The Good News – A Production By Acts2Fellowship

Our on campus organization Acts2Fellowship has been active at UCR since 2010. Now and then people would ask, “What is Acts2Fellowship about? Are you guys a theater club?” I can see how they might think that because in theater they have different “acts” that are parts of the theatrical performance. Although that would have been a cool concept for a theater club, we got Acts2Fellowship from the bible. Looking at chapter 2 in the book Acts, and more specifically at verses 42 to 47, our networks’ founding college ministry members decided that this is the kind of community that they aspired to foster. 

“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” Acts 2: 42-27

This is the picture of Christian community that we strive for. What this looked like for us this year was meeting to delve deeper into God’s word through bible study and daily devotions, having fellowship time by being with one another on campus and in each other’s homes, and eating a lot of good food together. While we enjoy spending all this time together we also try to collectively do things to share our faith with others, such as putting on special events at UCR, where anyone is welcomed to come and hear about what the bible has to say about different topics. In addition to being at UCR, we also went to the CSUSB campus. We were able to talk to people, put on a service, and offered career and spiritual mentorship for those who were interested. 

Some of us went to CSUSB to do a prayer walk.

As the end of the school year was approaching we started to wonder how we could finish it off in an impactful and meaningful way. With the inspiration from our Acts2 Network Boston church, we decided in mid-April that we would take on the endeavor of putting on a theatrical performance so that we could share The Good News with our peers, family, and friends. Looking at our group, we don’t seem the most qualified group to do so because many of the students and mentors do not have theatrical experience whatsoever, but we all took on different roles so that collectively we could take on this big endeavor. 

Our hope was that through this event we could convey the simple gospel message. The gospel means good news and the good news that we are sharing is the good news of Jesus Christ. We believe that Jesus restores our relationship with God through his sacrifice on the cross. As it says in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” This is the good news that we received and believe to be true and because it is such good news we wanted to share it with others!

In the end, we were able to marvel at how God really worked through this event. One major highlight is that we got to witness 7 people responding to the invitation to accept the Gospel. Praise the Lord for these salvations!