Kirstin Jeffrey Johnson is a George MacDonald scholar who lives on a farm in the Ottawa Valley, Canada. She writes and lectures internationally on MacDonald, the Inklings, the 19th century, and Faith & the Arts. She is on the Advisory Board of Inklings Journal VII, a founding Board Member of the C.S. Lewis & Kindreds Society of Eastern & Central Europe, and co-chair of the George MacDonald Society. She directs Windstone Farm Linlathen, a non-profit that seeks to “cultivate community through Theology, Ecology, & the Arts.” Passionate about (re)integrating ecological care, local community, art, and academia, Kirstin (and WFL) occasionally partners with the environmental network of A Rocha. You can find some of her photography on Instagram: #Mythopoeic_Life

 

Kirstin was the third speaker in Act Five’s Winter Learning Series.

A Wise Imagination

“A wise imagination is the presence of the Spirit of God,” writes George MacDonald—the man C.S. Lewis called his “Master,” as both literary guide and spiritual mentor. He is also the man who, in 1873, responded to a petition from Hamiltonians and added this city to his renowned North American lecture tour.

It’s important to note that MacDonald writes here of a wise imagination. He knew well that the imagination can be lazy, flaccid, uninformed, selfish, or corrupt. And so he invites us to contemplate placing our imaginative abilities into participation with, and under the tutelage of, the Holy Spirit. And then, to anticipate what might thus unfold.

Re-Storied People

MacDonald thought deeply about imagination throughout his life. The only lecture he ever published and repeatedly delivered was a shortened version of his seminal essay, “The Imagination: Its Functions & Its Culture.” If you are familiar with Chesterton’s chapter “Ethics in Elfland” in Orthodoxy, Tolkien’s essay “On Fairy-Stories,” Lewis’s essay “On Stories,” or even Barfield’s Poetic Diction, reading MacDonald’s essay can be startling. Many of the ideas later developed by these writers appear here first, in this essay and in the companion essay that follows it in A Dish of Orts: “Individual Development.”

MacDonald deeply believed that we are created in the image of an imaginative God. So the more deeply we are re-storied – as Christians are continually called and even commanded to be, from the Shema to Elijah, from Christ on the road to Emmaus to the countless faith-shaped voices who have followed – the healthier, more productive and more Christologically revolutionary our Imaginations will be. We are storied in and through our relationships with other humans, our communities and by the non-human creations of the Creator as well. 

As MacDonald writes:

“But while the imagination of man
has thus the divine function of putting thought into form,
it has a duty altogether human,
which is paramount to that function—
the duty, namely, which springs from his immediate relation to the Father,
that of following and finding out
the divine imagination in whose image it was made.
To do this,
the man must watch its signs, its manifestations.
He must contemplate what the Hebrew poets call
the works of His hands.”

MacDonald pushed back against the polarization of Reason from Imagination. To him, they were two sides of the same holy coin: inseparable, mutually dependent, and diminished when isolated from one another. “Poetry is true as Science, and Science is holy as Poetry,” he wrote as a lover of both. Through his entire work he demonstrates how each depends upon the other, and how an imbalance of either’s voice can be dangerous.

Always he is turning our attention back to the One who imagined both us and all of creation into existence:

“[The imagination is]
made in the image of the imagination of God.
Everything of man must have been of God first;
and it will help much towards our understanding of the imagination
and its functions in man
if we first succeed in regarding aright the imagination of God,
in which the imagination of man lives and moves and has its being.”

Compelling Goodness

Lewis, Chesterton, and many others observed that MacDonald possessed a rare gift: he could make Goodness deeply compelling. But MacDonald would argue that he can do this because he engages with the imaginative conversations – the stories and art – of the ‘Clouds of Witnesses’ in our history that have sought to these imaginative conversations. He brought  his own voice and experiences into that conversation, engaging in an antiphony of worship, and out of this, imaginatively new Goodnesses have been brought forth. 

When editing an anthology of such writers, MacDonald described himself as a “Master of the Hearing.” He wanted readers not merely to encounter individual voices, but to hear the beautiful antiphony that arises when lovers of God’s Story respond not only to the Gospel as found in the original texts, but respond to the responses, sounding out even more beautifully for the joint participation:

“No man could sing as he sung, had not others sung before him. Deep answereth unto deep, face to face, praise to praise. To the sound of the trumpet the harp returns its own vibrating response—alike but oh how different!”

Isn’t that invitationally stunning?

We can be in a chorus, should we choose, with all these glorious voices of old. To what might each of us give voice? What might we write, or sing, or paint, or tell, or do, if we were even more deeply storied? If we were even more immersed in relationship with the writings, and songs, and art of those who through the ages have sought themselves to better know God’s Truth, Goodness, and Beauty? 

George MacDonald was once well-loved by Hamiltonians. The Spectator archives alone are full of evidence of this, over the decades and well into the twentieth century. What would it look like for Hamiltonians today to also remember this chapter in the lives of their civic ancestors, to interweave the stories of then with the stories of before and thus sing a new song, in wise imagination, for the Hamilton of today? 

Thanks for reading. 

We hope you’ll continue following the conversations shaping life at Act Five. New reflections and stories are published regularly, and we’ll be sharing more reflections from this year’s Winter Learning Series speakers in the weeks ahead.

Keep Exploring!

Learn more about act five

Discover Act Five’s Gap Year and Residency Programs, join our community events or learn more about our mission and vision.

Support Act Five

Act Five exists because of the generosity of people who believe in forming young adults for lives of purpose and service. Make a one-time gift or become a monthly supporter.

The post Clouds of Witnesses – Kirstin Jeffrey Johnson appeared first on Act Five: Community Initiatives for Young Adults.

The Way to Home

February 2024, the Act Five staff and board gathered in the prayer room hosted by the Greater Ontario House of Prayer (GOHOP) here in Hamilton. With GOHOP partners joining our circle, we moved through a time of prayer to grieve, pray and let go of Act Five’s home at 75 Blake St.

We had walked a road with the owner of this home – a man who purchased the home for Act Five’s use prior to its first program year in 2019 – but could not come to a reasonable agreement to be able to purchase the home. Between what an appraisal deemed as the value of the home and the asking price of the owner lay a $1 million difference. 

The lack of being able to purchase the home meant we could not viably renovate the space and could not afford to continue under our current rental agreement. It was clear that the decision was to actively pursue a new home for Act Five. Staff members continued to pray, wait and plead with God for a way to open at Blake St, but the work began to move on and move out.

Fast forward 9 months. December 2024. Act Five had completed a Strategic Planning process to organize the priorities for Act Five in the years ahead. This process made clear 3 themes for our organization and community:

Establish Home
Rooting Act Five in a sustainable home base unlocks all that Act Five might grow into in the years to come.

Open Doors
Prioritizing financial accessibility for all who desire to join Act Five and leading program that allows more people to be formed here.

Tell Our Story
Through communication and recruitment development, along with strong partnerships and new initiatives, we must tell our story widely and clearly.

It was clear that, for us to know which doors we were opening and what story we were to tell, our first priority – establishing home – was an immediate priority.

As executive director of Act Five, and as a foolishly hopeful person at times, I wrote to the owner one more time in December 2024. I articulated again our longings to remain at 75 Blake St and offered a price, only $50,000 more than we had offered back in January 2024. I pressed send and let go. This was it. A last shot. 

One Last Knock

I had pursued many other options in Hamilton at this point, each place landing as a clear no for various reasons. 75 Blake St was our home. Until the door was shut entirely, I could not imagine anything else. This email represented a final knock on the door.

A day later, the owner replied – “I want to work with you…” followed by an offer within reason of ours. Something had changed. The winds had turned.

One month later, on January 17, 2025, the owner signed an offer sheet to sell 75 Blake St to Act Five. We met in the middle of our previous offers, and he requested a quick process – we had only 2.5 months to secure necessary funding which was, to put it mildly, an optimistic goal.

Yet, we had prayed. A door had opened. So we stepped through.

By March 23, 2025, a week before our deadline, we crossed the funding minimum needed to secure the purchase of 75 Blake St – a huge day of celebration. Two months later, on May 30th, we closed on the property and took over ownership of the home that has already welcomed and been central in the shaping of over 135 young adults. 

Plans for the Future

We have only begun to know and love our neighbours and neighbourhood. Our gardens remain in their early years. Our kitchens and living spaces are not yet what we imagine they might be. The dreams of all those who now get to come through these doors, hear stories in this basement, sing and dance and share meals around these tables… these dreams are now allowed to grow to become something real.

“Act Five has established our home.”

As I write, plans are in place to begin renovations this summer – drainage improvements, electrical upgrades, new windows and bathrooms – and those plans ramp up in 2027. God’s grace through the generosity of many has been humbling to witness these past months and we are hopeful that this might continue. There remains another $1.3 million to raise for us to complete our plans to renovate and pay back short-term loans that helped us get where we are today.

For now though, this is a good story. If you agree, will you share it with others? Invite your community into the story of what God is doing here and join with us as we hope toward what God might do here in the years to come. (Consider requesting copies of our Spring 2025 issue of “Life on the Porch” to get onto more coffee tables!)

Act Five is committed to stewarding this home at 75 Blake St. We are committed to being a faithful presence in the Blakely neighbourhood and city of Hamilton; in this place, we look forward to welcoming more students, residents, staff, community members and guests that they might be welcomed, shaped and inspired.

Thank you for being on this road with us.

Sincerely,

Jon Berends, Executive Director

If you are interested in learning more about Act Five’s ongoing Capital Project: “Establishing Home”, visit www.actfive.ca/EstablishingHome. We would love for you to be part of the story in the year ahead.

The post Establishing Home appeared first on Act Five: Community Initiatives for Young Adults.

The students, staff, and tenants here at 75 Blake St have echoed the invitation over and over again, more times than I could count. Friends, family members, classmates, neighbours, and Act Five alumni have all been invited and happily attended. And so have others: people we’ve encountered in coffee shops or bus stops, people we’ve met on Deedz or at community events, friends of friends of friends. The list goes on.

But our invitations, though graciously received, are usually also met with tilted heads and furrowed brows: What is that? What does that mean?

Spaghetti Wednesday, on the surface, is exactly what it sounds like. Every week, on Wednesday, the residents of 75 Blake St host a community meal—usually spaghetti, but not always!—for any and all who want to join. But in practice, it is and has become something more. Something deeply meaningful.

Since September of 2021, I have been a tenant in the Act Five house, and I have loved simply doing life alongside the students and staff. The other tenants and I have been invited to join meals, participate in program events, and even attend some retreats. We have gone on walks, hikes, and Willard’s runs together. We have played games and watched movies, had snowball fights and dance parties, talked late into the night on the kitchen floor. We have laughed and we have cried alongside all the other members of this home. We are not students, and we are not staff, but we are still every bit a part of this community.

Community is integral to Act Five, both as a program and as a home. Everything about the way we try to live in this house professes it. I’m learning that when it comes to Act Five, it is impossible to participate independently. It is impossible to be an outside observer. The moment you step through the doors of 75 Blake St, you become part of something larger than yourself. A community. A home. 

Spaghetti Wednesday, then, is a way for us to extend that community beyond ourselves. It’s a way for us to practice hospitality and generosity, to welcome people—often strangers to most of us—into our home. To open our arms, our doors, and our table to others. Anyone and everyone. As we have been welcomed, as we have been loved, Spaghetti Wednesday allows us to do the same.

When the students and resident leaders are away on trips, it’s up to us—the tenants—to manage Spaghetti Wednesday. This means that I have been present for nearly every Spaghetti Wednesday that occurred during the 2021-2022 Act Five year.

Over this time, I’ve seen a vast multitude of Wednesday meals. Glorious, sunny days at the picnic tables in the backyard. Rainy evenings with all the housemates and guests crammed shoulder-to-shoulder into our main floor living room. I’ve seen over fifty people share a spaghetti meal together at this home. I’ve seen meals with less than ten. But in all my time since I moved into the Act Five house, I have never experienced a Spaghetti Wednesday without at least one guest.

Jesus extended love by sharing meals with others, eating with those who were shunned or cast out. And by doing so, he elevated them. He honoured them and showed them respect. He treated them as friends. Through Spaghetti Wednesday, we seek to honour others. To respect them. To extend the love of Christ to all. What better way to do so than by breaking bread—garlic bread perhaps—together?

The spirit of Spaghetti Wednesday, I think, is captured perfectly by its founder, Jill Weber. One of Act Five’s favourite songs has been a song she wrote called “Even the Sparrow”. Each time we sing these lyrics as a house, we are reminded how necessary community is to participate in God’s Kingdom. We are reminded that gathering around the table is a holy act. In singing these words together, we echo the meaning of Spaghetti Wednesday:

Table is set
I will sit down
Surrounded by friends
And feast.

If you’re reading this, consider yourself invited to a Wednesday dinner!

Will you consider donating to Spaghetti Wednesday? We are always accepting donations of spaghetti supplies and rely on the support of our wider community to make these meals happen! Spaghetti noodles (both gluten-free and not), crushed tomatoes, vegetables, and bread are always welcome. To give supplies, contact info@actfive.ca.

Furthermore, Act Five is becoming an independent organization and would love for you to consider becoming a financial supporter, whether through a one-time gift or monthly gift. To do so, go to www.actfive.ca/give.

Thanks!

The post Spaghetti Wednesdays & Community at 75 Blake St. appeared first on Act Five: Community Initiatives for Young Adults.

Moving is rarely simple. 

Aside from wrapping knick-knacks in bubble wrap, boxing up books, removing pictures from walls, there also were the good-bye parties, late-night conversations with dear ones, cherishing all the “lasts” while anticipating all the things to come. A significant time to be sure. 

As I reminisce today about all the preparations made, I can’t help but consider this theme of packing up and moving as a metaphor for life within the Act Five family. 

Bear with me as I unpack this a bit.

Deciding what Belongs

Packing up required Autumn to sort through things that belonged to her – many things she had kept for years. It was tedious work. A lot of decisions had to be made. She had to be thorough because, well, she’d just have to unpack it on the other side! 

Similarly throughout the school year, Act Five students had opportunities to sort through things that “belonged” to them – kindness, self-control, discernment, mercy, justice, impatience, fear, selfishness. As they sorted, they pondered:

Do I value this enough to take it with me? 

What do I want to give away or throw out?

Is this taking up too much space? 

As a follower of Jesus, does this really matter?

What do I want to have more space for?

Reflecting is tedious work – after all, some things had been kept for many years. Thoroughness mattered, because, not only were they eager to get rid of the extra weight, they also wanted to create space for things that mattered to them. Things like:
the habit of paying attention, the experience of solitude, the discipline of gratitude, the intentionality of loving “place”, the gift of hospitality, the desire to listen to others, and more.

Time was carved out regularly for students to pause, journal, and sort out their “belongings”, encouraging them to ask hard questions of what they wanted to hold on to as one who claims to love the Light. 

Living Through the Mess 

Packing up last August was a messy job. Disassembled furniture, labeled boxes, endless tasks and to-do lists. What overshadowed it all was the second-guessing of how it will all turn out. Messy on many levels.

What does “messy” look like in a home filled with 12 young adults? Dishes piled high and floors covered in clothes for sure! But how about hurt feelings or relational conflict? Things done with selfish motives or crises of faith? Words spoken too quickly, or words not spoken at all? How about the weight of listening to the stories from the Six Nations People, or the jet lag after the month in Zambia? And, in the end, the stay-at-home order that took these friends out of the comforts of Blake Haven a month earlier than planned.

As the students experienced the brokenness in themselves and the world, they were encouraged to bring their beliefs to bear on these situations. A quote in one of Autumn’s Act Five notebooks reads:

Head knowledge ends when you are faced with poverty and suffering.

And later she scribbled: 

Theology is meant to be in service to our love – it’s more than just ideas. We can’t always explain, we have to experience.

Explanations on their own rarely suffice. As parents, we are grateful for the intentional experiences that were designed into the Act Five Gap Year Program. Through the varied experiences (marvelous as well as messy!), Godly mentors came alongside the students to help make sense of the brokenness they felt and saw. They were encouraged to wrestle with the uncomfortable things happening in and around them. They were provided with a safe place to talk through the messy experiences. Many questions were answered and conflicts resolved. Some were not, and students had the opportunity to sit in the tension. With loving guides, head knowledge began connecting with their hearts, helping them to change, and transforming them more into the image of Christ. Hope replaced despair as they were called to look up to the Father who is constant and steadfast.

Doing it Together

Back to the moving metaphor. Have you ever tried packing up or moving alone? Although Autumn hadn’t accumulated many earthly possessions, I sense she was thankful to have her family by her side on moving day. On her final weekend at home, we had a good-bye celebration to give loved ones an opportunity to send her off. God places us in families and communities because He knows we need each other.

Community is an integral part of the design of the Act Five Program. Students live, work, serve, pray, eat, learn, and study together, and there is a clear understanding that the most crucial venue for discipleship is community. Jesus modeled this as He brought His disciples together in close contact – spiritually, socially & emotionally. It’s no wonder that the first Act Five cohort endearingly called themselves, “the disciples”. They flourished as they were mentored and cared for by Jon & Aimee, Dave & Nina, Alyssa, Elise, and others who spoke into their lives, prayed with and for them, taught, and encouraged them, laughed and cried with them.

The students also were given opportunities to learn from and be part of the diverse community around them. They participated in co-ops including the Barton Street BIA (Business Improvement Area), Indwell and the 541 Eatery & Exchange. They made connections with several authors, poets, artists, and more. Travelling further afield, students enjoyed learning about other communities during their trips to Temagami, Six Nations Reserve, Zambia and Pittsburgh. All reinforcing the understanding that we were designed to do life in community.

Conclusion

All three parts of the packing up process were necessary for Autumn to launch into her post-secondary adventure. She needed to sort through her belongings, live through the mess, and do it together with others. All of these same pieces helped prepare her for the next step in her journey: moving into Blake Haven and thriving, growing and changing as a Beloved Child of the King.

May God continue to receive the glory for all that is happening within the Act Five community.

– Sarah

The post A Moving Story, by Sarah Bosch appeared first on Act Five: Community Initiatives for Young Adults.

What ends up coming out – usually with a lot of hand movements and audible over-the-top enthusiasm on my part – are variations on the following:

1. There are crises among young adults that we – as Christians especially – must take seriously.  These crises express themselves as a struggle to find direction, a fragile sense of identity, significant issues surrounding mental health, and the loss of faith in Jesus and/or the church.  To take this seriously, we must listen well, read well, and prayerfully come up with creative responses to what young adults are trying to tell us.
2. Choosing to go to university or college immediately after high school can be a good choice for many – but this choice should not be treated as the default.  Why are we in such a rush?
3. The assumption that students who take a “year off” after high school will get behind – less likely to go back to school, losing their way in some shape or form – is a myth.  What matters far more is what students do with an alternative year before pursuing a post-secondary pathway.  The benefits of an intentional gap year can be comprehensively positive in developing grounded, resilient, compassionate, and faithful young adults.
4. There is too great a cost for us – meaning any of us who have a role in investing in, shepherding, teaching, pastoring, leading, or mentoring young people – to not take seriously what we are seeing in and hearing from young adults around us.  We must re-imagine how we think about education, formation, discipleship and where we invest our time and resources.  In many cases, this means revisiting questions around the true end of education as a Christian and the way we measure success or assign value.

With the above being said about the broader cultural moment (i.e. outside of the reality of the Covid-19 pandemic), the question for me recently has been,

“How does this current crisis – this pandemic – shift the conversation around gap years one way or another?”

I hear two trends currently in the landscape of gap year programs such as Act Five.

Firstly, I hear that there are good reasons why families and young people will not be choosing to participate in gap year programs given the current climate.  Many of these reasons are financial, which makes sense as many have had their economic situations altered significantly and simply cannot afford the financial cost of alternative programs, whether these are branded as gap year programs, discipleship schools or otherwise.  With governments doing all they can to support students going to university and college, this reason for not choosing a program like Act Five is further supported.

Secondly, however, I hear the growing concerns for young adults.  The lack of direction or readiness for post-secondary schooling in an uncertain climate, the non-monetary costs of losing meaningful community for a generation that already has felt this cost in the digital age, and the question that we must ask,

How are we preparing Christian young adults to flourish in a world – and participate in its flourishing – that is now more poignantly unpredictable in light of Covid-19?

Crises, historically, have a tendency to push individuals, communities, institutions and societies toward change in one direction or another.  Among the pain and loss associated with the Covid-19 pandemic, there is also an opportunity for us to examine culture, the church and our own lives in a way that can lead to new life.  As Christians we are asked to live our days in a manner that expects life to come out of death, as a rhythm central to the fabric of the gospel.

My hope is that, whether or not Act Five is the right fit for the young adult in your life, we can all find ourselves having more intentional conversations around the four points named above.  Furthermore, all of us can afford to be continually asking important questions around how we are pursuing discipleship with Jesus, and how we are supporting the young adults in our lives to do the same in meaningful ways.

I have great hope for how Act Five will be able to respond to this current moment in preparing young adults to flourish in today’s world, and I am grateful to be part of this conversation.

Be safe and well, finding Christ in unexpected places,

The post Does a Christian Gap year program make sense during the Covid-19 pandemic? appeared first on Act Five: Community Initiatives for Young Adults.