Addiction In Church Leadership

Maurice Johnson is a living example of how a former addict and disheartened person can go on to become a leader in their faith-based community. Struck by his incredible transformation and devotion to his faith, it’s no wonder why so many admire him.

At the age of 18, Maurice was introduced to the lifestyle of alcohol and drugs and quickly found himself in the midst of addiction. Since then, his life has been one filled with many peaks and valleys. Maurice was involved in multiple felony charges, homelessness, and prison stints; fortunately, his journey was ultimately guided by his newfound values and faith.

When Maurice first started attending church as a way of gaining some direction in life, he did not think it would become such a powerful force in his recovery. In fact, he found the place lacking in substance and inspiration. But that all changed one day when a guest speaker gave a sermon entitled, “The Only Source of Happiness”. The message was simple and direct – the only true way of achieving lasting joy is through a strong relationship with Jesus Christ.

At first, Maurice was skeptical. But as time went on and he received more guidance and support from the church staff, he slowly began to understand what it truly meant to put his faith in God. He was amazed at how just one message was able to alter his outlook on life. He started to develop a genuine admiration for Christ and began to build his relationship with Him.

Eventually, Maurice became the Church Director and was even chosen to lead the most recent confirmation class. With his newfound platform, he uses his story as a source of inspiration for those who were similarly struggling with addiction. He has shared his journey with various local media outlets and continues to do volunteer work in the community.

Maurice credits his newfound success and devotion to his decision to break away from his addictions and put all his faith in Jesus Christ. He testifies to the importance of having a guiding light in one’s life, as well as a sense of spiritual community. He’s used the power of his story to motivate and empower others to adhere to the same principles.

Maurice is an incredible example of an individual that’s been able to overcome addiction and make the necessary changes in their life to become a positive force in their faith-based community. His story is proof of how powerful and necessary the guidance of God can be in creating lasting change. His commitment to making a difference in the lives of others is a testament to his faith and his willingness to do whatever it takes to help those in need.

When people recover from addiction, it doesn’t end there, they need to undergo aftercare treatment to sustain their sobriety.

If someone relapses, it means that some measures were absent that could have made their sobriety permanent. For instance, if they didn’t apply some coping skills they learned during addiction recovery, they might return to their addiction.

The church has a pivotal role to play when its members recover from addiction. Their responsibility will be instrumental to ensuring that the individual’s recovery is permanent.

Here are some ways the church helps their recovering member

Continued counseling

Counseling is a lifelong journey especially if you just recovered from addiction. You need someone who will always keep tabs on you for accountability sakes.

Also, it is important you have someone around who reminds you of the necessary steps you need to take to sustain your sobriety.

Support to rebuild broken relationships

When some people are addicted, they have strained relationships with their loved ones. Sometimes, it might be difficult for them to get back on track except if a third-party intervenes.

The church can step in to heal the rift between recovering individuals and their family and friends. Taking this step is essential because an individual’s family and friends are usually the first set of people who should show support and care to their loved ones.

Support and Encouragement to draw closer to God

Addiction can affect an individual’s fellowship with God. They might not be fervent in studying their Bibles and prayers because of the guilt feelings.

Some of them may not even be frequent with church attendance because they feel that God is angry with them. It is important for the church to help recovering individuals to find their identity in God once again.

The church can provide them with the needed support to bring them back to the fold, and to set them in tune with God. This might not be achieved instantly but in due time, the recovering individual will find themselves in God again.

Do you suspect if a church member is struggling with addiction? They might either be dealing with substance or behavioral addiction, and struggling to maintain a close communion with God. Here are some of the ways to know if a church member is addicted.

Isolation

An addicted church member will prefer to stay in isolation instead of being around people. They are less likely to come for church meetings, and would rather keep to themselves.

If they were active members or workers in the church, you may not see them physically like before. When you ask for the reason for their unavailability, you might not get a tangible answer.

Decline in performance at work and life

Another way to know that a church member is addicted is when they experience reduced performance when it comes to life and work.

They might not be able to meet work-related milestones and this can affect their productivity, and even cost them their jobs.

The same also applies to other aspects of their lives where they may be unable to record superb performances in different activities that they are involved in.

Problems with family and friends

Addicted church members are likely not to be on good terms with their loved ones.

When addiction exists in the family, it can cause hate and resentment between the addict and their loved ones. This is why there might be bad blood for sometime until the addiction issue is solved.

Emotional Instability

Emotional instability is another feature that comes with addiction, and even church members struggling with one habit or the other may experience this.

When someone is emotionally unstable, they experience unpredictable reactions, and their emotions might be extreme.

When the church notices that their member is addicted, it is important that they rally round them to provide the needed help and support to get back on their feet. This could include constant prayers, fellowship, study of the word, counseling, etc.

Pastors are ministers dedicated to service to God and their congregation. They are mature, patient, flexible, and have impressive administrative prowess.

They are the highest authorities in a given church. With such respect and reverence accorded to one man, it is normal for people to see them as “emotionless” and saints. 

In the last few years, there has been increasing awareness that pastors are also humans and can be addicted to various things.

This has shaped the mindset of people to make sure they lookout for the signs and help those in need. Pastors can be also be addicted like others, they can also be treated. 

The first step to helping an addicted pastor is to help him/her understand that they are also human. It means they are susceptible to making mistakes.

This acknowledgment helps them not to feel bad about themselves while gaining sobriety. This stage of knowledge forms the core of the healing process.

The next step is choosing the rehab center. Due to the sensitivity of their position and the public image they represent, they should use executive rehab programs or a religious-based rehab program.

The executive program ensures their privacy and confidentiality. In contrast, the religious-based rehab programs make sure they are within people of similar values.

The next thing to consider is the type of program. There are two main programs: the outpatient rehab program and the inpatient rehab program.

The inpatient program is an intensive care program where the clergy is treated for some time, usually one to three months. The outpatient program is much more flexible as it allows the patient to leave the care unit at night.

The programs involve detoxification, addiction treatment, specialized care, and extended/aftercare. The journey to sobriety is not an easy one. It is, however, worth it.

The church is a way to lasting sobriety. The church makes available a community of like-minded people with the right set of values and the overwhelming love of fellowship.

It creates an atmosphere of love and intimacy that encourages addicts to live better lives. Addiction recovery programs often concentrate on the mental and physical health of addicts. The church focuses on the faith, mental, physical, and social health of addicts.

There are benefits to enjoy by seeking help from the church on your way to sobriety. A few will these benefits will be discussed in the subsequent paragraphs.

For those who seek Christian ways to getting out of addiction, the church helps addicts find strength in faith and satisfaction in fellowship.

When you are down and all hope seems to be lost, the church shows you the ray of hope that comes in God. The church creates a channel where you are immersed in your faith walk while maintaining your health routine. 

One of the primary benefits of the church is to create a fellowship where people can interact freely without a feeling of being left out.

The church creates an avenue where people of different classes and races can come together, unified in God. The church helps create the support system addicts need to recover and have lasting sobriety.

Churches regularly set up activities and events that help addicts get over their drug cravings. By immersing themselves in the activities and events, they are so involved with serving that they forego their drugs and their cravings. This new way of life helps them to maintain their sobriety. 

A study revealed that people who attend churches at least once a month have a 22% lower risk of being depressed. By going to the church regularly, the mental health of addicts is improved. The same goes for their physical and social health.

Anyone who has addiction problems would find it herculean to break through. If they are not careful, they could spend their entire lives putting up measures in place to break the addiction.

It can be unarguably stated that, addiction is one of the toughest battles that anybody can face. What they can do to help themselves, is to find support from a proficient support system.

One of the best places to find this kind of support is the church. It would interest you to know that, the church is one of the organizations with a nice structure that caters for the welfare of all her members.

With the proficient structure that the church comes with, it would be easy to fight against cravings and triggers that cause addiction.

Now, the church would not only address addiction with physical methods, there would also be the inclusion of spiritual measures.

This is based on the fact that, the church believes whatever happens physically, has a root in the spiritual realm. So, they would back up their treatment system with good counsel and prayer.

You will be surprised to find out that, there are counselors in the church, and they are also some of the same individuals who work in the secular world.

However, there is an advantage of having them around. These individuals would help you fight addiction spiritually ad physically, ensuring that no stone is left unturned.

Triggers and cravings would set in at some point, and they would have warned you beforehand about the possibility.

Hence, what they would do is, they will teach you how to use prayer and faith to war against these factors. They will also advise you not to hesitate from meeting a therapist who would help you out.

The church is regarded as a family, and this is because there is ample love and care shown in the church. The church is a proficient support system, which gives enough compassion and care to people who are in dire need of it.

In addition, the church would also ensure that, there are worthy activities that would make sure that the mind of an addicted individual is kept occupied.

Posted on December 9, 2014

Because of recent studies and investigations into the church, we know that many churchgoers are struggling with addiction, in equal numbers as non-churchgoers. This has raised a great deal of concern within the church about how to address and combat addiction, which affects a large number of church members in the form of alcohol, drug, sex or gambling addiction, as well as a number of other documented addictions. If a person is living their life resembling the teachings of Christ, there should not be a need for indulging in an addiction or escapism at all. This begs the questions: how can we bring an end to addiction within the church?

This is a complex spiritual matter that calls for intelligent analysis in order to resolve. Addiction is a prevalent part of the human condition and can be found in every demographic of society. If it were easy to conquer, it would not exist in the numbers that it does. Addiction cannot be defeated by going to church. Addiction can only be defeated through the love of a perfect God. God’s love can be discovered through church, but spiritual warfare begins with the individual, as does spiritual revolution. The choice to lay down one’s life before God is deeply personal and cannot be made for you.

Do not buy into the lie that you can indulge in your addiction and not hurt yourself and others. Addictive behavior is selfish behavior, and it will negatively impact yourself and those you care about. Because we are believers, we already know that there is no peace, freedom or happiness for us outside God’s will for us. God sets us on the path to freedom, and when we veer away from it in an attempt to control our lives, we wander into spiritual traps such as addiction. If this is the situation you have found yourself in, do whatever it takes to change your behavior, whether it is counseling, rehab or self-help literature, and recommit your life to Christ.

Posted on October 9, 2014

The addiction problems that exist within the church are unsettling. Recent studies have found that addiction exists as much within the modern Christian church as it does in secular society. This is disturbing because it shows that, despite the Christian value of letting God influence every part of your life, most people are restricting God’s access to parts of their life. It is part of Christian theology to never place anything higher than God in your life, but these cases of addiction within the church prove that many people prefer escaping into pleasure more than going to God in surrender.

There are a number of reasons why people are indulging in this behavior.There are many problematic thought patterns that lead to addiction slipping under your spiritual radar. Many people justify addiction by reasoning that if they are hurting anyone, it is only themselves. Addiction obviously does not wrong another person on the same level that stealing or physically injuring does. However, not only does it emotionally wound those who are close to you, but it is also destructive to your body and your soul, which the bible says are the temple of God. There is no denying that addictive behavior is sinful behavior.

Many also tell themselves that if no one but them knows about it, it cannot possibly be a severe sin. One only has to take note of the numerous times the bible tells us that God sees our heart to know how errant this thinking is. God cares only for the condition of our hearts, not for how we appear to others.Surrendering addiction and trusting God enough to live without one hand on the escape hatch is not meant to be easy. In fact, it is supposed to be a true test of character. God wants to know that we rely on him heavily enough to be able to forego the things we are tempted to escape into. This is not to say that God wants us never to feel pleasure. He created us to enjoy a number of pleasures. But when we put these pleasures before him in importance, it is heart-breaking to him, and inspires the kind of jealousy that a wife would feel toward an unfaithful husband.

Posted on October 9, 2014  in Uncategorized

Recent studies and investigations into the church have revealed that Christians struggle with addiction as much as secular society does. This information has changed the way we view the church and how well the church body applies the lessons of faith they claim to live by. However, even more poignant is the knowledge that church leaders are also addicts far more often than we would guess. This was recently illustrated in the media by the horrific claims coming out of the Catholic church about the sexual relations that priests had with alter boys. This is an extreme example of criminal sex addiction that took place within the church, but other studies have revealed that pastors, priests, deacons and elders within the church are also susceptible to addiction at alarming rates.

It would seem that church leaders succumb to addiction under the same reasoning that church members do. They tell themselves that as long as no one knows, no one can be affected by it. They convince themselves that indulging in their addiction secretly will keep them level and happy so that they can serve their congregation better. They also convince themselves that corruption will not enter into their lives through their addiction because they are righteous, so as long as no one finds out about it, they will not leave an impression of addiction on someone who is spiritually weaker than they are. For this reason, church leaders tend to protect the secrecy of their addiction fiercely.

It goes without saying that their logic is erred, and their behavior is unacceptable. Firstly, indulging in an addiction is putting it over God, and anyone who believes they are free of consequences in this regard is deluded. Putting anything over God in your life creates a foothold for the devil, who will not cease to pick at you until your life is unraveled, which is exactly what addiction does to people. Secondly, believing that you can be an addict and not affect the lives of the people you care about is also an illusion. You will inevitably hurt the people you care about because you are ignoring God’s commandments and the spiritual character that he has called you to.

Posted on October 9, 2014  in Uncategorized

Church congregations look to their leaders for spiritual guidance, which is why it is disastrous for a church leader to fall into the binds of addiction. When pastors, priests or deacons succumb to addiction, they place themselves and those they are an example to in jeopardy. Addiction is an inherently selfish condition that places a substance or a behavior on a higher pedestal than God is on. This can only lead to destruction. When a church leader recognizes that they have been overcome by addiction, it is very important that they seek addiction treatment immediately before they attempt to continue their profession.

Selecting the right rehabilitation center is the first step in the recovery process for addicted church leaders. It is important to find a reputable rehab that incorporates Christian teachings into its treatment program. Christian church leaders should be aware that there are some treatment programs designed specifically for church leaders and similar professionals. Many treatment centers focus on certain groups of people, typically related professions or professions with comparable demands. There are particular addiction treatment programs for those who are in ministry such as a Christian alcohol rehab or a Christian drug addiction center.

If the addiction is to a substance, the church leader will go through a detox before beginning the psychological treatment program. This is to rid the body of toxins, reset the sleep schedule and get the body and brain alert for reconditioning. It is worthwhile to conduct this process under the care of professionals in order to prevent relapse and ease the unpleasant or dangerous symptoms of withdrawal.

After the detox, the church leader will enter into the psychological exploration of why they became addicted and how to change their thinking. Christian rehabilitation puts God at the center of all the cognitive behavioral exercises that are conducted. Dependence on a higher power for the strength to deny addiction comes back to God. Healing for the painful moments in a person’s past comes back to God. Thinking intelligently and with reverence to mental and physical health comes back to God. Clients will also have access to meditative, therapeutic recreation such as nature walks, and to spiritual nourishment and worship time through regular church attendance.