What does Aftercare look like?
Aftercare is an integral part of The Colony of Mercy Addiction Recovery Program. Aftercare includes the establishment of both Pastoral and Couple’s Covenants with a faithful, committed local church. It consists of an eight-month period of accountability and fellowship with the pastor of the local church, structured accountability, and fellowship with other believers. The Pastoral/Couple’s Covenant is an agreement in the Lord between three parties – America’s Keswick, the individual (or couple), and the church. The covenant is the instrument used to establish goals and objectives that enable the graduates and the accountability partners to track the progress made over the period of time that the covenant is in effect. Spiritual, circumstantial and relational objectives are established so the individuals have a plan of action in maintaining his/her walk with the Lord in the context of the local church.
The Pastoral Covenant is designed for single men that graduate from the Colony to be in a one-on-one discipleship relationship with another man in his church. He will be accountable to his accountability partner for a minimum eight-month period.
The Couple’s Covenant is designed for married couples to be accountable to another married couple in the church for discipleship and fellowship over an eight-month period. It includes a husband’s individual covenant, a wife’s individual covenant, and a couple’s covenant with combined goals and commitments to improve their marriage and family spiritual relationship.
We understand pastors are extremely busy and have limited time. Therefore, we encourage pastors in this situation to designate qualified accountability partners to work directly with the Grad and his family, in conjunction with the Colony of Mercy Chaplain of Aftercare to foster further growth and commitment begun during the residential phase in the Colony of Mercy.