We feel that the above illustration is a wonderful explanation of what a “church” should be. We believe that the father of each family is the leader of that family and that the parents have the primary role of instructing their children in the Word of G-d. We also feel that meeting together with other families to discuss the Scriptures is a good and healthy activity. In smaller groups relationships can grow deeper, we can study more intensely and we can have just that much more fun together too.
We spend Sabbath together as a family, often times other friends & families join us. A friend gave us a gift of a set of Siddur Tehillot HaMashiach and a DVD of a Shabbat morning service from Beit Hallel whose format we follow. Together we read the Scriptures and share questions and thoughts about the readings. The children often have the most wonderful questions and comments to share! In the late morning we begin our service, following the Weekly Torah Portion and discuss some of the notes from the sources listed below. After we are finished, we break for lunch. Each family that joins us brings some food to share so we have lunch oneg style (aka potluck style). Occasionally we work through a Hebrew language program on our Sabbath afternoon as well. In the evening we meet with a Bible study group comprised of families from several different area churches and learn about the Hebrew roots of the Christian faith. It is a fun group to participate in! At sunset we have an evening meal together and havdalah, which is a traditional ceremony to close out the Sabbath day. It is always such a blessing to our family when we have others to fellowship with but even when it’s just our family, we really enjoy our studies and time spent together. We would certainly enjoy it if our group grew to include a few more families, either in our morning service or our evening Bible study group.
Our Family Torah Notes
We use the traditional annual reading cycle. This reading cycle takes us through the Torah, the Prophets and the Gospel accounts together in one year.
Torah Notes We Use
* The Center for Judaic-Christian Studies e-mails a commentary on the weekly readings called “A Dash of Drash” by Keren Pryor.
* First Fruits of Zion has 5 volumes of Torah Club notes available. We use Volumes 4 & 5 (focusing on the Torah and the Gospels) here at home. FFOZ also puts out a weekly e-drash that are helpful study aides. We have several years worth of weekly e-drashes that we have kept in our binders full of notes.
* Torah Resource has triennial cycle parshah notes and we use these weekly. There are mulitple sets of notes for each annual cycle portion.
There are other sites with notes and podcasts available, but at this time these are the ones we use on Shabbat in our family study. In the sidebar you will find links for study and audio files that you can download to use yourself.
We are located in Whatcom County and would enjoy getting to know others in our area who would be interested in learning about the Hebrew Roots of the Christian Faith or who already have such a foundation and would like to dive deeper into the study of the Word of G-d. Whether you’re interested in just the Gospel studies or studying the Torah and the Gospels with us, please feel free to contact us through the “Contact Me” page.
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I see your graphic up there from restorationministries.org have you gone through their whole series on the Hebraic Restoration?
WisdomsSister –
No, I have not gone through their whole series. In fact, I haven’t gone through a lot of their material. I really like their image as I think it communicates very well what we practice (or at least do our best to practice). I have gone through some of their material and have found it to be a wonderful introduction to many things, a bridging ministry of sorts. I would like to be able to go through more of their material so I have a better feel for their ministry but I don’t have the time at the moment. My husband is listening to some of their audio files while he is at work and he’s liking what he hears, for the most part.
Lisa,
I have read a lot of restoration ministries information and have their books. This ministry really needs to be publicized more. I think every messianic group should read Restoring the Early Church. It makes so much sense!
I like Rabbi Lazer Brody too. Much wisdom..
I’m glad to have positive feedback about Restoration Ministries. We’ve only been able to listen to some of their material and have appreciated what we’ve heard. We’ve shared it with a few people and, now that you remind me of it again, it might be just the thing for a particular couple in our lives.
I used to get Rabbi Lazer Brody’s e-mails but my inbox was too full for me to keep up with.
I sure have appreciated his wisdom.
Hi Lisa !!!
Just wanted to share a site that has been such a blessing to me and many others: torahclass.com. I have been walking the same path since 2006 and it’s always good to meet others who like to share their resources.
Peace to you and all your house…………..