In this season where our Church is unable to gather as a whole family for worship, we’re seeking to equip our Restoration family for God’s work among them – right where they are. That’s what Home Church is all about: giving you tools to gather with community groups or other believers (*safely* in person or online) for a shared experience of worship with the whole Restoration family. Below, you’ll find three movements of worship together: Worship (praise and prayer), Word (opening the Scriptures), and Witness (talking it out and living it out. So whether with a community group or a friend or two, let’s worship together! (Kids Resources Here!)

Worship is the continual process of orienting our hearts around that which we value most. Each Sunday, we worship in song and prayer to offer our hearts and allegience to Jesus, who alone is worthy of our praise. In your Home Churches, we encourage worship through the use of the video below or by worship in person. If you cannot participate through song in your group, spend time answering this question:

What do I have to praise God for this week?

Praying Together

This week, we’re praying with one of the most influential Christians in history: Saint Francis. This prayer is known as his Peace Prayer. In your Home Churches, pray this ancient prayer together.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.

Today’s Scripture: Matthew 5:9, 2 Corinthians 5:18-20, Colossians 1:19-20

Jes””Whether among your community group or a few friends over Zoom, we want to challenge you to move beyond just knowledge and information and into practicing the way of Jesus in your everyday life! But we do this together. Below you’ll find some questions to discuss, as well as next steps for living it out!

1. Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of wholeness. With this in mind, where is God calling you to actively make peace in your world? How will you join his work? 

2. Our passages in 2 Corinthians and Colossians point us to reconciliation being central to the Gospel. If God is “reconciling all things to himself” in Christ, how does this shape our mission as Christians in the world? 

3. Romans 12:18 tells us “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” How do we know when we’ve done everything we can to bring peace in a relationship… and how do we know when to back away and trust God? 

4. Peacemaking is less about our position and more about our posture. How might we display the posture of Christ towards those who disagree with us as we share what we believe?

Practice: Reconciliation. In his book “The Church Of Us Vs. Them,” David Fitch says, “Reconciliation is so central to the good news of what God has done in Christ that to see no reconciliation in our churches suggests there is no gospel in them. Reconciliation marks our presence in the world.” This week, ask God in prayer for opportunities for reconcilition – both personally and across ideological boundaries. What boundaries might God be calling you to cross in order to listen and learn from?