Arguing

Kevin (‘20) took his faith seriously as a teen, but he didn’t expect to be that involved in church when he headed to college. As a freshman, Kevin and his good friend and roommate agreed to try to find a place to go to church together. After much arguing, they settled on St. Aidan’s Episcopal, a compromise between Kevin’s Roman Catholicism and his roommate’s Lutheranism. There they were invited to Bread+Belonging, and from that first Sunday “the communities of St. Aidan’s and Bread+Belonging grabbed us and pulled us in,” Kevin remembers, “and we never left.”

Bread+Belonging both pushed and supported Kevin as he explored and deepened his faith. He describes himself then and now as “pretty orthodox,” with “a natural impulse to rigidity,” but the community, conversations, and space for theological reflection at Bread+Belonging introduced him to different approaches to prayer, liturgy, scripture, and faith. “Being in a community that allowed for variety, exploring, and questioning, that was very healthy for me,” he recalls, “no questions were off the table, nothing was too scandalous.” Though the conversations were not always comfortable for Kevin, and students often did not agree with one another, they learned to share and reflect honestly and compassionately across their differences. At Bread+Belonging, friendship always came first. “It’s not a theological or philosophical debate society,” Kevin reflected, “but a group that came to eat and pray together.” 

Now in seminary and preparing for ordained ministry in the Episcopal Church, Kevin is grateful for how being a part of Bread+Belonging pushed him and opened new grace-filled ways of engaging with questions and diverse expressions of faith. “I always describe Bread+Belonging as not what I wanted,” he reflects, “but it was what I needed.” Kevin continues to serve Bread+Belonging as an alumni board member, helping lead our ministry of authentic relationship and faith exploration for current and future generations of University of Colorado students. 

We could not do this work without you. Your generous gifts to Lutheran Campus Ministry makes possible our Bread+Belonging programs and student community where students encounter authentic relationships that both nurture and challenge them, wherever they are in their experience of faith. Thank you for your support for this vital work of caring for and forming leaders in the church and the world.