I have a question

Hi Annette,

Nice to meet you!


I guess you'd really have to give a bit more of the context in order for me to answer that. We don't have a Celebration Recovery group, but we have a Reformers Unanimous group, which is the same basic idea and ministers in the same way.

Perhaps whoever posted what you wrote has that as their experience - it might not be a negative to them even.

In our church the Reformers Unanimous members tend to be a bit "rougher" I guess you'd say. BUt we've got quite a rough church as it is - and so saying they are rowdier, or rougher around the edges, is not a reflection of whether or not they are accepted. Am I making sense?

Due to who the addiction recovery groups minister to, those members will probably be the rowdier crowd - but that isn't necessarily a bad thing.

 

Annette,

In our case, I would say the exact opposite is true. They aren't rowdy at all. Most of them, by the time they come to CR have hit bottom and are truly broken people. In our case, and I think for most others that I know of, it takes time to take them through CR and then get them connected to the church. So normally by the time they are coming to a regular church service there has already been a major life change. We get several who are court mandated to attend a recovery program, and we have a really good reputation with the courts, so they prefer ours. Some of the mandated guys just really don't want to be there, but I've never really had a problem with them. More just rolling the eyes and heavy sighs. Even the ones who don't want to be there haven't been rowdy. In almost 5 years of this ministry I've only had to ask one guy to leave. And we went outside and talked it out and he came back and was fine.

What has been an adventure sometimes is when we get them to start coming to small group Bible study. Many of them have no experience at all with church and were not raised with any sense of what's appropriate. We have had more than one "F-bomb" dropped in the middle of a study. Some of them, you just have no idea what they're going to say. It keeps you on your toes :laugh: I've decided that for me I'd rather dodge a few bad words in room full of guys who sincerely want the Grace and Mercy that leads to an abundant life in Christ than to sit in room full of saints who already know everything.

And hey, if you want to see rowdy, just stop in and check out my youth pastor's kids :laugh:

 

Celebrate Recovery has been named in our Church to get it started. I don't really know much about the program. I can tell a story about a lady in our Church that wants to work with CR if we get it started. I have never in all my days saw someone more "onfire" for the Lord than this lady. You can see the gratitude for the Lord saving her every time you talk to her. BTW, she has saw 4 kids come to the Lord since she got saved and started coming here.


Edit: I forgot to add that she will tell you real fast that God will bring you out of addiction.

 

Hey Dr. Bob, Celebrate works regardless of your hurt, habit, or hang-up :thumbs:

 

In my church, I love Celebrate Recovery. I cook for it every other Friday night (when I am off.) It is a joy to wash feet by cooking a good homecooked meal for people who may not have had a good homecooked meal week. JOY. And I mean COMPLETE.

The worship service, within my personal experience, is true worship. Though people are struggling with their sin, they give true graciousness and thankfulness to God for their salvation. Pure worship.

It might be loud. It might be rowdy. It may be atypical. But I believe God is honored.

 

I am not really sure why naysayers feel like they have a place. This attitude is offensive.

 

Annette,

I understand why it would make you upset, I'd feel the same way.

Rather than waiting in frustration until you do blow your stack, why don't you sit down and write a note to your pastor about your concerns and ask him to help you in this. Since he says he supports it, perhaps he will be willing to address the issue himself.

One thing we have implemented in our church is a Newsletter about our addictions group. It is meant to improve those relations between the addictions program and the mainstream church. We want the program to be available to anyone anyway - there should be no separation - but in reality there is going to be. We are dealing with humans, and all too often this is how we operate. We segregate ourselves from those who we think have "worse" sins than we have. We shouldn't - but sometimes we do it anyway.

Well, the newsletter contains testimonies of those who have been helped - and sometimes the more "mossy-backed" amongst us need to hear those fresh new testimonies of people having their lives drastically changed. It could bring a whole new perspective to the rest of your church.

Who knows, you could even get to write your own article for it, and voice a few of those concerns yourself.