Dim the Lights for ACT 2!
Women enjoying an ACT 2 CAFÉ art class
When we launched ACT 2 at New Frontiers Church in November 2018, we saw a real opportunity to leverage the benefits of recovery principles for the church community. We also realized that experiencing the love of the church community would benefit those struggling with addiction and other life controlling issues.
ACT 2 is a life-change program that promotes emotional health and supports long term recovery through peer mentoring, life skills training and by connecting people to community. Our dream is to see each participant experience their own second act, a new chapter where the spotlight is on change, and each one is cast in their God-given role:
• Empowered to live free from addiction
• Excited about life’s new script, and
• Equipped to play their part in God’s big story.
The program has been so helpful in giving us practical tools that can lead to real and permanent life change, a common language with which to communicate about our real-life struggles, and an understanding of addiction as a disease. Our goal is to offer a safe place where people experience grace rather than judgment. In the first year, we learned a lot and graduated two students from the program.
In September 2019, we began supporting a residential recovery program for women by providing weekly life skills classes and individual mentoring. We have developed a great partnership, working with around 10 women over the year. For Christmas 2019, the church supported them through our “Make a Difference” project - providing gifts for the residents, and household supplies for the house.
Setting the Stage
Last fall, we also launched ACT 2 CAFÉ. Our goal was to provide a doorway for the life change program by providing recovery friendly opportunities to connect people to community. We place a high value on relationships. By dropping in to one of our weekly sessions, people can get to know us and build trust before committing to a life skills class or peer mentoring. During our café sessions we also offer art as a therapeutic outlet. For those who suffer with mental health struggles, having a creative activity is a great way to help decrease social anxiety. Monthly, on Fridays, we played board games and also launched Live at Twilight - an evening of live music with a coffee house vibe, including appetizers and desserts.
Acrylic artwork created in the ACT 2 CAFÉ
The café gained real momentum over the fall, and we finished up 2019 with a Christmas open house. We created beautiful glass baubles and blessed our visitors from the residential program with gifts and new outfits. We were living with a promise from God that 2020 would be a year of blooming, and that the blossoms would be on display for His glory. The stage was set, and we were ready for our own ACT 2!
At the start of 2020, we had just finished reminding ourselves of those promises in a team meeting when our office manager knocked on the door and told me we had guests arrived early for the café - 12 of them! One of our recent guests had brought all of the ladies from a local shelter for women and children - including the staff! Over coffee the staff asked questions about our program, and by the end of that café session, we had designed a life skills class for their residents… to begin the following week! With their agreement, we made that life skills session open to a wider group. We were seeing real progress and establishing good connections … and then one of the ladies, Michelle, came to a Sunday meeting and got gloriously saved!
And then COVID happened!
So, with the rest of the nation, we “zoomed,” bringing our cups of coffee with us to our online café. We “zoomed” in to both residential houses to see “our girls”, determined to keep in contact. As soon as we were able, we set up ACT 2 CAFÉ outside under canopies, and all of our ladies returned. We also began outdoor prayer meetings as a church and God met with us.
We finally baptized Michelle in a horse trough, and her friends came to watch. At the end, we asked if anyone else wanted to be baptized? We’d even brought spare clothing just in case. There were no takers that day, but we had a baptism scheduled for two weeks later and one of the men committed to being baptized then. So, we baptized him and another of our ladies two weeks later. And this time, when we asked anyone else? THREE more people responded to the invitation. We baptized the lady who had originally brought the 12 guests to the café, and her daughter, and Michelle got to baptize her friend. What an amazing time; what an amazing God!
Fruit Abounds
It’s hard to believe our ACT 2 program is just about to go in to its third year at NFC, and that it’s only been just over a year since the café originally launched. In that time, we’ve:
• Trained 30+ mentors
• Run 8 change groups
• Provided life skills classes for 2 outside organizations (around 65 sessions)
• Seen approximately 95 people take part in the program in various ways
• CELEBRATED 6 BAPTISMS!!!
The numbers are fantastic, but the stories behind the numbers are even better. People are being set free from addiction and are finding their place in God’s family. They are discovering their gifts and using them to serve others. We can’t wait to see what God will do next!
