In this piece I have included links to a couple of articles/blogs for food for thought. Each of these articles speaks about recovery work being the work of the local church.
The first article is: Addictions: The Local Church is God’s Support Group by Ben Marshall and Stuart Scott.
Found here: https://seminary.bju.edu/viewpoint/addictions-the-local-church-is-gods-support-group/
Here are a few paragraphs:
A less intimidating, more biblically accurate way to think of addictions is as “life-enslaving (or life-dominating) sins,” which captures the full breadth of such behaviors and allows pastors to better grasp their central role, and that of their churches, in helping address them.
Freedom from life-enslaving sins starts with knowing what a person wants to change and the proper motivation for doing so—to become more like Jesus. Repentance is critical in particular and depends on the principle of knowing and being known. Equally important: the I Corinthians 6:11 understanding that the description of “addict” is something the repentant believer—and the church—can and should put behind her or him.
It’s easy for pastors and churches to get intimidated by the prospect of helping free suffering people from addictions. The tendency is to attribute the term “addiction” to drugs and alcohol alone, when in reality, addiction should refer to any type of action or behavior that dominates one’s thoughts.
Thoughts about the article:
This article has some very useful biblical thoughts. However, the authors do not give space for support groups within a local church; they are promoting the local church as the place for recovery and freedom. They view support groups as secular groups that may meet in a church building. Free! Recovery brings the support group model within the church family, believing that it has a place within the structure of a local church family. It has this place only if it is run biblically and with a Christ-centred, Gospel focus. It gives a place for people to come of isolation into a community where they can freely express the addictive life-controlling habits they have, alongside the shame and guilt. This journey is expected in a support group, specific help and guidance can be given, more time can be spent helping the participant in their freedom journey. This is not an either or scenario (home group or support group for example), perhaps for a while, maybe both with a goal of being integrated into a church family. This may take time. There may be people, who are integrated in the church but need a space to share an issue in a safe compassionate place; something hidden, maybe shameful. The thought here is that a place is needed.
The Village Bible Church has contributed an article on Addiction by Tim Badal Found here:
https://villagebible.church/naperville/resources/sermons/addiction/
Here are a few paragraphs that give you a flavour of this article:
If we’re honest with ourselves and really understand who we are before we come to know Christ—sinners with depraved thoughts and actions—we’ll realize we are just as prone to all kinds of additions ourselves. At its heart, addiction is a form of idolatry. It takes something of the world and raises it to the level of God. There are all sorts of idols that we use as substitutes for God in our lives.
When we come to know Christ, we might think our life of addiction would be over. Now that we have Christ, we are to be “addicted” to Him. We are to be devoted to and in love with Him, which means we don’t have time, energy or space in our life to be addicted to anything else. But that type of thinking is simplistic at best. Although we have been set free from the punishment for sin, sin’s power still can hold sway in our lives. It’s up to us to say no to sin on a daily basis—and if we’re honest, we don’t always do this. When we start saying yes to certain sins, they can become habits. As we feed these habits, they can easily grow into addictions.
Addiction is a lot like that. One little thing, like a broken finger, can cause your whole body—even your whole life—to suffer. Some of you are dealing with an addiction and you’ve given excuses for why you need it. You’re living a hard life. You need it to cope with the daily grind. Maybe you’re doing it in isolation, and nobody knows that a Christian like you would be engaged in that activity. I want you to know that God knows about it and what He desires is for us to find freedom from it. While addictions advertise fulfillment, contentment, peace and joy, they always leave us hungry for more. What begins in a small way gradually brings more shame and more dysfunction and more disarray in our everyday lives.
At the heart of it, God wants you to be addicted to something; to be devoted to something. The issue is when we become addicted to something that’s opposed to God. What are some things God does want us to be addicted to? First, of course, we need to be devoted to Him, to His Word and prayer. We are also called to be addicted to holiness, ministry and the fellowship of the body. We’re to be devoted to one another out of brotherly love.
Some Thoughts:
This article brings addiction down to ground level, it is something that we all struggle with one way or another. It speaks of where we need to place our devotion and equates addiction to this devotion. Our devotion to God needs to be a habit that takes hold of us just like an addictive habit. This article also speaks of many flavours of addiction: from alcohol and gambling to social media, food, exercise, even work and TV. It is an article that should speak to each one of us, who are seeking to walk in freedom and walk in devotion to God. This article shares what Free! Recovery is highlighting: the need for recovery groups in the local church because we all struggle; no-one is exempt!
John Doe
Co-Founder and Resource Developer Free! Recovery