Act Five, Year Three: Here we go!
Here we go! Another year at Act Five is upon us. Wahoo! It’s happening! Students will be moving into our home on Blake Street in less than a week!! The summer has flown by and we are ready to dive into another year.
Our resident leaders moved into the house last week and have joined in the planning process with the other staff. This year, we have Julia joining us on the staff team and it has been exciting to get to know her and imagine what it will be like to have her as part of our community this year.
A lot of conversations have gone into planning for the year ahead. As a staff team and alongside our families and communities in and outside of Hamilton, we have been praying about and dreaming about what this new year with Act Five will look like. With each year of Act Five, we learn more about who we are and what our place is in the ecosystem of Hamilton. We are still growing and learning and changing as we go.
Last year was a journey of living out our mission to be people who faithfully improvise. We don’t intend to stop doing that. We are confident of the plans that we have made, but we hold them loosely, knowing that God is guiding us and has a lot in store for each of us this year. We desire to be a community that is open to the movement of the Spirit in ways that allow us to change plans and follow Jesus without hesitation.
During our time of staff training, we have talked about how we are cultivators of soil. Like the backyard garden that Alyssa tends to, we tend to the places and relationships that are the foundation of our program. We tend to our own relationships with Jesus, so that we can invite students to walk alongside us. We create the environment for growth to happen in young adults, but we rejoice in the fact that it is God who does the growing. He is the one who will bring restoration and fullness of life to those who walk in his light. We are grateful that Act Five is a community that has a lot of people working together to equip young adults to wholeheartedly pursue Jesus Christ and live faithfully in a world full of complexity.
The biggest part of our community isn’t even here yet! We are so thrilled to be welcoming 11 new students into our home. We are expectant of the ways that God will move in us this year. In these last few days, we are praying for these incoming students as they wrap up their summers and get ready for a big transition. We ask you to join us in praying! We trust that God will be with these students and families as they prepare for the change that is before them.
As we prepare for a new cohort of students, I can’t help but think of our students from previous years. I find myself reminiscing about the joys of last year and thinking about the moments of learning and love and growth that were so meaningful in our community. I also think about the lazy afternoons with tea and conversation, the worship sessions that extended and turned into massage trains, the big job of doing dishes after a community dinner, and the quiet moments of waiting in the living room for dinner to be ready. It was good and beautiful and ordinary and I’m excited for what those moments will look like this year – this time with new faces.
To the new faces that will be joining us: we already love you! I believe God has given us all to each other to be travellers on the way together. We will share in the journey together for these next 8 months in big and beautiful ways, and then we will go on our ways to the lives before us, to different communities and places and people. We are ready to welcome you richly and share our lives with you.
To our friends, families, supporters and neighbours: we love you too! We are thankful for the ways that you pour into our community. We are so blessed by the support that we have received so far. Every bit of encouragement is a reminder that God’s kingdom is indeed coming. His Spirit is working in the hearts of many, and we are grateful to be a part of that movement. Please pray that we continue to be sustained by our Lord Jesus Christ, and that we would have wisdom in the year ahead.
Big things are before us! Thank you for walking with us.
Stay tuned for more updates!
– Abby