09/03/2026
For Anna (‘25), the number one thing is community. “I just think people should take care of each other,” they say with clarity. “Not just people you talk to, but people that you can rely on.” That kind of community has taken many forms in Anna’s life, from family to congregation, to their experiences in campus ministry.
Anna first came to Bread+Belonging the summer before starting a graduate program in Mechanical Engineering. Their experience of Lutheran Campus Ministry as an undergraduate had been an important part of their life, so they sought out Lutheran Campus Ministry in Boulder. Informal summer dinners with Bread+Belonging helped Anna to meet other graduate students and begin to make friends, even before classes started.
Through Bread+Belonging, Anna began worshiping on Sundays at St. Aidan’s. “I really needed a church I could go to that felt welcoming,” Anna recalls, “and St. Aidan’s was a really good congregation for that.” Being a part of Bread+Belonging not only helped Anna connect with a worshipping community, but it also introduced them to the wider community of the church. They attended the Rocky Mountain Synod Assembly as a student voting delegate the year of the most recent bishop’s election. “I got fully into it,” Anna remembers, “ended up doing a lot of research on all the bishop candidates. And there was a really great moment of ‘oh, there’s a whole bunch more to learn, and whole lot more ways to participate in this bigger church community than I realized.’”
The opportunity to learn about and connect with the wider church has been a springboard for Anna to continue to lead in the congregation they now attend. They have since attended additional assemblies and have been nominated to serve on their church council this year. Serving in leadership is one of the ways Anna continues to invest in caring for others in their community. “Bread+Belonging got me involved,” Anna reflects, “and that’s carried on.”
Your generosity enables students like Anna to discover their voices as leaders within and beyond the church. Thank you!
