LTG’s require substantial commitments from participants. They must devote a fair amount of time each week to reading scripture and to prayer. They also make a relational commitment to the other participants. Sharing one’s sin struggles with other people can be difficult unless done in the context of honesty, love, and trust. Therefore our LTG’s accept new participants three times per year and remain closed in between those dates.
Requirements for Participation
Any Christian who is seriously seeking to become a Metanoia Church Partner may join an LTG. This is defined as moving along Metanoia’s Pathway to Partnership, which includes:
- Having made a focused life commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior
- Being actively involved in a community group (CG) and the worship gathering for at least 2-3 months. LTG’s are organized by CG, so getting involved in one is a first step toward LTG’s.
- Having completed the Christ Life class or being signed up for the next class. This is crucial because the Christ Life class explains clearly who Metanoia is and what our beliefs and practices are. If you have not taken the Christ Life class, then please look over the pathway to partnership and our beliefs. If you have any major objections, it will be best to take the Christ Life class first before joining an LTG because you may decide that you do not align with Metanoia in these important areas.
- Being willing to abide by the LTG Group Covenant (the commitments you make to the other participants in your LTG). This is contained in the LTG Roadmap Part 2.
The above requirements do not entail the entire Pathway to Partnership but merely those points necessary for beginning to participate in LTG’s. The purpose of these requirements are:
- To help fulfill our mission to make disciples and grow as disciples ourselves
- To be flexible, gracious, and understanding toward individual circumstances regarding church partnership while also respecting the biblical mandate for faithful and committed covenant community. In other words, we desire to encourage individual growth while also discouraging the church shopping, consumer mindset too prevalent in American Christianity.
- To protect relationships of trust already formed in pre-existing LTG’s and to honor the commitment of those individuals to Metanoia.
“I’m not sure I’m ready quite yet”
If you do not feel that you can fulfill the above requirements for joining LTG’s in good conscience right now, then we ask you to refrain from joining them until a later time. It is better to wait four months to fully discern whether or not God is leading you to become a covenant partner than joining an LTG quickly and having to leave it in a few months, which is disruptive to LTG group life.
In all of this, our desire is not to be legalistic but also not to disparage covenant community and life-on-life discipleship. If you are not yet ready to join an LTG, Metanoia encourages you to explore these other avenues of discipleship in the meantime:
- Our weekly worship gathering
- Community group activities
- Christ Life partnership class
- Classes for new Christians and for those exploring Christianity
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