Who Should Become an ACT 3 Cohort Member?

The most important question you should ask, if you have any interest in our new ACT 3 Missional-Ecumenical Cohort program, is this: "Who should invest the time and money in this process and apply to join an ACT 3 Cohort group?"

Alcoholics Anonymous operates on a rather simple philosophy with a bare bones amount of structure. To join an AA Group you must have a problem, namely the abuse of alcohol. Second, you must be willing to pay the price to change your behavior by investing your time, and thus to some extent your money, in a group process where there is real learning, accountability and life-long change. Finally, you must be willing to use the famous Twelve Steps to grow toward sobriety and then to maintain that sobriety. 

The ACT 3 Missional-Ecumenical Cohort groups operate in much the same way. To join a group you must have a recognized need. You must know that you need to grow deeper in your interior spiritual life. If you have this need then you must desire to join a group that will seek to help you improve your practice of spiritual life in the Trinity. Second, you must desire to enter into the prayer of Jesus in John 17 in order to become an answer, not a barrier, to his expressed intention for unity. Third, you must desire to understand missional theology (our "sentness" which comes from God the Father) and want to learn how to live this theology out very practically in your personal and corporate lifestyle. 

The Cohort model is thus built on these three core principles. We call these our "Three Steps." 

1. You must desire to develop your interior life in a rich texture of spiritual formation that draws from the whole Christian tradition so that you can learn how to intentionally seek after God with your whole heart, mind, soul and strength (Matthew 22:37). 

2. You must enter into the unity prayer of our Lord Jesus (John 17:20-23), a prayer for our relational oneness, and strive with all your heart to truly and faithfully love all your brothers and sisters as modeled by Jesus (John 13:34-35). 

3. You must seek to grasp what is meant by missional theology and grow into a clear understanding of why it is vitally important in order that you will practice the spiritual art of missional leadership in your local church or mission context (John 20:21).

Each ACT 3 Cohort meets around these three core principles and the curriculum is built upon it. Those who are mentored in an ACT 3 Missional-Ecumenical Cohort group will continue to learn after their eight month training process is completed. Some will be called and trained to become mentors who can facilitate new ACT 3 Cohort groups as the Lord raises them up in the coming years. The mentors will be coached and then paid to lead a group(s) and thus they will become a part of the extended mission of ACT 3. 

You can learn more about these newly forming ACT 3 Cohort groups on our home page.