bread church

In Week 3 of our Coming Alive series, guest speaker Jon Hans returns as we take a look at the first half of Luke chapter 7 with Jesus’ encounter with a Roman Centurion and a grieving widow. Who or what is the controlling authority in your life? Will you let God’s heart break for you or allow Him to speak dead things back to life? Jon explores these questions and more in our pursuit to come alive....

Continuing our “Come Alive” series, guest speaker Jon Hans shares his story of how God became real in his life through his experiences of growing up always the new kid, moving to West Papua, Indonesia as a missionary kid, and finding the God of immeasurable love in the midst of tragedy. By Jon Hans

In this introduction to our “Come Alive” series, we explore Lazarus’ coming-alive moment in John. Mary and Martha’s friendship with Jesus is a great model for us, as we ask ourselves what parts of our selves still need to be awoken by the sound of Jesus’ voice. We’ll also consider together the counter-cultural pursuit of Rest as another invitation to “coming alive” in Jesus more intentionally this...

The scriptures invite us over and over to remember the things God has done. In this special Testimony Sunday, five friends from within bread share God-stories about how Jesus has done great things in their lives. This practice of remembering helps build hope and faith in community.

Looking into the parable of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin, we find God portrayed as an active Seeker of lost ones. God’s tenacious search and rescue is motivated by God’s tremendous love for us. These stories speak deep truths about who God is and how God feels about each of us. By Lisa Borden

Unraveling the opening line of Psalm 91, we find God’s welcome to settle and be at home in the shelter of who God is. There is a YES/AND in that we cannot exist outside of God, AND we’re invited to choose to make our home in God. As we trust God to be our safe place, we begin to thrive. By Lisa Borden

As worship expands our understanding of God, we will discover God is “big enough” for all that happens in our lives – and for us. In fact, worship – having put God in God’s rightful place – puts us in our place, as well – where we discover forgiveness enabling repentance. That leads us to an intimacy with God, enabling us to hear the invitation to mission – and to respond. By Bill Dogterom

In this last sermon of our values series, we looked at the NOW side of the kingdom, specifically in how - since Jesus' first instruction to his disciples - healing was always given to be a sign of it.  It’s very simple: praying for healing is part of what it is to follow Jesus, so let’s learn how to do it together. The talk ends with a huge number of personal stories from within our community so p...

Grasping the tension of our Christian existence is crucial to a mature, Christian life - there is no other way around it. Jesus taught us that his kingdom had arrived and that it was still a way off. We are old man flesh, being changed by the spirit, more and more into the new AND we are already new creations. Jesus knows who we are and where we live! When Paul first arrived in Corinth, we see how...

We were made for experience and the Bible is a book of countless peoples' experience of the one true God. And yet for many, their Christian faith has become more about belief and behavior than experience. Pentecost is the day we celebrate the Holy Spirit being poured out on all believers. He meets us as a felt experience and a powerful experience. He renews and empowers. There is always more of hi...

The new church of Jewish believers in Acts saw tremendous things, but before it even spread from Jerusalem, there were problems. The reunification of disparate tribes was proving predictably tough. But in just a few verses we see how, being full of the spirit and wisdom, the pain of the past, and the problems of the present are transformed. Our brains are wired for division and hierarchy. But the...

Before bread was even a church, people connected with the idea of bread have been incredibly generous towards it. We want to continue that marker of generosity in everything we do. This should be no surprise. To be a Christian is to be generous: it is who we are. The more we experience God’s grace - his unmerited generosity - the more generous we become. The key is having him as our bottomline, as...

Worship is innate to all of God’s creation including all of us as human beings. We reflect God’s glory by simply existing. But it’s also a choice. When we choose to enter into God’s presence in worship we in faith acknowledge who God is and what he is like. We can’t necessarily make God more visible to us but we can make ourselves more visible to him. So, by being honest about where we’re at in wo...

In this talk, we explore the profound truth of our worthiness as beings created in God's image. Just as Eve succumbed to the lie of inadequacy, many of us believe we're not enough, striving to earn love and belonging. This struggle is compounded by societal influences like racism and misogyny, as well as clever marketing campaigns convincing us we aren't quite enough. However, God's unconditional...

The importance of rest is instituted in the very first verses of the Bible. After six days of creation, God rests. We, as people made in his image, are called to rest like him. Sabbath is more than just a day off each week. Sabbath means to stop, rest - but also to delight in creation, worship God and receive from him. A regular weekly rhythm of rest is essential for us to live as the images of Go...

The goal of any church is to build the kingdom of God. And that can best be done when we work together as a team. What it means to be part of a team is demonstrated brilliantly by Barnabas in the book of Acts. Barnabas was a wonderful encourager. And we can be too. Encouragement dispels fear, promotes grace, releases potential and restores the fallen. Bread has had some excellent encouragers down...

Easter is about hope: the sure, concrete, touchable hope that is found in the bodily resurrection of Jesus. It’s a hope based in his power (he swallows up death forever) and based in his kindness (he wipes every tear from all faces). Easter declares Jesus as Lord of all, which sets us free from having to bear the burden of being our own lord. His lordship sets us free to worship and surrender and...

Humans have always divided themselves into “us and them”, for the sake of belonging and safety. The goal of the Kingdom, however, is not to strengthen your group at the expense of another. It’s the difficult work of expanding “us”. In this passage, Paul radically defends against the type of faith that includes a small print. He says there are no disclaimers to the Gospel. It is a free gift receive...

It’s some of the densest, Pauliest, grittiest stuff we find in the New Testament, but chapter 3 of his letter to the church in Galatia is where Paul gets right to it: the entire story, the whole point, every bit of the law and the covenant show that it was always faith that He asked for. From the beginning, He was a God who wanted to dwell among His people, and His plans for their rescue never ch...

Our beliefs govern our behavior. Paul confronts Peter who has stopped believing in the fullness of the grace of Jesus. As a result, his behavior has become divisive and hypocritical. Paul reminds him and us of the truths of the gospel. When we believe the correct thing about God, ourselves, and the world, godly behavior will follow. We become people not bound by the law, but free to live lives of...

With the noise and pressure mounting from others for the Galatians to take upon themselves more than just the grace of Jesus, Paul knows a secret: the grace of God is enough. It is enough to lead all of us on a journey into freedom - freedom from the prejudices of others, and ultimately freedom from the judgments we place upon ourselves.  Simply stated, the gift of God’s grace is freedom. By Matt...

Do you know that you’re called? Do you know what you’re called to? It’s usually a subject that often raises some difficult feelings for many, for different reasons... Paul understood his call in very simple terms: he was chosen by God to fulfill an ancient promise that the gospel of Jesus grace would go out to the gentiles. Not by them being brought into the Jewish way of life, but by Jesus spread...

Alpha is a six week course exploring the big questions of life. It’s for anyone interested in discussing spirituality, god and the christian faith, in a non-judgmental open-minded context. Each week there’s a great meal, a short talk, and discussion in small groups. People who come to the course are from lots of different backgrounds - no faith, other faiths, brought up christian, and agnostic. Ev...

There is no more important word for a Christian than the word ‘grace’. It is the beginning, middle and end of the Christian life. Its vital importance is seen in how passionately Paul responds to the Galatians who have had the gospel of grace polluted with gracelessness. We are all susceptible to doing something similar. So let us have the same no-holds-barred response of Paul. We should take no p...

Alpha is a six week course exploring the big questions of life. It’s for anyone interested in discussing spirituality, god and the christian faith, in a non-judgmental open-minded context. Each week there’s a great meal, a short talk, and discussion in small groups. People who come to the course are from lots of different backgrounds - no faith, other faiths, brought up christian, and agnostic. Ev...