Month: January 2023

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.