The closure of AACCS is surely a very difficult reality to face. At the beginning, mixed feelings of grief and worry about staff and clients surfaced. Prayer walks helped me to experience the Lord’s presence and comfort, and to see the situation from a Kingdom perspective. I would like to share my reflections about AACCS that have emerged over the past weeks.
1) What brought you here?
During the April 18 All Staff Zoom meeting, I was amazed to hear each person’s response to “What brought you to AACCS?” Staff shared how they were drawn by the mission of AACCS, the desire to provide Christian counseling, to care for missionaries and ministers. These qualities in the staff and love for God are priceless and made our services so unique.
2) What did you do in this place?
Our therapists’ sacrificial service was evident not only in providing counseling sessions for discounted fees, but by the amount of time they volunteered for pastoral consultations, community outreach, overseas member care, and even for house-keeping chores in each of our offices.
How could AACCS do so much with our limited resources for 34 years? Praise be to God for all the faithful support from our supporting churches, generous individual donors like you. Recently, AACCS received a good donation from an anonymous party after they heard about our financial crisis and the urgent need for help with our closing costs. We were amazed by this provision from the Lord who comforted us and confirmed our decision to cease operations. We continue to trust in His future provision, so that we can finish well. As the Apostle Paul said, we were “poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything” (2 Corinthians 6:10).
3) Where are you going?
I am so grateful to our board members who graciously provided training to our therapists on “How to Start a Private Practice.” After their training and the All Staff Zoom meeting, I sensed the elevation of morale and hope. I admire our staff’s persistent passion to provide Christian counseling and member care. Most of them are pondering whether or not to start a private practice in order to continue their mission. Please pray for our staff in this process. Proverbs 4:18 asserts, “The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.”
In Acts 13:36, Paul states, “Now when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep.” It is time for AACCS to pass the baton to individual therapists who hold the same passion as our organization. The ministry will be transformed into “God’s model,” not necessarily “AACCS’ model”—a model that is more modernized, flexible and cost-effective.
Our Lord measures AACCS not by whether we keep our doors open or closed, but by the faith and integrity we have upheld in the past 34 years, and will continue to uphold during the closing process. Pastor Cory recently exhorted, “Let’s close the agency with integrity and bring Glory to God. I would like to add, with “INTEGRITY AND DIGNITY!”
Iris Wong, LMFT, Executive Director
