Beyond Awkward Side Hugs

“The church desperately needs a bigger vision for how men and women can flourish together in ministry and friendship, and Bronwyn Lea paints a vivid picture for how we’ll get there. Filled with grace, wisdom, and humor, Beyond Awkward Side Hugs is a trumpet blast for change and renewal.”

Steve Wiens

“Beyond Awkward Side Hugs is a deep well of biblical wisdom, and Lea has written with nuance and clarity, humor and grace. Rather than spoon-feed rules, Lea offers a more patient and pastoral approach, helping readers form the skills of discernment. Her practical examples, mined from a life of ministry, are coupled with insightful questions sure to spark animated conversations about sex and dating, marriage and ministry, friendship and singleness. I look forward to being a student of Lea’s teaching and writing in the years to come.”

Jen Pollock Michel

“Ever since Adam first uttered the accusation ‘It was that woman you gave me,’ the relationship between men and women has been fraught with fractures. For millennia, humanity has swung between legalism and libertinism, and this overcorrection continues in the church today. Thankfully, Bronwyn Lea is offering a far better way. In these pages, Lea navigates the stormy waters of gender and sexuality with wisdom, scriptural insight, balance, conviction, and good humor. This book is a tremendous resource to anyone wanting to imitate the radical way of Jesus, but I especially commend it to leaders in the church. It is a much-needed word for our time.”

Sharon Hodde Miller

“Goodness, Bronwyn is a courageous writer; guiding us into a conversation where, these days, even angels fear to tread. With hard-won wisdom and deep compassion, these pages invite us to embrace each other’s presence and gifts without shame or fear. We need one another, and we need writers like Bronwyn Lea.”

Winn Collier

“Given the central importance of the church’s relational life for its own health and witness, it’s amazing how little, genuinely useful, practical theology is written in this area. Ironically, conversations about faithful human sexuality all too easily become abstract and unrelational. And so, I’m thankful for Bronwyn Lea’s book, which comes as a breath of fresh air and will be a great resource for the church and its people. Writing as a ‘relational theologian,’ Lea embraces our challenge of living as both sexual beings and brothers and sisters in Christ. Her insightful perspective, sharp humor, and practical stories help us to see this radical vision of church, not just as a biblical imperative, but as an incarnate and embodied reality.”

Rev. Jonathan Grant

“This was an exciting and necessary read for me, given the current state of relationships between men and women. How does anyone navigate relationships with the opposite sex without retreating in chilly distance or the creepy opposite? With piercing insight and streetwise wisdom, Bronwyn has charted a course forward that gives me great hope for the church to lead the way in relational warmth and mutuality between men and women. The truly great gift, however, is how these are not mere ivory tower pontifications because I have personally witnessed and experienced how Bronwyn herself has lived this out in her home church.”

Steve Luxa

“Words that come to mind having just finished reading, Beyond Awkward Side Hugs: refreshing, honest, healthy, robust, and needed. Bronwyn Lea writes with relatable examples, timely humor, and insightful biblical scholarship. Having also worked and ministered with youth, college, young adults, newly married, singles, and now empty-nesters, I am grateful for this book during a time when so much confusion surrounds the relationships shared between women and men. Bronwyn offers perspective, wisdom, and a call for us move past awkward to the example lived out by Jesus himself. We are created for relationship and community and the richness found in meaningful connection is available between men and women in the family of God.”

Vivian Mabuni