Scott Wills is pastor at Diamond City Alliance Church in Wilkes-Barre. We asked IF HE COULD Write About a unique way GOD has Directed Their Church to reach hurting people in Their community.
I think we would all acknowledge that there is an addiction issue in our country. Experts now refer to an “opioid epidemic,” with the number of opioid-related deaths rising at staggering rates since the 1990s.
According to the latest statistics from the CDC, there were 107,306 fatal drug overdoses in 2021. Of those, 73,453 were from opioids. Around 700,000 people have died from drug overdose since 2000, and the number of fatal overdoses increases by about 4% every year. One in 10 Americans over the age of 12 have alcohol use disorder, and 141,000 people die each year from alcohol.
The statistics are saddening. But in 2020, they became devastating when my wife and I sat across from my then 18-year-old son who confirmed what we had grown to suspect. He had been abusing alcohol, pot, meth, and cocaine. This began a long and brutally painful time for us as we walked alongside him on the road to recovery. With a few bumps in the road, he is still on the path to recovery and I could not possibly be more proud of him than I am!
Around this time last year, I began to talk to Jesus about how our church might be able to minister to addicts and their families. I knew addiction was deeply personal to me and I did not want to impose my ideas on the church unless I felt confident that it was God directing us.
After hearing from a handful of others in our church who were dealing with addiction, either directly or with a family member, I decided to voice my idea, “What if we created a worship service specifically designed for addicts and their families?” The hope is that those who might never step foot in church might see this as a place that understands them and welcomes them without judgment. The enthusiastic response from my church family was overwhelming!
Last month, we started our Recovery and Addiction Worship service (RAW) on Sunday nights, specifically for those in active addiction, in recovery from addiction, or for the family members or friends of addicts. It doesn’t look drastically different from a normal church service, except that we devote time to pray for loved ones who are still stuck in their addiction, we highlight connections to addiction in worship and the message, and we allow time for people to share their thoughts after the message.
Almost all addiction is rooted in wounds to the soul that only Jesus can fully heal. Paul speaks in 2 Corinthians 1 of the “God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”
Our RAW service is still in its infancy, and we are working hard to get word out to local recovery meetings and agencies. We are excited to see how God redeems our trials by allowing us to point others affected by addiction toward hope and healing in Jesus.
