Can Christ-centered recovery differ from “secular” recovery?
This article asks whether a Christ-centered recovery ministry can accomplish something a “secular” program will not. One Christian with long-term recovery in a 12-step fellowship reflects on how Christ can bring grace and transformation regardless of location. The response also challenges assumptions about what the church labels “secular.”
- Christ can lead grace, freedom, and inner transformation regardless of where recovery happens.
- The church may label off-campus programs “secular,” even when Christ is at work.
- 12-step fellowships can serve as a gift and an anonymous ministry of the church.
By Anonymous
QUESTION: Can a Christ-centered recovery ministry accomplish something a “secular” program will not?
We asked that question of one Christian with long-term recovery in a 12-step fellowship, whose answer went something like this:
You have touched on a major issue with regards to recovery and the church. I would respond with this question: If an alcoholic or drug addict finds grace, freedom, and inner transformation, is it not probable that Christ was there leading the charge and the change—regardless of the location?
The church labels as “secular” those programs that occur outside of our parameters of understanding God and off-site of our church campuses. My perspective as an addict/alcoholic who tried desperately to get sober within the confines of at least four different local congregations is this: I finally found sobriety instead inside the rooms of an autonomous 12-step fellowship.
I believe Christ was there waiting for me much like the shepherd who left the 99 to find the one. Many of us who consider ourselves to be followers of Jesus Christ have found that 12-step fellowships like Alcoholics Anonymous, Al-Anon Family Groups, and Overeaters Anonymous, to name a few, are his gift to us and have served us as an anonymous ministry of the church.
