A Recovery Culture Church

I don’t want our church to be a church with a recovery program, I want our church to be a recovery program. Throughout my pastoral ministry I have had the privilege of shepherding addicts. One particular church I served in was composed largely of men and women from drug-rehab and recovery. 70% of our congregation on any given night, were struggling with addictions. But I have learned immensely from serving them. Primarily I have learned that we are all recovering addicts of some kind. Churches, then, need to be recovery ministries!

One of my biggest frustrations as the associate pastor at Revolution Church, was the moral superiority that some Christians confessed as they talked about our congregation. One, well-intentioned but clearly ignorant, older woman mentioned one time to me that she thought that what we were doing down there was a “nice thing,” but she added, that we just had “too many addicts” at that church. The truth of course is that if you don’t have addicts at your church you’re not doing something right. The Bible reveals that we are all in the same boat. We are all addicts.

I know that she meant our church specifically had lots of drug addicts, alcoholics, and convicts, but we are all addicted to sin. This guys addiction may be meth, but this person’s is anger. One isn’t better than the other, both are sins. This girl may be addicted to porn, by that one is addicted to performance. God condemns both outright. The whole point of the Sermon on the Mount is to expose the desperate state of every soul before God. We can’t be pure enough or peaceful enough to earn God’s favor. We are desperately wicked, and our hearts are in particular are desperately wicked. Some sinners manifest that wickedness in substance abuse, and some manifest it in self-righteousness. Some cheat on their spouses and some harbor resentment. The sin itself is not the issue, the reality is that we are all sinners. And particularly we are addicted to sin.

We love sin. Even as believers we betray our allegiance to God to surrender the members of our bodies once again to unrighteousness. In my counseling sessions I hear over and over again, “I don’t want to do X, but I just can’t help it.” Of course that’s false, but it reveals a common mentality. We let sin have reign in our bodies. We don’t want to be anxious, but we are. We don’t want to lust, but we do. We don’t want to respond in anger, but we will. Why? Because we’re addicted to sin! The church, then needs to be a safe place where all sinners can come and begin the process of recovery, of spiritual rehab. We must do away with the notion that there are acceptable an unacceptable sins in the church. We need to be honest about our brokenness and seek out real help.

Biblical recovery is essentially discipleship. It’s helping Christians find the right tools to fight sin. And if we think of our church as a recovery ministry, it assures us that all can come to the table for discussion of their issues. All are welcome. No judgment will be passed because your sin is more gross than mine. We will help one another, as the Bible commands us to: love one another, instruct one another, pray for one another, bear one another’s burdens. Recovery ministry does this well, a church that views itself as a recovery ministry can do this better!

In the coming weeks I want to develop this idea better, and continue to flesh out what a Recovery Culture Church can be, and why I think churches should think of themselves this way. Next week I look particularly at defining what I mean by “recovery culture church.”