Christ centered recovery groups in the church

[sisbarn70]

Not sure if this is the best place to start this thread... But here goes. What do you think of the 12 step Christian recovery programs that are currently en vogue in some churches? I've seen both sides of the coin where people have completed the program and given up their old selves...and others who feign giving up the old week after week. Should there be a time limit for people in these programs? Once the steps are completed should they "graduate" into another area of the church? Should a bible study be offered that helps them continue to grow as a Christian instead of being "stuck" at the recovery level? I was part of something like this at my church and I did go through the program and even helped lead a couple of different groups too. It just seems like the word recovery implies the person isn't quite over whatever the struggle is...but aren't we supposed to lay all that down at the foot of the cross?

 

[Great Commission Sam]

Personally I think faith based 12 step programs are awesome!!! I supported a number of faith based ministries that dealt with addiction and once I realized that relapse is in most occasions part of the recovery process, it makes understanding the foothold addiction had on an individual.
Anything that is not holy is a barrier to His Kingdom. My personal belief is that the only addiction that is not a sin would be an addiction to Christ. Whether the addiction is drugs, sex, money, power or whatever, an addiction is a powerful thing. Anything that we are willing to put before Christ is a sin.
An addict is someone that has lived a certain way (usually for an extended part of their life) I understand that when we truly accept Christ our lives are transformed immediately but the scars of sin still remain. Of the thousands of addicts that I have dealt with in my life, I found that we (addicts and non-addicts) have one thing in common, we are all works in progress and only through His grace, faith, mercy, hope and love can we eventually develop into something that is pleasing to Him.
Congrats on your journey, seems like you found your way.

 

[sisbarn70]

Thanks Sam, its always interesting to hear another person's point of view. Sometimes I ovrrthink things and maybe this is one such case. I recently had the opportunity to invite a church member that is part of the recovery group to Wed services. In a surprised voice she said in the 4 years I've gone here no one has ever asked me to Wed night. (She doesn't drive, and I just got the green light to run a van pick up starting in a couple of weeks).

Part of recovery is getting around healthy people and I wonder if going through the same program year after year holds some people back? I'm hoping Wed services provide a great opportunity for growth. I know it does for me. I'm looking forward to an in depth Bible study vs another 12 step I've done 3 at my church, one as a participant, one as a co leader, and one as a leader. I do get something out of it each time but I've also found myself questioning some of the teachings. There is a line towards the end about self forgiveness and I question the wisdom of that. God already forgave us. I kind of feel like the act of holding on to something and not "forgiving" yourself is really more of a denial of God's forgiveness. He is higher than we are so saying I accept God's forgiveness but I'm struggling with myself seems like I've put myself ahead of Him. I hope that makes sense it's hard to articulate sometimes :/

 

[Great Commission Sam]

Part of recovery is getting around healthy people and I wonder if going through the same program year after year holds some people back?

I always kind of had a little problem with that too. Maybe it's just me but when someone is labeled as in a recovery group, it feels like others tend to group them in a special category. Imagine a church with all the members dressed in their Sunday best, I wonder how many of those churches would look twice if someone rolled a shopping cart and dressed in rags for service. I know most of us would like to believe we would accept anyone that comes to church but how many would be truly accepting without judging if a homeless person attended service with us.

There is a line towards the end about self forgiveness and I question the wisdom of that. God already forgave us. I kind of feel like the act of holding on to something and not "forgiving" yourself is really more of a denial of God's forgiveness. He is higher than we are so saying I accept God's forgiveness but I'm struggling with myself seems like I've put myself ahead of Him. I hope that makes sense it's hard to articulate sometimes :/

I struggle with this as well but it leads more to the source than anything else. One of the dangers of sin is when we commit it, it becomes a part of us so even though we know our Father has forgiven us, we tend to find it harder to truly let it go. The concept of forgiving and forgetting is divine when we truly repent. If you say that you truly repented from your sins, our Father keeps no record of it and doesn't want us to punish ourselves for it. The key is repenting and only GOD knows if we have repented, as long as we have faith in that, I'm pretty sure everything else works out perfectly in the end

Your brother in Christ,
Sam

 

[sisbarn70]

I agree Sam. I kind of think maybe the problem with some of these recovery groups is that lack of Biblical knowledge that sometimes comes out of the leadership. Sometimes it feels like the lessons are trotting out some good verses but not really digging deep enough into the word.

Part of this is because many of the attendees weren't attending church previously. I think it's OK to ease people into the Bible especially if they're struggling with something else in their lives. They've gotten to this place because they're looking for answers. However once the steps have been completed people are encouraged to find places to serve in the ministry or their church. Most stick with the ministry and never get connected to the church and therin lies the problem to my eyes.

So they've completed the 12 steps and continue on in the ministry either teaching lessons, clean up, singing you name it...but then they get stuck in a rut and (again to my eyes) become dependent on the ministry instead of taking the next step and connecting to the church. I'm not blasting recovery groups but people that have made it that far are sometimes hungry for more but get cycled back into the recovery program instead and maybe don't have enough tools at their disposal to lead with sound biblical knowledge vs sound 12 step knowledge. (And to be honest I have seen both sides of the coin and wonder where that bridge in the gap comes in)

 

[crystisooner55.c]

I think faith based recovery is wonderful. It saved my life.