Klesis and acts2fellowship are high control groups

Klesis Christian Fellowship and Acts 2 Fellowship or acts2fellowship are two common names that Acts 2 uses on college campuses. They also use other names like Koinonia, Kairos, WAV, International Student Mentorship Program, International Student Gathering, Journey, Axiom, 1Eighty, Flourish, Forge, and Harbor. SO MANY DIFFERENT NAMES so it's almost impossible to keep track. This is on purpose to distance themselves from the bad press and reputation they have earned for themselves.

It's fall and thus peak recruitment season for Acts2. Students in the organization are spending a ton of time on campus, luring you with boba, game night, sports, free food, and instant friends. They will even help you move into the dorms.

Please know that these are all high control groups and stay away. 

They use the guise of Christian fellowship and biblical living to control what you do, where you live, when you date, who you live with, what you watch, what music you listen to, etc. etc.

Do you due diligence and do research before you join any organization, even a seemingly innocuous one like a Christian fellowship on campus.

Belonging and Agency

One of the fundamental needs of human beings is to feel they belong and also a sense of agency over their life.

One must feel like they are loved, they belong to a community of people, whoever they may be. Social connectedness and healthy relationships are a strong predictor of health and longevity.

One also must have a sense of control over their own life. Things must be a choice. Most healthy adults want to choose what they want to do with their time, who they want to have a relationship with, where they live, where they work, what they study, their hobbies, etc.

When our agency is taken away, that is a form of abuse. When belonging is contingent upon agency (you can belong to our church but you must do what is expected), I believe that is also abuse.

Acts 2 boasts that they do life together and that everyone is loved and accepted just as they are. But do not believe their lies. You are only accepted if you do what they say. You must follow their multitude of rules and expectations. If you do not, they'll drop you like a hot potato.

Acts 2 Network is now headquartered in Elgin Illinois near Chicago

Headquarters have moved from Alameda, CA to Chicago.

They now have a huge Acts 2 Training Center at 1000 N Randall Road, in Elgin, Illinois, suburbs of Chicago. 

I wonder how much they paid for that building. Did they sell their buildings in Alameda?

I'm sure this is a huge change for everyone inside Acts 2. Now they all get to travel to Chicago for their all teams retreats and trainings/indoctrination.

I have mixed feelings.

I feel sad that it'll be easier for them to distance themselves from the Gracepoint and Berkland name, hide their roots even more intentionally.

I feel sad for all those who moved, who didn't really want to, but felt forced to. But then again, moving inside this organization isn't exactly like moving when you're outside of it.

One of my biggest requests is moving every year during college because I was assigned to live with certain people. I wish I continued to live in that one apartment I was living in during sophomore year. Close to campus, super cheap rent. Instead, I just kept moving further and further for more and more money. Just because someone in the organization decided that it would be best for me to live with so and so. UGH. It really was the worst. Why was I so blind to it? Oh yeah, I thought that's what God wanted me to do. Hard to fight the will of God when you decided to have him be the Lord of your life.

If you're in this organization now and are reading this, please please please don't let them decide where you live and who you live with. Once you give that over, it's really hard to get out.

You don't have to have sex with your spouse if you don't want to

Dear Gracepoint/Acts 2 wives, this one is for you.

It's quite common in evangelicalism for there to be some slight pressure on the wives to "obey their husbands" including letting them have sex with you when you don't really want to. There is the subtle messages from the pulpit, ok, maybe not so subtle, that your husband is the head and that you are under his spiritual authority. There may be some urging from your leader to just give in and have sex with your husband even if he's been a dick to you and didn't care for you as Christ cares for the church. He's been out every day this week, leaving you to care for the house and the kids and carry the entire mental load. Of course ministry comes first so you should be grateful that you have such a God honoring husband who cares about doing ministry and devotes so much of his time to the church.

But he hasn't said one kind thing to you. He doesn't even acknowledge you when he comes and goes. And since the church monitors his online activities and doesn't want him to masturbate, he comes to you to fill his sexual needs.

You are not an object.

You are a whole person.

You do not have to have sex with him if you don't want to.

You certainly do not need to have sex with him because your leader told you to.

You do not need to just lay there for a few minutes to create marital harmony. 

This is NOT what Christ calls you to do. Don't let your leader tell you otherwise.

.

Why do I write such a crass post? Because I actually know that this happens. Maybe not in all marriages, or even most marriages, but I KNOW this happens.

Marital rape is real.

You are not a receptacle.

Tell him to take care of himself and confess his sins to his leader.

Thank you current member who reported my blog

Someone flagged my blog and it got blocked for a little bit. They said my blog violated guidelines around harassment. Clearly, my blog does nothing of that sort. If anything, the person who reported my blog was harassing me, as evidenced by the recent comments this person submitted.

Anyway, thank you to the person who reported my blog because now I am going to be EVEN MORE proactive about getting the word out about the cult you're at.

Thanks for lighting a fire under my ass.