Articles for tag: Alcoholics Anonymous

March 1, 2022

Renee Little

Finding Authenticity

Finding Authenticity in the Middle

By Renee Little Recently I couch shopped for an entire weekend. My two young boys “test drove” every couch by bouncing from one to another. (It’s a good thing couches cannot experience fear.) I was more careful during this search than on a previous couch-shopping expedition. This time, before I would even sit on one to try it out, I read the tags to verify the couch was made from genuine leather. You see, I once made the mistake of buying a “pleather” couch; it was nice at first, but soon cracks and chips appeared. I was not making that

January 2, 2020

Christian Standard

One of 'Those People': A Generation Becoming Fully Devoted to Christ

“I was sick and you looked after me.” _ _ _ By Nate Graybill “I’m one of ‘those people.’ Hypocrite. Liar. Addict.” This admission was a moment of rigorous honesty that changed my life. It came after hours of bingeing on my drug of choice. More afraid of where my habit was leading me than of being exposed, I woke up my wife and said, “Honey, I need to tell you something. I’m addicted to porn. I need help.” I finally accepted the fact that I was not powerful enough to control my sin. Broken and afraid of losing my

May 29, 2018

Christian Standard

Sinner Anonymous

By Gene Shelburne As God’s people, we have one common bond: All of us have brought our sins to Jesus. And that is what brings us around his table. How sad, then, that many of us spend so much energy trying to conceal our sinfulness! Why does the church often become an exercise in pretending we are perfect? The late Bishop Fulton J. Sheen said, “The modern world does not believe in sin. . . . It used to be that we Catholics were the only ones in the world who believed in the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary.

September 7, 2011

Christian Standard

A Future Filled with Joy?

By Mark A. Taylor Not everything on Facebook is true, but I want to believe the picture posted there several weeks ago is real. It depicts an announcement board in a church hallway, with white plastic letters pushed into a black background. At the top we read: Evenings at 7 in the Parish Hall. Then this menu follows: Monday: Alcoholics Anonymous Tuesday: Abused Spouses Wednesday: Eating Disorders Thursday: Say No to Drugs Friday: Teen Suicide Watch Saturday: Soup Kitchen And then, below all this: Sunday Sermon 9 a.m. “America”s Joyous Future.” The irony made me laugh out loud, but lately

November 16, 2008

Christian Standard

Changing Signs and Signs of Change in a Tulsa Congregation

By Greg Taylor In a little corner of Tulsa, Oklahoma, at the Garnett Church of Christ, we”re trying to be a sign of the kingdom of God in a way we never would have imagined three years ago. Many churches in the past two decades have changed their names, removed the denominational “brand,” and called themselves community churches or “The River” or hundreds of other names. We made a change to our sign, but for different reasons and with a much different approach. The efforts that go along with that change, and the results, have blown our minds. We”ve changed

December 17, 2006

Christian Standard

The 12-Stepping Church

By Dan C. Gilliam The 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous began when the organization”s cofounders, a New York stockbroker and an Akron physician, discovered that focusing on a Bible study group”s faith-building techniques helped curtail their desire for alcohol. Bill Wilson, the stockbroker, had been sober for a few months but was perilously close to taking a drink when he randomly called church phone numbers from a hotel lobby in search of a minister who might know of an alcoholic in need of help. A minister put him in touch with Henrietta Sieberling, a member of the Oxford Group, a

December 17, 2006

Christian Standard

What a Christ-Centered Recovery Ministry Can Do

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

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