, I found myself drifting away frequently, to the point that I would work every weekend for the money, missing church and in the process, causing my two young daughters to miss church also. I am now paying for that poor choice because both my daughters have also put life’s priorities above God. Church attendance and fellowship are vital! We need other Christians around us, supporting us, encouraging us, and even admonishing us when we need it! Works are great. Helping others is the outward evidence of who we are as Jesus’ children. But the relationship with Him is what it’s all about. And the best way to know Him is to spend time with Him…in your Bible, in church attendance, and in fellowship with those who are also believers. Live your life everyday in this way, and your children will follow you. God commands this in Deut. 6:4-9.

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