Restore Groups are an opportunity to walk with Jesus through all of the details of your life. The good bits, the painful bits, the hurting bits, the fragile bits, and the bad bits. They are about mapping Jesus’ grace and presence, two things which are inseparable, onto the deep and delicate areas of your life.
Our hope and vision for Restore Groups is that they will be a place where you will come to know yourself, know others and God more deeply and profoundly than before. If you join us in a Restore Group you will see our phrasing, Becoming Your True Self, come to life as we look at the way being connected to Jesus realigns us to the way we were originally designed to be, that is, restored to being truly human.
Restore Groups focus on using Becoming You by Peter Sondergeld, as our core reading, however also feature time engaging with scripture, prayer and in community.
When you attend a Restore Group you can expect to spend some time in teaching sessions, corporate worship and gendered small groups. You can expect to spend time reading Becoming You by Peter Sondergeld, engaging with scripture, praying and working through our Participant’s Guide in your own personal time. You can also expect to be loved and cared for by trained and experienced Restore Group Leaders who desire to walk alongside you, encourage you and see God’s grace and presence become personally real for you as you engage more deeply with Him.
Here is a little more of a snapshot of the Restore Group experience:
Closed Groups
Restore Groups are closed groups. This means that leaders and group members are placed together in a single-gendered group and remain together, without adding anyone new, for the duration of the Restore Group. This provides a safe space for all group members and helps foster our connection and care for one another.
Gender Specific
All teaching sessions combine men and women, however our individual groups are men-only and women-only, with leaders of the same gender. There may be instances where a supervisor of the opposite gender may be present, however, this would not be for every group time.
The Beginning
A Restore Group is only the beginning—or a way station—in a lifelong journey. Groups are delivered in two modes: an Intensive running over 4 days, or an 11-week program. It is our hope that participants will leave Restore Groups with new ways of seeing God and themselves and tools for working out their identity over time in community.
Relational and experiential
Restore Groups are about your life connecting with Jesus’ life in community. Participants actively engage with one another: listening, sharing, comforting, and honouring one another. We desire that through Restore Groups participants will grow in how they relate to God, themselves, and others.
Dehumanisation & Restoring True Humanity
If you have been around Restore Ministries for even a short while, perhaps you have flicked through our blogs or listened to our podcast, you would see and know that we are passionate about Restoring True Humanity. We believe that we are created as relational worshippers who have been dehumanised by the effects of sin. We are sure you have seen this within your world, your community, your family and even within yourself. Our hope through Restore Groups is that you will see the restoration that Jesus provides through our connection in relationship to him, the true human. There is nothing that makes someone more truly human than being oriented and connected to God.
Group Size & Composition
When you are sharing your life with people the size and safety of a group matters! With this in mind, a single Restore Group is ideally composed of eight to nine people, total. That means you may have two to three leaders and up to six participants within your group. A supervisor may occasionally sit in a group, making a tenth person in the room, however this is not the norm for every group time.
All of Life
Restore Groups are designed to include people with struggles, sufferings and grapplings of all kinds in a single group. Whatever is happening in your life and your world, whether the hurt has been big or small, we know that the stain of shame and the dehumanising effects of sin on our identity are universal - it’s part of life after the fall. We offer a safe space for you, regardless and our desire is to draw you closer to Jesus as you share with your Restore Group.