Your Covenant Group will decide how often it will meet. At a minimum, your group should meet once per month. Other groups may decide to meet weekly or bi-weekly. Your commitment is to be present for gatherings. You also commit to regularly engage with your Rule of Life and take opportunity to share your journey as you live it out. Also, you commit to support, encourage, and lift other group members up in prayer.

Completion of the 8-week seminar in Practicing the Week is required in order to participate in a Covenant Group.

That will be up to you. We have learned that the level of intimacy and sharing is much deeper and develops more quickly if group members are the same gender. Why? The more a group of people has in common, the more they can relate to each other. They share similar struggles and talk about them with fewer inhibitions. And yet there is something to be said in favor of a mixed group, with its added variety, broader spectrum of life experiences, and differing perspectives. The makeup of the group is ultimately up to you.

Yes. But many groups that include husbands and wives report that participating together is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, it can be a tremendous way for a couple to grow closer, and it adds incentives in the area of mutual accountability. On the other hand, some people report struggling over what they should or should not share. Spouses sometimes hesitate to share a private struggle, feeling that they should try to work it out on their own, thus preventing them from benefiting from the help of the group.

On the other hand, numerous couples form a Covenant Group by themselves. They meet regularly with each other to review how they are doing and to make plans for the future, sharing their joys and concerns with one another. Whether husbands and wives should be in the same group with other people or with each other depends upon what the individuals find most helpful.

No. While the title may sound a bit ominous, Covenant Groups are designed to meet the needs of people who have little knowledge of the spiritual practices and minimal experience doing them. The resources at Practicing the Way offer a step-by-step approach to teach and model the practices, explain the “whats” and “whys” and especially the “hows.”

Does this mean that participation in a Covenant Group is too easy for the spiritually mature? No. The practices and continuing engagement with a Rule of Life are basic and foundational and meet you where you are. At the same time, they challenge you to move ahead, to grow as an apprentice of Jesus.

There is nothing magical about a Covenant Group. They contain no secret formula and they offer no easy shortcuts. What they do offer is a plan, including a Rule of Life, that helps you put yourself in a place where God can transform your life from the inside out. By providing you with balance (a Rule of Life), knowledge (the 9 spiritual practices), and encouragement (loving accountability from others), a Covenant Group can initiate in you a renewed and deepening spiritual life.

Trust will be fostered over time. As you review the questions in the Order of Meeting, some may feel intimidating. Over time, your group will develop a deepening level of trust, creating the possibility for more meaningful sharing.