Hello! Each year, our church intentionally takes a few Sundays to meet in homes instead of all gathering together in one of our worship venues. We want to take just a moment to explain what you can expect in the weeks around the holidays (Dec. 29 and Jan. 5). Hopefully, this will help you joyfully prepare while also giving you a deeper understanding as to why our church family will not be gathering at Ethos Downtown (Marathon) or Ethos Hillsboro Village (Ruby) on these two Sundays — and it will help you make the most of this time with your house churches, friends, and family.

At Home Worship Guides include worship, teaching, reflection, and prayer prompts.
*No worship gatherings will meet at our regular times and locations on this day.

At Home with Ethos Church

Why are we worshiping “at home?”

  • Deep within the theological frame work of the Bible is a theology of proactive rest. We see this in the creation story; we see this with the people of Israel as they observed weekly and yearly rhthyms of rest; we see this in the life and teachings of Jesus, and we see this in the Bible’s teachings about the Kingdom of God.

    Rest was God’s idea.

    In fact, the Bible makes it clear that life is best enjoyed when we choose to be people that rest in anticipation of what God will do as opposed to only resting from the exhaustion of what we’ve tried to accomplish on our own. You see this in the way that the Hebrew day was ordered [started with evening (rest) and ended with day (work)].

    We live in a busy culture.

    So from the beginning of our church’s short history, we have made it a point to intentionally dial things back from time to time. We believe God has some great things in store for the year ahead. As a church family, we want to create space to breathe, rest, and prepare our hearts for what is to come. The next two Sundays are a reflection of that desire.

  • Secondly, we believe the scriptures clearly teach that the church is the people (not a building or a place), and that each of those people carries the divine responsibility of reflecting the goodness of God into the world around them. This is an easy thing to speak about, but an even easier thing to forget in practice.

    If we aren’t intentional, church becomes a place we go rather than a people we are becoming.

    The Bible is clear that each person’s spiritual formation is shaped first in the home not in the “temple courts.” We have found that choosing to periodically break from our church wide worship gatherings forces us all to get back to our roots. It reminds us that it is all of our responsibilities to open God’s word, create spaces of worship, and invite people into these places with us.

  • Finally, we believe that your home and your neighborhood serve as your primary place of missional calling. We have found that many of our neighbors are wiling to come over to our house for a brunch and a time of prayer long before they are willing to come with us to a “church service.” I pray the next two Sundays will be a great first step or next step towards God for many of the people that live near us.

How do you make the most out of these Sundays?

  • It is amazing what just a little bit of preparation will do. Our team has put together some great resources to get you started. I would encourage you to look through the resources. You can find them here. Remember, the resources are designed to help you. Don’t feel as though you are confined to them. The resources will be available on December 26. (You can also prepare by picking up some juice and baking some of your very own communion bread, the recipe can be found here!)

  • Be bold. Invite your friends and family over. Don’t wait until the day of, make the call or send the text today. If your house church is meeting, invite your friends and family to join your house church. Nothing happens if you don’t invite.

  • Pray that God would do more than you could hope for. Trust me, no one wants your friends and family to love Jesus more than Jesus does. Trust Him.

  • Just relax. God has a way of doing the most amazing things when we are willing to relax and have a little fun.

So in conclusion, our church isn't taking a break from "doing church on Dec. 29 or Jan. 5." We are simply being the church a bit differently. We are praying the next few Sundays will be fun, challenging and refreshing!