What ministries - take 2

Our church is involved in many ministries (some not mentioned in the poll).

We are not involved with AA, because we have Reformer's Unanimous at our church twice a week. It has a much better success rate.

 

There has been some discussion of our church sponsoring an AA group. What makes "Reformer's Unanimous" better? (I can't find anything on it.)

 

Reformer's Unanimous is Bible based and the program is based on God's Words for overcoming addictions. 90% of the people finishing the course end up getting saved. Many have become faithful members of our church family.

More and more judges are including Reformer's Unanimous in their sentencing for DUI's instead of AA, or another secular program. PTL!

Here is a link:
http://reformu.com/

 

AA supports the beleif in any diety, pick one, any higherpower you want to make up.

 

We have a nursing home ministry. I guess that could be the same as a 'shut-in' ministry, but it's not.

The nursing home ministry is for people in the nursing home and the shut-in ministry is for people who are no longer able to come to church. We make sure we visit them, take them a video tape of the service each week, and tend to whatever other needs they may have.

We also have a ministry to the developmentally challenged in our community. We call it our "Special Friends" ministry. We take them on field trips, bring them to church, recognize their birthdays, etc. This may be considered an in-church ministry, I suppose.

We have a bus ministry that covers our whole county.

We also have a "Fish Bowl" ministry. We have goldfish bowls on the counters of many businesses in town and we keep them filled with audio tapes of the pastor's sermons. It has been a great outreach program.

We have a radio ministry "Heavenly Helps for Earthly Problems". We have a "Tape of the Month" club (which is a CD).

We volunteer at the local Crisis Pregnancy Center.

We distribute food within the church to needy families, but we do not have a food pantry.

We open our ministry center to various activities which has brought a number of unchurched people to Christ. For example, three mornings a week, the public can use the gym for 'walking'. Some of our people walk with them and witness to them while walking.

I guess I don't differentiate between 'in church' ministries and outside of church ministries very well. They're all church ministries. Sorry. :saint:

 

I don't think it is accurate to label AA as a secular program, since its heritage and practice are explicitly religious.

I don't think this kind of KJVO, Jack Hyles-influenced residential work program is a good fit for our church.

 

In my understanding, which admittedly is second-hand, that AA teaches the historic spiritual transformation practices of the Christian church. While AA doesn't insist that you rely on Christ, in practice, the majority of successful AA members do.

 

As far as I know, Jack Hyles is dead and has nothing to do with Reformer's Unanimous.

Please do not hi-jack this thread into a "I hate Jack Hyles and KJVO's" thread.

Have you ever attended an AA meeting? If not, I suggest you do so before calling it Christian based.

Have you ever attended an RU meeting? If not, I suggest you do so before calling it KJVO (or Jack Hyles) based.

I have been to both.

I went to AA with a friend once, and I've never heard such a constant stream of foul language in my life! A lot of them have substituted cigarettes and/or street drugs for the alcohol, and they are only there for one reason and it's NOT to stop drinking. It's because the court ordered them to go.

Some of our RU members are there because of the courts, others are there because they sincerely want to be free and RU's motto is "The truth shall make you free".

RU methods are based on the Bible and is highly successful in getting rid of ALL addictions - not just trading one for another.

 

I noticed the connection when reviewing the background information on at least one of the leaders.

I'm not. And you're the first one who's said anything about "hate." I don't hate Hyles or anyone who is conviced of the KJVO position. I simply said it is not a good fit for our church, which is completely accurate.

As I said before, I have not. Although over the years I have discussed what happens at AA meetings with several people who are actively involved.

I intend to visit when I am invited to a meeting. (I'm going to try to do it soon.) In any case, the 12 steps are based on Christian principles of repentance, humility, confession and accountability.

Obviously I haven't because I asked for more information this morning.

I didn't say it was "Jack Hyles based", I said "Jack Hyles-influenced" which may or may not be a fair assessment given the background of the leadership.
As far as KJVO goes, the application for discipleship makes that clear.

Okay... And you realize that AA consists of autonomous groups, so your personal experience may vary from norm?

Imagine that! Sinners acting like sinners instead of pretending to be something that they are not.

That's true with many people who kick addictions. My father gained quite a bit of weight when he was finally able to kick cigarettes.

And how would a judge ordering people to go to RU be any different? Seems like you would have to condemn RU in order to be consistent...

I'm sure you are correct. And for the record, I'm not condemning RU. I simply said it was not a good fit for our church (since we are not KJV or fundamentalist).

Yet I know a number of people involved in AA who have also been freed from all of their addictions... so success is not limited to RU.

 

Many of the above in some form or another.