Does it seem strange to say that our ultimate goal at Recovery is not your recovery? After all, doesn’t the label for this ministry suggest that overcoming your struggle is our primary concern? Recovery @ Cornerstone is designed to help people overcome whatever their struggle is. Whether you come because you’re facing depression, wrestling with anxiety, struggling in your marriage, or addicted to meth we want to provide you with the tools you need to overcome your struggle. That, however, is only part of the total picture. Our primary goal is for you to grow in your relationship with God through Jesus Christ. We have found that as we help individuals focus on that relationship their recovery happens. If we only focus on the recovery the relationship might not happen. It is through addressing the big picture that we can help people with a host of recovery needs.
There is a danger in Recovery ministries that make their primary goal overcoming a specific struggle. Take for example someone seeking to achieve sobriety. If my primary goal is sobriety than one of two things can tend to happen: (1) I can replace or use God in order to achieve my sobriety; and (2) having addressed my sobriety I will be no better equipped to address other areas of my life. If my primary goal is sobriety then I will replace God with sobriety as the end of my life, this is idolatry. Or, I will use God to help me achieve what I really want – which is not Him. In either case I have devolved into an idolatrous relationship with my victory over sin. Sobriety becomes my new God. I have worked with men in the past for whom this was evidently true. They would do everything and anything to maintain a level of sobriety, even if that required them to disobey God. It’s strange to think that our victory over sin and sorrow can become idolatrous, but anything – even a good thing – that becomes a god thing is a bad thing.
The other aspect of this focus is that sobriety is only one piece of our whole lives. Recovery is not really about a single-issue. It’s about developing a life oriented towards the worship of God. I don’t simply want folks to achieve sobriety, or stop being anxious, or have a better marriage. I want them to learn to love and live for God whether their situations change or not. If we make our main goal helping individuals overcome a specific struggle they will be no more prepared to face the next struggle. We will end up creating a cycle of dependency. After all, our lives are bigger than any one issue and even if I resolve this one I’ve got a list of ten other related ones that still need to be addressed. By focusing on our overall discipleship Recovery @ Cornerstone aims to provide people with the tools they need to address every area of their lives. We want to help people grow so that when the next big struggle comes along they won’t have to return to Recovery. Instead they will already possess the tools they need to fight against temptation. That’s why we focus on a person’s growing relationship with Christ and not simply on their struggle. Both are important, but by zeroing in on the big picture we are able to address the single-issue and much more.
In our Ministry Distinctives document we have written:
Our desire is to help people overcome their struggles with sin and suffering, but that is not the ultimate goal of Recovery. The ultimate goal is for people to be reconciled to God and growing in their relationship with Him. He is our joy. As we come to know and worship Him, our affections for the things of this world which hold us in bondage are displaced. If we make overcoming our struggle the ultimate goal we will try to appease God to get it. Such an approach is nothing more than dead religion and will not result in a changed life, even if it results in changed circumstances.
If we fix our eyes on Jesus we can get help addressing all our problems; if we fix our eyes only on our problems we may miss Jesus.
Sparrow & Heart Soul Care 