What we’re about
Have you lost relationships over politics or religion? Tired of the constant division? Miss being able to have a simple, human-to-human conversation with people you disagree with?
Join BreadBreakers and be part of the solution.
In BreadBreakers, we gather around a common dinner table and, for just a couple hours, set aside the debates and have a real conversation. Instead of arguing, we try to understand what makes each other tick. Why we feel the way we feel. What life stories and experiences lay beneath those group affiliations and opinions. We work to dig beneath the simplistic labels and see each other as the complex, nuanced people that we are.
Especially right now, it’s more important than ever to build a bit of trust, to practice the art of engaging with those outside our “groups,” and to build relationships beyond our usual circles.
Here’s how it works: eight people and a "table host" facilitator gather around a table at a restaurant or community center. For two hours, we’ll tell our stories and try to understand each other, guided as needed by facilitator-posed questions. We won’t try to convince—just to empathize and learn. You can also volunteer to serve as a table host if you’re interested!
BreadBreakers is an initiative sponsored by Restoration United Methodist Church in Reston, VA, but our dinners are religiously neutral. All faiths and all stripes are welcomed!
Upcoming events (2)
See all- BreadBreakers One-Year Anniversary Cookout!!North Hills Picnic Pavilion, Reston, VA
BreadBreakers is celebrating an entire year of healthy discourse, good food, and even better community! Bring your friends and family for a great fall afternoon filled with grilling, donuts & cider, games, and being together as neighbors and friends.
One year ago, BreadBreakers launched with a tiny little dinner at Glory Days Grill (right around the corner from this cookout, it turns out). In the time since then, we've grown a lot, learned a ton, and have a great deal to celebrate.
We're no longer just dinner events on a calendar. We're a place of belonging in a world marked by isolation. We're the town square we've always wished we could have. We're a social contagion for a better way of doing discourse, one in the early stages of what will eventually become a countrywide phenomenon. We're a thriving community of hundreds and counting, 28 events and 84 conversations into a movement to transform the way Americans engage with each other one table at a time.
You only get one first anniversary, so let's make it a day to remember! We're inviting the whole BreadBreakers community, our friends and family, the wider constellation of organizations and neighbors who've supported our movement through this banner year, and anyone else who wants to join us to come together and celebrate an entire year of BreadBreaking.
We'll have vegetarian and gluten-free options available. If you have any additional dietary restrictions (Celiac Disease, vegan, etc.) please let us know at BreadBreakersInfo@gmail.com so that we can implement the appropriate food handling procedures.
Seeing this event without prior experience with BreadBreakers? Here's a quick explanation of what BreadBreakers is.
In BreadBreakers, we use the common space of the dining table to have conversations where neighbors can hear, be heard, and know one another. If you're hungry for good discourse and deeper community, BreadBreakers is the place you can go to help blaze the trail to a healthier, more connected society and democracy.
We won't be doing our usual facilitated discussion at this event, but it's a safe bet that there'll still be plenty of deep, thoughtful, and interesting discussion. It's just sort of what we do :)
Join us, invite a friend, and celebrate an entire year of our movement to mend our fractured society and normalize a better way of talking with one another!
BreadBreakers, an initiative by Restoration United Methodist Church in Reston, VA, is a religiously inclusive community. All faiths and all stripes are welcomed.
