BreadBreakers Dinner: Practicing Dialogue Amidst Differences

The election may be over, but the important work of talking to one another is just beginning. Join a table full of your fellow community members for a BreadBreakers dinner at Red's Table and be a part of blazing the trail to a kinder, more productive, more connected way of doing discourse.

At BreadBreakers dinners, we gather around a common dinner table and, for just a couple hours, set aside the debates and have a real conversation. We practice the skill - and it IS a skill! - of listening and leading with curiosity, instead of only trying to win the argument. Rather than debate, 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.

Here’s how it works: For just two hours, a table of people set aside the need to "win" and instead focus on sharing, listening, and connecting. Guided by an experienced table host, we'll tell our stories, try to understand each other, and practicing being in community with those with different views or backgrounds.

As mentioned, doing this is a skill - a skill that takes practice. But we believe in BreadBreakers that if enough of us in America can grow more comfortable having this type of dialogue, we could actually reverse this cycle of polarization, division, and broken relationships. Join us, invite a friend, and be a part of the movement to mend our fractured society and normalize a better way of talking with one another.

Participants will be responsible for their own food. Red's Table's dinner menu is closer to the $30 end on average - if this will be an obstacle to you, please reach out to Michael Graham, the event organizer, and we can help. We don't want cost to be a barrier to participation!

BreadBreakers is an initiative by Restoration United Methodist Church in Reston, VA, and many from Restoration will be in attendance to participate and put this dinner on, but the program and our dinners are secular in nature. All faiths and all stripes are welcomed.