Addiction Survival in the Churches

A difficult area of ministry involves deep recovery.? Folks get embroiled in a substance or process addiction and then come to Christ.? We'd love to see them instantly healed.? Reality most often is an involvment in the process of sanctification and renewing of the mind.? This is intense and necessary.??

Along with the addictions, come folks trapped in depression or anxiety and even suicidal ideations.? All of these can involve not only prebelievers and new believers but mature believers that slip for a season.

How as the church, the loving fellowship (koinonia), the called out to do good (ekklesia), can we effectively minister?

Over the last ten years, our Christian non-profit, SOLUM, worked with graduating 900 folks from workshops on thinking and relational skills, parenting, and anger resolution from a Biblical foundation and psychological and sociological evidence base.? The journey is exhausting.? Many have come to Christ and found rest in church homes.? Many have adapted new lifestyles, but stayed disconnected from Christ.? All received a chance to change.

While assessing our successes and not so successes (https://solumcommunity.net/stories), I decided to develop training and information for other Christians on the path that might help those interested in getting to the next level.? Our communities are chaotic with loneliness, depression, anxiety, addiction and more.? Our faith in Christ gives us access to the unlimited wisdom and power of the Holy Spirit to help.

It is usually someone or some group of someones in a congregation that get this going.? Ministers are busy enough.??

Here is a quick list of actions any can take to get moving in the direction of helping and establing an effective recovery outreach that builds the kingdom.? What follows is a direct excerpt from a quick read that helps Strong Spiritual Mind Emotion - the Transformational Christian in the Transformational Church

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10. Building an Outreach As you study through this you may be considering developing a sensitive outreach for recovery or support or small group or other.? There are good, Biblical principles for doing this that help ensure success.? Here are simple considerations.

Start with Prayer for Vision

Give yourself time to pray and listen to the Holy Spirit for a clear vision of what the ministry is supposed to accomplish.? What is the result in the lives of those you intend to reach?

Move to Mission

Mission tells you how you will practically walk out the vision. There are many ways to get the same result.? Which are the ways you see in the beginning?

Get the Right People Alongside

Every team needs a mix of folks with motivational gifts.? Administrative, teaching, giving, mercy, encouragement, insight (prophesy), hospitality and help make a good balance.? You need at least four people. They can have any mix of these, but you need them.

Romans 12?I beseech[a] you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your [b]reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. 4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. 6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

Every work of the church should be established with counsel.

As you begin to see the vision clearly, talk to the leadership of the local church.? Whether you have an eldership or pastors lead team or single pastor-leader or committee driven or congregation vote, you need to know and let them have input before you get too far developed.

Establish Good Team Guidelines

Work on unity and fellowship and commitment to each other before you work on commitment too strongly to the mission.? Allow people to develop ideas and solutions.?

Write a VPT – Vision – Plan – Timeline

This should include what you will do, when, where, costs involved, where the money comes from, stakeholders, marketing, competitive analysis, target market analysis, etc.? In other works, a simple operational or business plan.? Your insight and administrative gifts should help you here.? Don’t rush ahead.? Be patient. Allow the Lord to work.

? Hosea 6:3?Let us know, let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord. His going forth is proved as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, Like the latter and former rain to the earth.

Joel 2:23?Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God; For He has given you the former rain faithfully, And He will cause the rain to come down for you— The former rain, And the latter rain in the first month.

Zechariah 4:10??For who has despised the day of small things? For these seven rejoice to see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. They are the eyes of the Lord, which scan to and fro throughout the whole earth.”

Luke 14:28-30??For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it— 29 lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’?

Summation

This is not a comprehensive list.? I wrote a series of books, the GOOD PEOPLE series that describe different aspects of team and organizational development for success.? Good People Great Ideas : Good People Great Teams ; Good People Great Leaders : Good People Great Influence.?? We are not going to cover much at all here, but it is a start.?

Also, DCPI has a great course on Small Group Startup.? We have it available as a free online workshop.? Takes about six hours and will challenge your faith and vision.?

Community Group Growth - here's the link

Faith Partners (www.faith-partners.org) does exceptional work helping congregations develop recovery focused outreach.? We are partnering with them and the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services to offer FREE online workshops that inform and coach.? The next one comes up in October.? Training is in the evening to fit the schedule of the many bi-vocational ministers attending.? While it is Oklahoma sponsored, it is FREE nationwide.?

Registration Click Here