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pray and break bread. YOUR CITY

Jul 30, 2025 Topics: Ministry Practices

pray and break bread (pbb).NYC is one of City Seminary of New York’s core practices. Each year we visit different neighborhoods in the five boroughs for a time of learning from ministry leaders, Scripture reading, prayer walking and eating food specific to each neighborhood. As we journey together, we come to know and love our city more, build community, and experience God’s presence in the city in ways we might not otherwise notice.

A key aspect of this community prayer practice is “ground-truthing,” calibrating our lived experience in the moment, as we follow the lead of the Holy Spirit, with what has been written or told about a place. Praying in a sensory way, touching the ground, smelling the spices or sourness of a space, hearing children’s laughter or cars honking, seeing the beauty and the brokenness, and tasting the local foods, help us to know how to pray for our city, neighborhood by neighborhood.

Here’s a handout we used at a pbb hosted in another city this year.