December 16, 2025
God’s Resort: A Unique Ministry of Transitional Housing
God's Resort is a transitional ministry that equips people to move from semi-stability to full recovery through relational encounters.
Articles for tag: Addiction Recovery
January 1, 2024
A Recovery Ministry that Works
By Jim Dennis “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). What comes to mind when you hear the word recovery? Perhaps your first thought takes you to people with addiction issues. The alcoholic who can’t get his act together who rides a motorized bike around town because of his multiple DUI convictions. Or the emaciated drug addict with sunken eyes. These are just two of the stereotypes recovering people and recovery groups have dealt with for years. Perhaps you envision groups
January 1, 2024
Tin Man Ministries: Helping Leaders Live from the Heart
Part of the problem people suffer lies in the fact that we tend to compare “our insides” to everybody else’s “outsides.” Compiled by Justin Horey, Jim Nieman, and Shawn McMullen There’s nothing the unbelieving world loves more than to see church leaders succumb to temptation and experience a moral failing. But it’s not just the unbelieving world. The church has been known to eat its own. Christianity Today, for example, produced a popular multipart series of podcasts called “The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill” that focused on the spectacular collapse of a Seattle-based megachurch and its founder/leader Mark Driscoll.
May 16, 2023
SPOTLIGHT: Nebraska Church Enjoys Strong Recovery from COVID
Sometimes, a story of growth is a story of recovery. Such is the case at First Christian Church in Norfolk, Neb.—which had one of the highest growth rates in Christian Standard’s 2022 Church Report, published in the current print magazine. . . .
March 17, 2021
West Virginia Church Opens House for Recovering Addicts
Gateway Christian Church in Saint Albans, W.Va., is not turning a blind eye to the drug problem in its community. The church purchased a home near its campus and converted it into a recovery house for men emerging from substance abuse addictions.
January 29, 2020
The Thrift Store Ministry
This Church’s Outreach Approach Recycles Much More than Clothing and Furniture _ _ _ “I needed clothes and you clothed me.” By L. Mackenzie On December 15, 2008, leaders of The Crossing in Quincy, Illinois, were discussing possible changes to their benevolence strategy. Several of them had just visited a church in Post Falls, Idaho, where they sought out ideas for growth. Elder Bruce Freeman was among those who listened as an idea for a thrift store ministry was discussed. Freeman was head of benevolence, a man passionate about helping others. He also had 25 years of experience working in
July 22, 2019
‘You Can’t Do Better Than That’ (Inner City Church of Christ, Baltimore)
By Melissa Wuske “We were in heaven. You couldn’t tell us we weren’t in heaven.” That’s how Eric Lorick recalls the early days of Inner City Church of Christ in Baltimore, which started in January 2014. On Sundays the church would set up for worship—and then tear down—in a rented space in a community center. “[Such] work brings us together as a church family,” he said. From those earliest days, his vision was “to make a difference, to bring hope to the hopeless. . . . You can’t do better than that in a city like Baltimore.” That vision is
October 13, 2017
The Church that Does the Recovery Program
By TR Robertson Walk through the doors of First Christian Church in Belle, Missouri, on a Sunday morning and it seems, at first glance, like a typical rural church. There are farmers and blue-collar workers in semicasual dress, older women settling in to their usual seats, and children burning off energy before Sunday school starts. And then there”s the rest of the congregation. “I”ve been in church my whole life,” says FCC deacon Kevin Brown, “but I”ve never been in a church that had this many tattoos, this many bikes outside, this many leather jackets. We”ve welcomed people who have
April 14, 2017
A “˜Thirteenth Step” to Recovery
By Jennifer Johnson Laura Setters“s brother has been an addict since he was 12 years old. When he finally celebrated a year of sobriety, she decided to mark the achievement””and ended up creating a new ministry. “By the time Michael got sober in 2014, our family had been dealing with his addiction for 26 years,” Setters says. “My mom, Beth, passed away the year before, and she had been the only one who never lost hope in him. I wanted to do something to honor her life as well as Michael”s one-year sobriety anniversary, so I donated to a recovery
February 19, 2017
Single on Purpose, with a Purpose
By Jennifer Johnson Northeast Christian Church (Louisville, KY) has a history of giving money to church members who want to use the funds to make a difference””and the recipients of these donations have a proven track record of changing lives with the money. Several years ago as part of a sermon series, Northeast”s leadership team chose 100 people and gave each one a hundred dollar bill with instructions to use the money for something God was calling them to do. From this investment came a number of ongoing ministries, including a “Mom”s Closet” which helps single moms with education, food, and clothing,
September 6, 2016
Shattered Certainties and the Challenge to Change
By Mark A. Taylor Good changes lead to happy results, right? Consider: The alcoholic decides to quit drinking. The dieter sheds unhealthy weight. A family, once separated by a parent”s overseas assignment, is reunited. But then: The addict doesn”t replace the payoff he has been receiving from his fix, and so he returns to his habit. The dieter doesn”t realize he must make a lifelong attitude adjustment about food and exercise, and so he regains the weight. The no-longer-single parent must give up some of her own autonomy now, and the result is conflict. Anyone experiencing or hoping to lead
July 15, 2016
From Vile to Victory
By Matt Proctor “I remember being in the bars at 3 years old with my mother singing in the bands,” says Juliet Rose. Juliet was born into addiction. Her mother drank heavily, and her dad was a drug addict. Her mother married another man when Juliet was 4, and “that”s when monsters became real.” Her new stepdad molested her for the next five years. She always felt alone. “I had no friends, so I quit school in the ninth grade. I had no education, no life skills.” At 16, she fled to Las Vegas, where she survived as a prostitute.
Lexington”s Lighthouse Helps Hungry, Hurting
By Jennifer Johnson Since the mid-1990s, Lighthouse Ministries has been helping the poor, the addicted, and the hungry of Lexington, KY, with food, recovery programs, and other outreach efforts. At the Nehemiah House, men can participate in Bible study, anger management classes, GED preparation, and counseling as well as receive help with their substance abuse issues. Families receive support and resources for the recovery process. Lighthouse”s “Dining with Dignity” program also serves hot meals to thousands””more than 40,000 lunches in 2015 alone. Last year the ministry bought a second building, allowing the Lighthouse team to serve almost 200 people at
April 21, 2016
Holy Unintentional
By Jennifer Johnson It all began with a few sandwiches back in 2002. “My wife and I became convicted about whether we really loved poor people,” says Dallas Stamper. “We decided to make sandwiches and give them away to a few people on the beach. We ended up connecting with four homeless men and talking to them for three hours””which surprised them, I think, because they were used to people giving them food and then hurrying away. We asked if we could meet them again the next week, and that was the beginning of People In Need. The second week
April 1, 2015
Ideas for Reaching Mom”s Family on Mother”s Day
Did you know churches see the third-largest attendance of the year on Mother”s Day (see graph)? Do you know why? It”s not because more moms are there. No, attendance swells on Mother”s Day because family members who love the moms choose to show their love by attending on that special day. That means Mother”s Day is a great day to reach many unchurched people with the message of Christ. So instead of (or, perhaps, in addition to) doing the traditional Mother”s Day message and handing out roses to moms, it”s time to strategically love on those whom these moms love.
December 19, 2013
Incarnation
By Tom Lawson Stephen and Ian stood together talking, while they braved the crisp breeze of a cold December in downtown Lexington, Kentucky. They had decided to go to a popular local café for lunch. But the people standing outside told them what was confirmed by the hostess at the door, “It will be about 20 to 30 minutes, if you want to wait.” They did. In the eight months between college and graduate school, my son Stephen decided to live and worship with a group of Christians in a depressed section of Lexington. From various denominations, the members of
September 16, 2010
MEDIUM-SIZED CHURCHES: Preacher Paints Grace in a Fresh Way
By Kent E. Fillinger Preacher Paints Grace in a Fresh Way “We”re not great at anything, and everything here is a work in progress,” says senior minister Mike Gunderson. In spite of various internal challenges, Oak Park Christian Church in Grover Beach, California, was the fastest-growing medium-sized church last year, growing 42 percent and breaking the 200 barrier. Since 2008, Oak Park has grown 53 percent to an average worship attendance of 266. Oak Park is located near Pismo Beach in an isolated, affluent, and growing retirement community of 45,000 people. There are only two other small Christian churches in
March 7, 2010
Our Ministry to Gays and Lesbians
By James C. Donovan “I am so glad you are doing this Bible study. The churches who teach the Bible as God”s Word don”t want me there and the churches who welcome me don”t teach the Bible as God”s Word.” Those words will be a lasting memory from my effort in ministering to gays and lesbians. The man who uttered those words at a Bible study in a home was a delightful person who called himself a believer and openly admitted his homosexuality. He had only recently come out of the closet and was genuinely struggling with his lifestyle and
August 15, 2007
The Cure for Cultural Dysfunction
A testimony video at the North American Christian Convention and a Wall Street Journal column point to the same truth: evangelism changes hearts—and those changed hearts can help redeem a culture.
December 17, 2006
What a Christ-Centered Recovery Ministry Can Do
Can a Christ-centered recovery ministry do what a “secular” program cannot? One Christian in long-term recovery reflects on Christ’s transforming work through 12-step fellowships and challenges church assumptions about where grace shows up.
