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 Sunday evening following the worship gathering, 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 examine 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 section above entitled “Our Current Missions and Ministries”)

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. For a fuller description of the program see “Our Current Missions and Ministries,” earlier in this handbook.

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. Most Metanoians give part, but not all, of their tithe to the congregation

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