The Beginning
When crowds began to follow Jesus in the
hope of catching a glimpse of his miraculous
signs, he called himself the “Bread of Life.”
The crowds only saw this as a promise to
provide daily nourishment or a means of
temporary political or social relief. But Jesus
intended to present himself as the very
source of life that satisfies every physical,
emotional, and spiritual longing in our world.
A Common Faith
Our church gathers around a common belief that God created this world as an expression of his glory, goodness, and love. When God’s world chose to turn against him, it opened the door to the injustice, corruption, and brokenness that we witness every day. God withheld our judgment, sending his Son Jesus to stand in our place. Jesus accepted our fate, suffered, and died. God honored his sacrifice by raising him from the dead and making him the first fruit of a new, glorious, and everlasting creation. Just as a grain of wheat must die to bring life to bread, so too does God miraculously bring new life to our world through Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Liturgical Worship
Anglicans are first and foremost a people of prayer. Like most churches, we believe in practicing daily private prayer, but we also place a strong emphasis on weekly public worship that uses the seasons of the year to retell the story of the Bible. We call this our liturgy and it includes historical prayers and confessions, the reading of Scripture, and the celebration of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.
Scripture
We believe that God speaks a living word to us in the books of the Old and New Testaments. His words nourish us spiritually, give us moral and practical guidance, and provide the foundation of our common faith. Above all we receive Scripture as a story of God’s kingdom that captures us in an alluring mixture of poetry, laws, wisdom, songs, prophesies, parables, and letters. As a word from God, Scripture satisfies us more than the bread we eat and the air we breathe.
Mission
Finally, we believe that God has called us to become participants in his work of renewing the whole creation: families, cities, schools, governments, communities, and every vocation where we have been called to carry out our work. The weekly meal we share in the Lord’s Supper provides the central image for this mission as we use our lives, our homes, and the fruit of our income to gather friends and neighbors around the presence of the Lord. We are committed to lives of hospitality that spread the renewing and satisfying love of God among the people and the places that surround us.
Affiliation
Bread of Life is part of an international network of churches known as the Anglican Communion. This network grew out of the missionary expansion of the Church of England over the past 500 years, and now consists of 38 self-governing provinces around the world, in 164 countries, with tens of millions of members. In many places, particularly throughout the Global South, the churches of the Anglican Communion are known for their vibrant faith in God and transformational presence within their communities. We are connected to the Anglican Communion through our affiliation with the
Diocese of Christ our Hope, which is a diocese within the Anglican Church in North America.
