The Truth about Acts College Church, Gracepoint, and Berkland
Exposing the truth about Acts College Church, Acts 2 Network, formerly Gracepoint, formerly Berkland, and their related churches and ministries. Are they a cult? Does spiritual abuse occur there? Could you be in a high control group? Should you leave?
Friday, July 21, 2023
All Team Retreat
Tuesday, March 7, 2023
High Control Groups like Gracepoint and Berkland
I've been thinking a lot about high control groups like Gracepoint, Berkland, Antioch Baptist Church, and many other evangelical churches. What makes a church a highly controlling one like Gracepoint and what makes members stay in such a controlling environment? These are complex questions, but I think it's worth thinking about because everyone can be susceptible to high control groups.
If you have left a high control group, please don't blame yourself or wallow in self-pity. Many smart, capable, and successful people have been conned into high control groups. Don't give them the power to ruin the rest of your life either. You can move on and build the life you want, the one God wants for you.
If you are IN a high control group, I urge you to ask yourself if staying in the group is really what you want and worth what it is costing you. Namely, your agency and freedom.
Ed Kang and Gracepoint posted in their response to the Christianity Today article that they condemn abuse of any kind. He denies that their church is spiritually abusive. Any egregious incidents are one offs and not a direct result of the culture Gracepoint creates. I maintain that Gracepoint and all affiliated ministries and churches, including its mother church Berkland, are spiritually abusive because of the high control nature of these organizations.
Ed and Kelly Kang joined, created, and maintain a high control group because they think that it is God's will and that it is biblical. They believe in the Koinonia Cross (see Rebekah Kim's PhD dissertation) and that church=god=family. They believe that all Christians should be bivocational and that church activities should be prioritized over basically everything else including biological family, career, and school.
According to them, if you really love God, you should cut your vacation short to attend their church events and limit going back home so that you can attend all church activities. You should want to stay around and not move back to your home town after graduating because God (read church) should be your priority. Not your career, not your biological family, and not any of your previous relationships including your previous church if you had one.
If you really love God, you should want to live with your class sisters/brothers because Koinonia Cross.
Everything becomes black and white.
Everything becomes about whether you love God or not.
Everything becomes a choice between God and sin.
By creating a dichotomy where it does not need to exist and painting things in black and white, Gracepoint makes it seem like you have to do almost everything according to what the church or your leader says. And this is one way that they slowly control most things about your life including how much sleep you get and what you are doing on Wednesday night.
MOST of life is in the grey. Most things are not a choice between loving God and committing sin. You can move back home and still love God. You can choose to not attend the All Teams Retreat and still be a spiritual person. You can get the rest you need and not be a lazy selfish person, full of sin. You can decide who you want to marry or date and that person can be a non GP member and you can still be a God honoring Christian. You can decide to love God by becoming a teacher or a doctor. You can decide to serve God by going back home and serving your home church (or another church or no church). You can do all these things and Gracepoint should not meddle because then they are getting between you and God.
God honors our agency. Even God honors our agency and that's why it cannot be in God's will that a church be highly controlling like GP. God wants us to CHOOSE how we live and how we love. That's why God gave us free will. If not, God would have created robots. But robots is what GP seems to want because they want to take all the messiness out of life and create a church planting machine, obedient followers who can move across the country if their church wants them to.
There can be no love without choice. And high control groups take away that choice through hierarchy, pressure, and norm setting. In theory all adults choose to do all the things they do every day. But if you look at social psychology, our behaviors are heavily influenced by many factors. By manipulating these outside factors and making you believe that GP's way is God's Way, GP eventually dictates who you live with, who your friends are, who you marry, how you spend your time, how you spend your money, and even where you work. They will tell you what you should wear and what kind of car you should drive.
If MOST of your life is being decided by what someone else wants you to do, then you have effectively lost your agency. The test to knowing if you have lost your agency is to decide to do something different and seeing what consequences arise. My experience in this church tells me that the consequences will be swift and severe.
So what causes smart adults to stay at a highly controlling church like Gracepoint? It's because they do not think that they are being controlled. They think that they are choosing this kind of life for themselves because they want to please God and the church says this is God's will for them.
But this is not what most folks sign up for when they choose to be Christians or when they decide to join a church.
When I was a part of this church, I thought in this black and white way too. I thought God wanted me to be a part of this church and that if I chose differently, that I was somehow sinning.
But that was not true. I had decided to be a Christian and to follow Jesus. I had decided to love God and God's people but I had not decided to do whatever the church told me to do via my assigned leaders.
There is a difference. There is a big difference between God's plan for your life and what the church or your leaders want you to do. Gracepoint will tell you that god=church=family and that your leaders are the voice of God for you. But this is not biblical and it is not true. I can love God and God's church but I should still have agency and choice over my life. And just because I decided to attend one church during college doesn't mean I have to stay there my whole life. And it is not unchristian to change churches. And changing my mind about what church I want to attend doesn't mean I love God less than those who stick with Gracepoint. The power to choose is a God given ability. Gracepoint should not take it away in God's name. This is how evil gets perpetuated so easily in high control groups, by slowly taking away people's agency and convincing them that this is God's will.
GP may claim that they're not spiritually abusive but there is no way they can reasonably and rationally deny that they are a highly controlling group. GP tries to control almost every aspect of a person's life. And the more you conform, the higher your status in GP and the more praise and affirmation you'll get from your leaders.
Don't let others define what your life should be. Don't confuse God's will with your church's agenda. God said don't have idols. Church can easily become an idol for Christians. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Let's be free. Free to love and to live the life that God had in mind for us. A life of joy. Not one of obligation.
Thursday, February 2, 2023
The Many Faces of Berkland Baptist Church, Antioch Baptist Church, BBC, etc
Just like Ed and Kelly have been planting churches, Becky has continued to plant many churches all over the USA and the World. Her home base is Antioch Baptist Church but there are many many other churches that she oversees. College students, please do your due diligence and research the church you are considering joining to avoid becoming part of a high control group that uses spiritual abuse to control their members. Here are the churches that most likely have all the same issues as Gracepoint. I recommend avoiding, unless you plan to give them your whole life. If you are aware of others, please comment and I'll add. In no particular order:
Antioch Baptist Church in Boston
- Berkland #2
- First church plant of Berkland Baptist Church at Berkeley (now called Gracepoint)
- University of Washington (Koinonia Fellowship)
- NYU (Koinonia)
- Columbia
- Johns Hopkins
- Georgetown
- University of Maryland, UMD
Ministries by former Berkland churches
Asian Baptist Student Koinonia (ABSK, a college campus ministry) at the following colleges
- Boston College
- Boston University
- Brandeis University
- Cal Baptist University
- Cal State Long Beach
- Drexel
- Georgetown
- Harvard
- MIT
- Penn
- UCLA
- University of Maryland, Baltimore
- University of Maryland
- Wellesley
Outside of the US
Tuesday, January 24, 2023
The Many Faces of Gracepoint
I have become aware that there are new groups popping up all over the place that are Gracepoint church ministries but with new names. Here are some of them. Please comment with others that you are aware of. These are in addition to the well know ones like ABSK, Koin, Koinonia, MakeNew, Klesis, A2F, Acts 2 Fellowship, Interhigh, ISM (international student ministry), Impact, AYM (Area Youth Ministry), etc. etc.
Lightkeepers at Boston
1eighty at Boston
316 Collective at Boston for Boston University students
Five+Two (this one is new to me)
Moment (college student ministry) at Stanford. Website momentfellowship.org
Please BE AWARE!
Don't get sucked into this high control group.
edited on 2/7/2023 to add Moment at Stanford
Thursday, September 22, 2022
Christianity Today article on Gracepoint is published
Tuesday, December 21, 2021
Have a Gentle Holiday
The holidays can be a time of even-more-than-usual grief and sadness for some of us. There are many unrecognized expectations from within and without that make it impossible for us to simply... be. Expectations can come in the following forms:
- giving elaborate gifts
- giving expensive gifts
- sending out cards
- preparing elaborate meals
- hosting
- being with family
- not being with family
- having meals with family
- having a good time
- enjoying everyone's company
- being generous
- being grateful
- acting cheerful and excited (when you're not)
- being nice to people, who are not nice to us
- celebrating
Monday, December 6, 2021
UCSD Triton Article
Tuesday, June 22, 2021
New (to me) Yelp Review
How have people been rebuked or publically humiliated at gracepoint? Let me count the ways
Sleeping too much- we were driving to Yosemite after finals week and I was exhausted but not like I could say no to these trips. Fell asleep in the car and got rebuked for not being alert enough and something about putting aside my fleshly body.
Being too tired - also not smiling enough. Got pulled aside by older guys and my leader for not having a better attitude and disposition at church. In hindsight this all probably was partly cause I wasn't sleeping enough.
Talking to girls- I was talking to someone of the opposite gender from church (whom I had no interest in). Got a drilled by a bunch of older guys - not leaders or the pastor, just guys in the class above me, about why I was talking to her and if I liked her or not.
Not sharing who I liked- a bunch of mostly the same guys in the class above me randomly asked me to tell them who I liked at church. Ostensibly to keep me on the right track, I guess.
Studying with girls- I invited a group of people (male and female) from my chem class over to study in our apartment the night before a major exam. Got pulled aside again and was told we don't allow the opposite gender into the brothers' apartment for fear of going astray.
Studying at the wrong times- i had a major exam the next day and stayed out till like 1 am. Walk in the door and my roommate asks me point blank, "what are you doing out so late? That's really suspicious."
The next time I got home too late from the library I actually sat in my car terrified, pondering if I should just sleep there overnight.
Walking into the room at the wrong time- I came in to help with something and the joyland kids were watching star wars episode 2 when analkin was saying some corny line to padme. In front of everyone, my leader just said to me, don't worry, you'll get a chance someday.
Not going up during public dedication time- I was walking out after a Sunday Sermon and got pulled aside by my leader. Apparently the message was really relevant to me and I should've gone up.
Going up during public dedication time- feeling pressure to go up during public dedication time once in a while, I got pulled aside by a different leader to ask why I went up. I guess my answers weren't good enough, he gave me a lecture about being more specific in my reasons and dedications.
Not taking down sound equipment fast enough- some class brothers and I got recruited to put up sound equipment before bible study. None of us were asked, we were just doing this now, I guess. After bible study we all went to mingle and eat the provided snacks like we always did. Later I was sitting in the car with my leader and he just went off on me, like full blown screaming at the top of his lungs, for not taking down the sound equipment right after bible study. I really thought he was going to hit me.
Not volunteering for enough activities- our whole class got an hour long earful from one of the leaders for not signing up enough for tabling and handing out flyers.
????- Kelly smn spent like over an hour reaming the entire congregation over the spiritual wellbeing of our church. And stuff. One guy in the front row was crossing his legs and chewing gum and she just gave it to him in front of the whole church. Yes, this really happened.
Sharing sensitive information on reflection sheets- my leader shared something embarrassing I wrote on my reflection sheet during a group meeting. An older leader had to cut him off. Just be careful what you write, these things aren't confidential.
Not sharing enough on my reflection sheets- I think if you read this far you know what's coming. That same leader gave me grief for not sharing "specifically" or thoughtfully enough on my reflection sheets. Knowing what I know now, if I could go back I would copy and paste movie plots from wikipedia onto my reflection sheet.
Not volunteering for skits and a song at someone's wedding - wouldn't you want others to do this for you at your wedding? No, I said, in my head to myself while no one was around. I really wish I had more of a spine back then. I swear these people don't know what the word volunteer means.
Look, just avoid all the mistakes I made above and I'm sure you'll avoid the humiliations and rebukings. Unless I'm missing something here.
I know a lot of what I shared centers around how to relate to the other gender, but it's a major sticking point for them. When I finally got the nerve during graduate school in my mid 20s to ask my leader about dating, they just said I wasn't spiritually ready. I defy anyone in this church To explain what that term means. Pastor Ed telling the congregation that if they like someone, to just call them up and ask them out, feels a lot like Pilate washing his hands in a bowl of water and walking away.
Monday, May 24, 2021
Gracepoint Church Plant Targets (Summer 2021)
This is a list of colleges and universities where Gracepoint plans to start ministries in the summer of 2021.
- Azusa Pacific University (APU)
- Boston College
- Boston University
- Bryn Mawr
- Drexel University
- George Washington University
- Georgetown University
- Harvard University
- Haverford College
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
- Purdue University
- San Jose State University (SJSU)
- Santa Clara University (SCU)
- Stanford University
- Stony Brook University
- Swarthmore College
- Tufts University
- University of California, Merced
- University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (UIUC)
- University of Michigan
- University of Pennsylvania (UPenn)
- University of San Diego (USD)
- University of San Francisco (USF)
- University of Southern California (USC)
- University of Virginia
- University of Virginia (UVA)
- University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Villanova University
- Westmont College
Thursday, May 6, 2021
Gracepoint Groups, A List
A list of current and past Gracepoint churches and Gracepoint groups by campus. Many thanks to @leavegracepoint on Reddit for putting it together.
Churches and affiliated student groups from the Berkland Baptist Church era are mostly not listed (except for the UC Berkeley ones).
Current Groups
A2F
Klesis
IGSM
IUSM (formerly ISM)
MakeNew
make.well
Area Youth Ministry (AYM) College
Advanced Mentorship Program (AMP)
Bay Area Mentors
International Student Mentorship Program (ISMP)
Give Love
Cal MENtorship
5and2
With A Vision (WAV)
Open Door Mentorship
Come One and Come Ball
Visiting Scholar Ministry (VSM)
Recreate Berkeley
Alpha Koinonia Berkeley
Acts2Campus (Acts2CN) Network
Salesforce@UC Berkeley link (Salesforce might have approved the people involved as campus reps since they are employees, but they are using Gracepoint facilities, you draw your own conclusions)
Past Groups
Koinonia (merged with A2F)
Latino Christian Fellowship (LCF)
Alethia
Kairos
International Student Fellowship (ISF)
Crosstalk
Third Space
4Corners
ABSK (Asian Baptist Student Koinonia)
BBC (Berkland Baptist Church)
KBSK (Korean Baptist Student Koinonia)
KBSU (Korean Baptist Student Union)
UC Davis (UCD)
Gracepoint Davis
Koinonia
Aggie Lounge
Aggie International Ministry (AIM)
Thrive
International Student Mentorship Program (ISMP)
Advanced Mentorship Program (AMP)
UC Los Angeles (UCLA)
A2F
Klesis
4Corners
International Student Mentorship Program (ISMP)
Advanced Mentorship Program (AMP)
Gracepoint LA
UC Santa Cruz (UCSC)
Klesis
Advanced Mentorship Program (AMP)
UC San Diego (UCSD)
UCSD A2F
UCSD Klesis
UCSD Cobalt
Area Youth Ministry (AYM) SD
Gracepoint San Diego
Axios SD
IUSM SD
IGSM SD
International Student Mentorship Program (ISMP)
Advanced Mentorship Program (AMP)
UC Irvine (UCI)
International Student Group (ISG)
Klesis Mentorship
Axios UCI
A2F Irvine
makewell Irvine
IGSM Irvine
International Student Mentorship Program (ISMP)
Advanced Mentorship Program (AMP)
UC Santa Barbara (UCSB)
A2F
Klesis Isla Vista
Gracepoint Santa Barbara
Advanced Mentorship Program (AMP)
UC Riverside (UCR)
Movement UCR
A2F
Klesis
[men]tality @ riverside
Advanced Mentorship Program (AMP)
UC Merced
A2F
UC Santa Cruz (UCSC)
Klesis
Gracepoint Santa Cruz
International Student Mentorship Program (ISMP)
Advanced Mentorship Program (AMP)
University of Southern California (USC)
Gracepoint LA
A2F USC
4Corners USC
IGSM USC
International Student Mentorship Program (ISMP)
Advanced Mentorship Program (AMP)
Trojan Tribe
Build Mentorship
University of Minnesota (UMN)
A2F Minnesota
IGSM UMN
The Foundry
Acts2Fellowship Mentorship Program (AMP) UMN
International Student Mentorship Program (ISMP)
Advanced Mentorship Program (AMP)
Gracepoint Minneapolis
University of Pittsburgh (UPitt)
Gracepoint Pittsburgh
A2F UPitt
MakeNew UPitt
Come One Come Ball
Advanced Mentorship Program (AMP)
University of Texas, Austin
Koinonia Texas
IUSM UT Austin
IGSM UT Austin
Kairos ATX
make.well ATX
5and2 Austin (ATX)
Advance Mentorship
Third Space
Area Youth Ministry (AYM) Austin
Advanced Mentorship Program (AMP)
interhigh
University of Washington (UDub)
Gracepoint Seattle
Klesis Seattle
A2F UW
IUSM
International Student Mentorship Program (ISMP)
Advanced Mentorship Program (AMP)
Seattle University
Advanced Mentorship Program (AMP)
Princeton University
Klesis Princeton
Gracepoint New Jersey
Advanced Mentorship Program (AMP)
Northwestern University
MakeNew
Gracepoint Chicago
Advanced Mentorship Program (AMP)
University of Chicago
MakeNew
Thrive Mentorship
Gracepoint Chicago
Advanced Mentorship Program (AMP)
Azusa Pacific University (APU)
Project Build
Advanced Mentorship Program (AMP)
California Institute of Technology (CalTech)
Gracepoint LA
Advanced Mentorship Program (AMP)
Boston University
Advanced Mentorship Program (AMP)
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU)
Klesis
Gracepoint Pittsburgh
Advanced Mentorship Program (AMP)
San Jose State University (SJSU)
Klesis
Advanced Mentorship Program (AMP)
Santa Clara University (SCU)
International Student Mentorship Program (ISMP)
University of Maryland, College Park (UMD)
Kairos
4Corners
Gracepoint DMV
Advanced Mentorship Program (AMP)
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (UNC)
Klesis
A2F
Zoom and Bloom
Area Youth Ministry (AYM) North Carolina
Gracepoint North Carolina
International Student Mentorship Program (ISMP)
Advanced Mentorship Program (AMP)
Rutgers
Klesis
Gracepoint New Jersey
Advanced Mentorship Program (AMP)
International Student Mentorship Program (ISMP)
North Carolina State University (NCSU)
Gracepoint North Carolina
A2F
Advanced Mentorship Program (AMP)
Georgetown University
Gracepoint DMV
Area Youth Ministry (AYM) DMV
Raze College Brotherhood
Advanced Mentorship Program (AMP)
International Student Mentorship Program (ISMP)
George Mason University (GMU)
Gracepoint DMV
[make]new
Project Spotlight
Area Youth Ministry (AYM) DMV
Raze College Brotherhood
Advanced Mentorship Program (AMP)
International Student Mentorship Program (ISMP)
George Washington University (GW)
Gracepoint DMV
Area Youth Ministry (AYM) DMV
Raze College Brotherhood
Advanced Mentorship Program (AMP)
International Student Mentorship Program (ISMP)
American University
Gracepoint DMV
Area Youth Ministry (AYM) DMV
Raze College Brotherhood
Advanced Mentorship Program (AMP)
International Student Mentorship Program (ISMP)
University of Virginia (UVA)
Gracepoint DMV
UVA Mosaic
Area Youth Ministry (AYM) DMV
Advanced Mentorship Program (AMP)
International Student Mentorship Program (ISMP)
San Francisco State University (SFSU)
Koinonia
Gator2Gator
Advanced Mentorship Program (AMP)
University of San Francisco (USF)
Klesis
Koinonia (2007-2009)
Advanced Mentorship Program (AMP)
University of San Diego (USD)
Advanced Mentorship Program (AMP)
San Diego State University (SDSU)
Klesis
Axios House
Advanced Mentorship Program (AMP)
Gracepoint San Diego
CSU Fullerton (CSUF)
4Corners
CSU Sacramento
Gracepoint Davis
CSU Monterey Bay (CSUMB)
Klesis
Advanced Mentorship Program (AMP)
Claremont Colleges
Gracepoint Claremont
Advanced Mentorship Program (AMP)
Westmont College
A2F
Advanced Mentorship Program (AMP)
Loyola Marymount University (LMU)
make.well
Cal Poly Pomona (CPP)
A2F
Gracepoint Pomona
Advanced Mentorship Program (AMP)
Orange Coast College (OCC)
International Student Mentorship Program (ISMP)
4Corners
Foothill College
International Student Mentorship Program (ISMP)
De Anza College
Klesis Bay
International Student Mentorship Program (ISMP)
Ohlone College
Klesis Bay
International Student Mentorship Program (ISMP)
College of Alameda (CoA)
International Student Mentorship Program (ISMP)
Koinonia
Chabot College
International Student Mentorship Program (ISMP)
CSU Long Beach / Long Beach City College (LBCC)
4Corners
Diablo Valley College (DVC)
International Student Mentorship Program (ISMP)
HsinChu, Taiwan
Koinonia
Gracepoint HsinChu
Acts2Campus Network (A2CN) is also a Gracepoint thing.