Becoming a Member

Ordinarily a person would not expect to begin the process of becoming a member until they have been involved regularly and actively in activities of the congregation as a sojourner* for at least 3 months. This period of time will have allowed the candidate for membership to become well acquainted with others in the congregation, to have experienced the life of the congregation in its several aspects, and to have attended one of the scheduled orientation forums. Those interested in the possibility of membership may indicate this interest to the pastor and learn more about the proces leading to membership.

*the term "sojourner" is used for everyone who participates in Metanoia activities who is not a member

Step One: Candidacy

If your desire is to become a member, you will be invited to meet with the pastor and one other member to discuss your interest in membership, and to come to clearness about your readiness to begin the process, including your readiness to undertake the expectations that are a part of the Covenant of Membership. When and if the three of you agree that you are ready, you will be introduced to the congregation as an Exploring Member.

Step Two: Exploring Membership

As an Exploring Member you will be assigned to a Covenant Member group, with one particular member of that group also assigned as your mentor. You will begin attending monthly meetings of the full membership as well as weekly meetings of your Covenant Member group. And of course you will observe the expectations that are a part of the Covenant of Membership.You will remain as an exploring member for at least one year before you either come into full membership or discontinue the membership process. You may come to recognize, given the considerable responsibilities and expectations of membership, that you would be more appropriately involved in the life of the community as a Sojourner. Such a decision will be honored and affirmed by the members.

Step Three: Full Membership

After one year, unless issues have arisen regarding your ability to meet the expectations of membership, you will automatically become a full member. However, in conversations with your covenant group and/or the pastor, it may become clear that you will need to continue as an Exploring Member while working to improve your practice with reference to specific expectations that are a part of the Covenant of Membership.

Membership Covenant

Members (or Exploring Members) of Metanoia Peace Community agree together to abide by the following covenant:

Participate weekly in the Sunday gatherings of the community.
Regard all of our personal income and possessions as a resource to be shared, beginning with the tithe (10%).
Meet regularly with other members in a small Covenant Member Group, where we allow others to hold us accountable for living out this covenant.
Meet monthly with other members in a gathering of the full membership "Member Meeting."
Devote time daily to meditation, prayer, silence and other acts of devotion, both alone and with others (the journey inward).
Be in mission to the world, as evidenced in specific acts of compassion and justice (the journey outward).
Live our lives in response to God’s call, seeking guidance from other members in an ongoing process of discernment of that call.
Support and uphold one another, as together we participate in building up the body of Christ.
Continue in membership until, in conversation with our fellow members, we have together come to discernment that we are being called to some other place or relationship.

Glossary of Terms Used by Metanoia

The terms used in this glossary are important for Members and Sojourners to understand. They help describe the way the Metanoia Peace Community conducts its business, its relationship to Methodism, and its worship and liturgical life.

Terms A-F

Call
An inner urging from God toward some specific, purposeful activity in support of God’s kin-dom; a vocation. We understand every Christian to be “called” to a life in the community of believers--the Body of Christ--and also to some specific, personal missionary task which may or may not be identical to one’s gainful employment. In Metanoia we invite persons to share with others in the community their own sense of call and to allow others to help discern and affirm the authenticity of the call.

Church Conference (a.k.a Charge Conference)
In United Methodist polity, the Church Conference is the primary policy making body of the local congregation. The United Methodist District Superintendent presides. The Church Conference meets annually to elect officers, fix the salary of the pastor, and conduct other required business. The Church Conference may be called into special session at other times when major policy decisions are required such as the decision to purchase or transfer title to property. Because all members of the congregation are members of the Church Conference, a gathering of the Church Conference is, in effect, an official meeting of the membership.

Clearness Meeting
A meeting called by an individual (known as the focus person) and involving several other persons, to help the focus person come to clearness about a choice or contemplated course of action. The meeting may follow a specific process for coming to clearness developed by the Quakers.

Community Council
Called the “Administrative Council” in most United Methodist congregations, the Community Council guides the life and work of the congregation between meetings of the Church Conference. In our congregation, the Council meets every 2nd Sunday either before or after the Sunday Service except when there is no business to conduct. All members of the congregation are members of the Council but Sojourners are also encouraged to participate in seeking the “sense of the meeting.”

Community Needs Fund
A fund which can be drawn upon by members, sojourners and persons with AIDS, to meet personal emergency financial needs. The fund is administered by a committee, to whom requests for help are made. Five cents out of every offering dollar is deposited in the Community Needs Fund.

Covenant Member Group
A group of 3 to 5 members which meets weekly. Group members support each other regarding their faithfulness to the Covenant of Membership and in other ways help each other to be disciplined in their Christian life.

Covenant of Membership
1. The bond that holds together the members of the congregation.
2. A statement detailing the specific commitments expected of those who enter into membership.

Estimate of Giving
A written declaration by an individual or family specifying the weekly, monthly, or yearly amount they expect to give towards the budget of the congregation. The total from all estimates of giving guides the Committee on Finance in its planning.

Exploring Member
A person who has entered into the process leading to full membership and who is discovering what it feels like to be a member by entering fully into the expectations outline in the covenant of membership.

Terms G-Z

Grief Watch
A name given to all of the efforts by residents of the Peace House and other Metanoians to give spiritual, emotional and other support to people who are grieving, and to address the systemic injustices within our society which give people reason to grieve. (For more details see the tab above entitled “Outreach, Bereavement Support”)

Lay Leader
In United Methodist parlance, a non-ordained person with recognized gifts for leadership, who has been elected to provide leadership to the congregation as a whole, in cooperation with the Pastor.

Leadership Team
A Group of leaders consisting of the Pastor, Chair of Community Council, Lay Leader and one or two elected members-at-large. The Leadership Team prepares agendas for Council meetings, sees that Council decisions are implemented, and administers the affairs of the community, as needed, between meetings of the Community Council.

Liturgist
A person assigned to lead the parts of the Sunday evening worship gathering, except for the Scripture reading and Holy Communion.

Member
A person who has met the requirements leading to membership, who observes “Our Covenant as Members” and who has been welcomed as a member. Members are collectively responsible for the life and ministry of the congregation.

Mentor
A member assigned to help guide a specific exploring member through the process leading to full membership.

Non-Violent Direct Action
Active confrontation of specific instances of violence and injustice, sometimes using illegal means (civil disobedience), but only in a manner which is faithful to the principles of non-violence in word and deed, as practiced by Jesus, Gandhi, the Berrigan brothers and others. Examples of non-violent direct action are sit-ins, blockades, boycotts, and the refusal to comply with a law which is deemed to be unjust. In every case, non-violent direct action implies a willingness to accept the legal consequences of one’s actions.

Pastor
The person assigned by the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference as the leader in charge of the local congregation, in this case Metanoia Peace Community. The term “pastor” means “shepherd.”

18th Ave Peace House
1. The property at 2116 NE 18th Ave, owned by Metanoia Peace Community.
2. The residents of the house and their collective ministries of hospitality, community-building, peacemaking, and grief support

Perinatal Loss
Part of the “Grief Watch” ministry, this program publishes and distributes books, video tapes, and other resources for parents whose infants have died, before, at, or shortly after, birth.

Reconciling Congregation
The term used by a movement within the United Methodist denomination to designate churches which openly welcome gay men, lesbian and other sexual minority persons into their life and leadership.

Sense of the Meeting
A process of group discernment, developed by Quakers, in which participants set aside private agendas and opinions and sit in silence with a decision that needs to be made, speaking only as they are led by the Spirit to offer something to the rest of the body. Usually in the process the Spirit brings the group to a common resolution of the issue, a “sense of the meeting,” that a particular course of action (not necessarily an action previously proposed) is the right course of action.

Shared Ministries
In United Methodist terminology, the ministries of mission, evangelism, education, and social advocacy sponsored by the United Methodist denomination--locally, nationally, and internationally, and to which every local United Methodist Church contributes through the payment of apportionments.

Sojourner
Anyone who participates in the life and work of Metanoia Peace Community but is not a member.

Tithe
Ten-percent of one’s income, usually understood to mean ten-percent of one adjusted gross income, given as an offering for the benefit of others and as an act of piety, justice and faith in God.

Trustees, Board of
A six-member body which functions as the Board of Directors for Metanoia Peace Community United Methodist Church, Inc. The Board serves as custodian of property owned by Metanoia Peace Community and executes legal agreements as directed by the Church Conference or Community Council.

United Methodist Church
The world-wide denomination of Christians of which we are a part. Metanoia is one of about 220 congregations in the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference of the UMC, and one of 42 congregations in the (Portland) Metropolitan District