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Frequently Asked Questions Questions People Ask What is the Association for Christian Character Development? The Association for Christian Character Development (ACCD) is a non-profit organization dedicated to serving God and others by providing trainings and other educational materials focused on individuals, faith-based organizations, and churches, transforming what matters most to them into reality. ACCD's objective is to serve others in a way that will enable them to deepen their love for God, His word, and others. Founded in 1994 by Daniel and Aileen Tocchini, ACCD produces a variety of trainings, includding the Discovery Seminar, the Breakthrough Training, The Clearing, and the One Accord Marriage Workshop, as well as Leadership Trainings and Small Group Trainings for churches and non-profit organizations. To whom is ACCD accountable? As an organization, ACCD is accountable to its nine-member board of directors. ACCD subscribes to the tenets of Christianity as condensed by the historical Church in the Apostle's Creed and the Nicene Creed, as well as a Declaration of Faith: We stand that Jesus Christ is the source and the object of our faith, hope, and love. We hold that Jesus Christ is The Good News given by God to humankind to create order out of chaos and releases beauty by healing the sick, freeing the captives, and raising the dead. We have confidence in the promises of God as revealed in the Bible: that God sent Him to die for the sins of the world, then raising Him from the dead. He descended into hell, then ascended to heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father. Our faith is that, through the resurrection, He has defeated death and all that came with it: fear, worry, greed, envy, injustice, materialism, despair, and selfishness. We accept the responsibility given to us by Jesus, as citizens of His kingdom, to steward our freedom by loving others in the same way that He loves us. We are grateful for the gift of the Holy Spirit given by Jesus to us on the day of Pentecost for comfort and counsel. We have confidence in the power of Jesus Christ to forgive sins and reconcile men to God and to one another. We gratefully accept the ministry of reconciliation given us by Jesus as our Lord. As individuals, we take responsibility to engage the power of prayer, worship, and communion in the strengthening of our community, nation, and world by doing His will and not our own. Together we celebrate His life, death, and resurrection in us as individuals and as community. As He has instructed us, we rejoice in His eternal victory and are grateful to share in His glorious nature. What Is a Training? A training is a structured opportunity for transformation. Transformation is a skillful way of inquiring which opens possibility where, up until that moment, there was none. The skill of inquiring increases self-awareness and meaningful reflection in your relationship with God and others and generates resource for acting powerfully. Whatever you engage in during the training becomes an opening for discovery, learning, and action. Our trainings and seminars last three or four days. During that time, there are a combination of lectures, exercises, and feedback. You can expect homework during break times and in the evening. During the events, lectures are given by the trainer to introduce key principles. Exercises are designed to give the participant an opportunity to discover, learn, and act upon the key influencers at work in their lives. Sometimes, a participant will be asked to give feedback about what was revealed about their assumptions, the impact of those assumptions on their actions, and the impact those actions or lack of actions had on others during the exercises. What Trainings Are Available? How Much Do They Cost? Discovery: the three-day Discovery Seminar provides attendees the opportunity to discover and apply the principles that make life worth living. Specific practices include living as powerfully as possible; connecting with others meaningfully; pursuing the vision God has for you; appreciating the unique gift a person is; enjoying trust filled, honest relationships; overcoming limiting fears and beliefs. Discovery is not a set of formulas, advice, dogmatic practices, or an organized set of rules designed to give you the answers to living life so you can be successful. It is designed to support you transforming or shifting in what you believe is possible in your relationships with God and others. With a change in perspective, many other aspects of life begin to shift or transform. The transformation experienced in the Discovery Seminar involves all parts of your life: intellectual, emotional, physical, and spiritual. At times, participants experience thoughts, feelings, or sensations that they may not have explored thoroughly previously. This is a fascinating journey for most participants, but it may include a high degree of personal challenge. Breakthrough: the four-day Breakthrough Training gives participants an opportunity to discover and realign the belief systems governing their lives. It serves to help participants experience a transformation in their ability to love others as Christ loves them while liberating their consciences to fulfill God's unique purposes for them with freedom, passion, and power. Specific objectives include discerning and integrating feedback from others; opening new resources for communicating; overcoming bitterness and other relational blocks and reaching forgiveness; releasing creativity; connecting vitally with what one values most; expressing love in a way that is actually experienced by others; appreciating differing points of view; becoming internally motivated to act powerfully from one's vision of a life worth living. One Accord: the One Accord Workshop is a three-day workshop for couples designed to demonstrate how God uses the covenant of marriage to accomplish His purpose in us as individuals, family, community, and church in the world. The marriage commitment always turns out to be more than what is expected and much more than we originally negotiated it to be! Marriage compels us into the unknown -- for that is its purpose -- to get us out beyond our doubts, out of the shallows, and into the unpredictable depths of an encounter with the living God and one another. In the One Accord Workshop, through sharing and purposeful exercises with your spouse, you will have the opportunity to take a look at the tremendous possibilities within your marriage:
Is the Breakthrough Training Confrontational? Yes, it can be. What we mean by confront is defined in Noah Webster's 1828 Dictionary as: The act of bringing two persons into the presence of each other for examination and discovery of truth. The confrontation you are invited to consider is between what you say matters to you and the way you are actually being with people. You will be invited into exploring the difference between your current reality and your vision of a future worth having. You will also be invited to explore how you are being in relationship to the Golden Rule. You are asked to confront the reality of your life based on your actions, not your intentions. You are challenged to confront yourself through a rigorous process of inquiry about your current internal and external reality. Participants are encouraged to use the discomfort or tension they may experience to compel them to act powerfully toward what most matters to them. Why Do I have To Sign a Hold Harmless Agreement in the Breakthrough Training? We recognize that our trainings are not for everyone. We don't believe in any one-size-fits-all approach, and for this reason, we take extra effort to make sure participants are well-supported and are clear about the rigor of The Breakthrough Training. Overall, the training is made for individuals with a healthy mindset. Just as you wouldn't recommend that someone with a bad heart run on a treadmill for hours, those with psychological difficulties are probably not suited for the training. For example, if an individual has been hospitalized at any time for psychological reasons, we recommend that they don't take the training. If someone is taking a psychotropic drug and is unable to have their physician sign a release form, they will be unable to participate in a Breakthrough Training. Throughout the support, and at the beginning of the training, all training participants are given sufficient information about the training to decide if it suits their needs and would be a support for them in their lives. The Hold Harmless Agreement serves to reinforce the individual's understanding and responsibility for choosing to participate in a training. What Will I Be Asked To Keep Confidential? As a participant, you'll be asked to keep strict confidentiality regarding the experiences of the other participant's experiences in the training. The purpose of this ground rule is to protect the privacy of others. Are You New Age? Are you a Cult? No and no. A cult is an organization of people where individuals look to another person to decide for them how they will act or live their lives, what is right or wrong, who to believe or not, and who to include or exclude from one's life. A cult seeks to separate people from their family, friends, and community-at-large and become the exclusive family and community for an individual. A cult claims to have a "lock" on "the Truth" and condemns and ostracizes those who don't think as they do. A cult warns others not to participate with any other group that doesn't believe the way they do. A cult maintains the rights to a person's time, emotional energy, financial resources, and expertise. A cult seeks to defame those who oppose them. ACCD has no exclusive membership available for our participants and seeks to encourage individuals to join a church or faith community to work out their salvation in fear and trembling or to contribute fully to the church or faith community to which individuals may already be committed. ACCD actually challenges people to think for themselves, owning failures and successes, to strengthen learning with regard to community contribution and individual transformation. Volunteers can participate as volunteer team members, but will not qualify should they attempt to make ACCD their exclusive source of fellowship. ACCD is dedicated to inquiry, which fundamentally assumes that one never completely knows the Truth, nor will one ever fully know the Truth in this lifetime. Nothing ACCD publishes or does in its trainings is designed to direct people away from other groups in the Faith. ACCD is affiliated with a number of churches of differing emphases. |