Recovery

"Dear brothers and sisters, if another Christian is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back on the right path." (Galatians 6:1)
Too often, churches have given up on the black sheep.  People make mistakes and bring chaos into their lives.  We don't have the right to give up on them.  Our role is to help them back on the right path.  Without approving of their sin we want to always approve of the person.  I've often said, the only person we cannot help is the person who doesn't want help.  A person who doesn't want to change, who doesn't want to work on their issues, who rebelliously refuses counsel--that kind of person is hard to help. 

My greatest joy as a pastor is to meet regularly with people who want to work on their issues.  Over the years, I've seen a host of people find freedom from their hurts, habits, and hangups.  If you think you might want to start work on your issues, feel free to connect with me.  I'm safe and everything you share is confidential.

In addition, we're in the process of launching a couple of Celebrate Recovery small groups.  The first will be just for men and will meet on Tuesday evenings at 6:00 in the TBC fellowship hall.  Text me, call me, or email me if you want more details. Otherwise, just show up on Tuesday. 

“Wisdom is knowing the right path to take. Integrity is taking it.” --M.H. McKee

Go Tell the Church!

An important excerpt from Jesus and Addiction by Don Williams

In my former church a couple vanished for several weeks from a large adult Sunday school class. Finally, some concerned friends went to their house and were met at the door by the wife. After an exchange of pleasantries, she revealed that her husband was suicidal and had admitted himself to the psychiatric ward of a local hospital. While his wife appreciated the visit, as it ended, she gravely asked, "Please don't tell the church. It would be too embarrassing, too humiliating." Rather than crying out, "Please tell the church, we need prayer and love now as never before," she silenced these friends out of her fear of exposure and judgment. She was more afraid of the self-righteousness that plagued the church than she was of suffering alone.

A new Church, however, is emerging: a Church that welcomes suffering people just as they are. The new Church lives grace, grace, grace. In it addictions to substances, processes, and people are confronted. Codependency is admitted rather than admired. The new Church is found where God will fill the hole in the soul with himself. This is a Church where generational sin is broken, environmental sin is overcome, and personal sin is forgiven. This is a Church where the false self dies and abandonment ends. The new Church is where our being wound is healed.

The new Church is centered in the fearless, free, and self-giving Jesus, where Jesus' agenda for ministry is pursued, love is unconditional, and human control is surrendered. This a Church under the control of the Spirit.

This is a Church where all are addicts and are taking responsibility for their recovery, where a fresh, real commitment is born. This is a Church where sin is inventoried, confessed, and forgiven, where people are healed and delivered and amends are made. This is a Church where prayer and meditation prosper.

This Church is filled with praise, prayer, and the gifts of the Spirit. Here the cross is preached and tithes are paid.

This is a Church where love is extended, accountability is demanded, and relationships prosper, where the lost are found, the poor are clothed, and the hungry are fed. This is a Church that is taking the good news to the nations.

Where this Church is emerging, people who are caught in crisis, bound in shame, fearful of judgment, addicted and despairing can cry out, "Go tell the Church." Such a Church will respond by offering a flood of grace, water for the thirsty, bread for the hungry, refuge for the abused, deliverance for the addict, and love for all.

The new Church is Jesus' Church. he designed it and called it into being. It is the choir for his worship. It is the family for his love. It is the weapon for his warfare. It is the Church--militant in its suffering. It is the Church--triumphant in his return.

Are you weary? Fed up? Famished? Faint-hearted? Helpless? Hopeless? Lonely? Empty? Lost? Trapped?

Go tell the Church.

--Don Williams, Jesus and Addiction

Freedom with Jesus...

Some quotes today from Chapter Six of Jesus and Addiction by Don Williams.

"From the study of addiction, it's clear that everyone is in bondage.  For us there is no 'natural' freedom.  Only when God's grace intervenes in our lives and we die and are raised with Christ can we progressively detach ourselves from all the things that had controlled us.  Rather than the bondage of desire, we increasingly experience the freedom of true desire.  This freedom means that we will not turn any substance, process, or relationship into an idol, losing control to anything outside the control of God.  This freedom means that we are now able to think, say, and feel truthfully without fear of abandonment or shame.  This freedom means that down deep in our guts we know that we are loved unconditionally by Jesus and are secure in him for eternity."

"As a result, we can at last love God with all our hearts, souls, and minds, and love our neighbors as ourselves."

"How can we nurture this new freedom?  How can we prevent relapse into addiction and codependency?  First, we must live with Jesus, the only fully free person on this planet, day by day.  As we experience his freedom, we will be set free from our attachments, compulsions, and addictions."

"Jesus found his freedom in open communion with God, serving as a channel for what the Father wanted to accomplish.  Consequently, Jesus was free from any external code.  He had no need to check out how people felt about him in order to know how he felt about himself."

"Unlike addictive and codependent people, Jesus had no illusion that he could control everything.  Because he was submitted to his Father, he didn't have to get control of himself.  This made him free from seeking to control circumstances or people.  Fear of failure, exposure, or of losing his addictive fix weren't hooks for him.  Since Jesus was certain of who he was, he was free from the bondage of human control and expectations.  Instead he was free to love, confront, comfort, heal, and save people."

"Through Jesus' example, we learn that freedom isn't found in autonomy or separation from God.  Real freedom is found in unity and communion with God.  No wonder Jesus says that apart from himself we can do nothing."

--Don Williams, Jesus and Addiction, 1993, Recovery Publications, Inc.

Jesus and Addiction

I've just begun reading a new book I've recently purchased entitled, "Jesus and Addiction".  It's subtitled, "A Prescription to Transform the Dysfunctional Church and Recover Authentic Christianity".  The author is Don Williams, pastor of Vinyard Christian Fellowship of the Coast in LaJolla, California.  A statement on the back cover hooked me, "Willams concludes with a bold, clear-cut model of what a Church in recovery, a Church that could be ours, can look like".  I'm intrigued.  I am attempting to pastor a "recovery church".  Williams seems to infer that what we really need is a "church in recovery".  hmmm......

Here are a few quotes from the introduction...see if you can relate:

"No wonder I have been vulnerable to burnout and workaholism.  My heart has cried out, 'If  I perform for you, if I gain your approval, then I will fill the emptiness inside and be able to love myself.'  But, humanly, my efforts are never enough.  Only giving myself up to God's love is enough.  But I've tried everything else rather than make this ultimate surrender" (p5).  Bingo!  This guy has lived my life and thought my thoughts!

"My dad's absence, my mom's denial of negative thoughts and emotions, and my search for complete value through meeting the needs of others created a sense of being lost to my own needs and emotions.  This all resulted in an inner loneliness--what addiction expert John Bradshaw calls 'the hole in the soul.'  This was a perfect setup that led me to become a servant of the Church and, conversely, to be abused by the Church I served.  I became addicted to its life and ministry" (p5-6).  Addicted to the church!  Exactly!  That's the reason why I felt such loss when I was separated from my church for some three months.  I went through withdrawal because I was addicted to the church.  I needed to be needed!

Listen to this next statement, "Through the wrenching experience of a church split, the groundwork had been laid for me to admit my inadequacies and let people into my life in a new way.  As I tried painfully to acknowledge my needs to others, I received love and care in return.  With this experience came a new realization:  I must be worth something because these people genuinely want to serve me and invest in my life.  They see something in me that is worthwhile, even when I don't.  Rather than running from my needs, they respond to my needs" (p7).  This has been my experience as well.  I am learning to experience the love and acceptance of God through my church.  Before, I always thought that I had to have some level of performance in order to be accepted.  I am now experiencing love and acceptance through my church because these people love me for who I am--not who they want me to be.

Good stuff, Pastor Don Williams.  I can't wait to read the rest of the book.