New to Church?

Here are answers to some core questions you may have.

Maybe you are new to the idea of Christianity or have questions about Bread of Life Church. Maybe you're a lifelong Christian who moved to the area recently and are curious about what membership looks like and entails at Bread of Life. Wherever you are on your spiritual journey we encourage you to come and experience a life of hope that is full of meaning and truth. Please do reach out with any questions that you may have! Better yet, come to church this Sunday, where God has promised to meet us.

Bread of Life Church is a church plant from Covenant Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Vandalia, Ohio. The Pastor at Covenant recently recorded a number of videos explaining different aspects of the life and faith of Covenant and as their church plant we hold to the same truths as they do. While not everything in these videos have total relevance to Bread of Life, most of what Pastor Patton shares does carry over to the life of our church plant. If you are interested in getting a sense for the life of our church and how it is organized we encourage you to check these out.

What Do We Believe?

The Gospel of Jesus Christ means "Good News"

Maybe you've heard people talk about the "gospel" or "gospel" music before but has anyone explained to you what exactly the gospel is? Why is it good news that God was crucified?

For more about the gospel click here.

What does it mean to be Reformed?

In simple terms, a "reformed" church is not a "deformed" church. Due to sin, human beings often let traditions and their own ideas rule and form the church instead of Jesus, the only true head and king of the Church. A reformed church is one that seeks to be formed, or rather reformed, according to God's Word in all aspects of her life. You could say the Bible gives us the blueprints for the church and we ought to follow the blueprints instead of making something else up. While the term "Reformed" tends to be used in speaking about God's sovereignty in salvation, it's helpful to remember this is only one aspect of what it means for a church to be formed and reformed by God's Word.

What is Covenant Presbyterian Church?

In this video, Pastor Patton explains some key values and the history of Covenant Presbyterian Church. As Covenant is our "mother church" or sending church, there is plenty of carryover. Covenant began in 1996 as a church plant from Redeemer OPC in Beavercreek, and has helped to start Living Water OPC in Springfield as well as Light of the Nations OPC in Dayton. Bread of Life began meeting in the evening of July 2024 and then began morning worship in November of 2024. We took our name from Christ's saying in John 6:35.

What our church is all about.

In this video, Pastor Patton explains five key values of our churches:

1. The complete trustworthiness of the Bible.

2. Grace-centered holy living.

3. Reverent worship.

4. Love for one another as the family of God.

5. Zealous evangelism.

What do we believe the Bible teaches?

Our Church is ruled by the Old and New Testaments as the primary standards of our faith. From there, we must do the hard work of explaining what the Bible actually teaches. We have made our positions on many core topics public so that all people can read them and consider the truths we confess.

Our secondary standards, which can and have been reformed by Scripture, are called the Westminster Standards.

When making a large purchase, such as a new car or house, it's important to read the fine print- a nice smile and handshake will not do! We encourage you to diligently study these Scriptural truths and ask questions of our Pastor if you find something difficult.

A helpful study guide of the Westminster Standards written by Pastor Jeremiah Montgomery is freely available here. We would also commend Dr. Chad Van Dixhoorn's Confessing the Faith as a more in depth guide to our Standards.

The Mission of the Church

There are many ideas people have about what the church should do. We believe three key aspects of the church are to equip disciples to:

Worship God with Joy
Work to advance God's kingdom
Witness to God's world

How is our Church Governed?

Our Church is governed by a group of pastors and elders who are accountable to the regional church or presbytery. Our Church's Book of Order is publicly available here.

How we worship God

In this video, Pastor Patton explains why our worship services look the way they do and what is happening during different portions of the service. We desire that everything we do in service is regulated by the Bible. For a Spotify playlist that includes many of the songs we sing during service click here. For a more in-depth explanation of the order of worship, click here.

What does membership look like?

In this video, Pastor Patton walks us through the six vows that members of our churches take, explaining what it is we promise.