1 Movement | 3 Practices | 7 Vows
Our Rector, the Rev. Christopher H. Martin, is the founder of a Christian renewal movement called The Restoration Project. It is centered on three practices and seven vows. Our heart is small groups nurturing disciples of Jesus. The three practices are prayer, worship and service.
The seed of The Restoration Project was planted in 2002, when he visited the ecumenical Church of the Saviour in Washington DC. This church, founded by Gordon and Mary Cosby right after WW II, has been home to Christians like Henri Nouwan, Parker Palmer and Walter Brueggemann. He was convicted by the spiritual beauty and depth of the people in this high-commitment church and left that visit with a desire to grow in spiritual depth and in a search to find others who shared his hunger. Among the things he learned from Church of the Saviour is that we all need to be working on our belovedness, that we all need to find a balance between inward practices and outward practices, and that we all need structures to hold us accountable to our best spiritual desires. He wanted to translate the teachings of this profound church to ordinary parishes.
Christopher H. Martin — St. Paul’s San Rafael from DioCal on Vimeo.
So began a long season of experimentation. In 2010, at a small national gathering of clergy, he shared the results and lessons of my experiments.
- We are drawn to this new and yet ancient way of being Christian.
- We yearn for spiritual depth.
- The tenets and practices of The Restoration Project provides a sure and steadfast path to intimacy with Jesus and our brothers and sisters in Christ.
We assume you are looking at this website because one or more of his findings ring true for you. You are not alone. And we are not called to be alone on this journey with Christ.
We invite you to start walking down this path by accepting the challenge to pray daily, worship weekly and serve the poor in Marin County. Please go to our PrayWorshipServe.com website where you will find a rich array of materials, to encourage and support you and your friends as you embrace this rhythm of life. You can go to our TheRestorationProject.net website to get a sense of the whole national movement.
Lots has been going on since Christopher first visited the Church of the Savior in DC: Forward Movement has published his book, The Restoration Project: A Benedictine Path to Wisdom, Strength, and Love; we have developed a series of formation classes called The Basics; our Discipleship Groups have a beautiful liturgy that challenge and inspire us; finally, our devotion to Jesus’ teaching to serve the poor has produced ongoing projects in Marin far out of proportion to our moderate size. We are always learning and experimenting.