We were all ready to start, tables set up, leaders trained, material ready and two  men walked through the door, and joined 6 enthusiastic facilitators. These men were church attendees at a nearby Chinese congregation.

 

That is how the Free! Recovery work began in the centre of London. Although we ran our work out of a large evangelical church in the centre of town, most of our attendees came not from there but from from churches all throughout greater London.

Yes churches!

This is the first of a series of blogs sharing stories and accounts of some of our first participants. Most of them were found in congregations and by the time they walked through our door, they were ready to share their story. 

Listen to what one attendee told us.  It broke my heart. 

“I tried to talk with my small group leader about my issues, but he told me that this group was not the place to share my deepest struggle. It took me a lot of courage to share and I was intensely disappointed. He did not even let me know where I could get help. I felt like not going back.”

Sadly, this is not a unique story. Truth to tell, listening and praying with the above individual would have gone a long way! 

Some of us seem to have a fear of messy, uncomfortable stories. We don’t seem to know what to do or say;

 

Listen, Pray, Signpost

 

Start a group like Free! Recovery. Check out our webinar on starting a group in your church. 

We all have messy stories, we are simply good at hiding, or we simply do not know where to go; who or what is a safe place. Am I going to be judged and condemned, shamed even?

In every church there are those with life-controlling issues, some visible, some hidden. These will impact the spiritual life of a church.

Think about the first two gamblers walking through the door. Both of their families had been deeply affected, gambling has its impacts for all concerned:

• loss of family and home, not only for the gambler.
• a deep affect affects on a church family, not least of all the break up of a family, the impact on the wives and children, the implications for discipleship.
• a gambler set free to serve Jesus will have painful consequences to work through, he or she needs to learn to make good, godly choices.
• they need to have someone to talk with, a close mentor, who points them continuously to Jesus.
• discipleship and help with managing finances is vital.                                 

Having groups where a struggler can find a safe compassionate place to tell their story, and find the biblical hope and gospel freedom they need, is a good start.  Our vision here at Free! is to have many of these groups in churches and communities throughout the UK.

Safe, compassionate places for people to go, even those searching the faith, and lovingly be integrated into the larger church family.