Why I come to CR

I spend lots of time talking to people outside of the church building…

What I have found, and I’m sure you have too, is that many people are hurting due to their own habits and guilt, and/or due to hurts and injuries from others.  We try all kinds of ways to deal with these hurts, whether self-inflicted or inflicted by others; we spend our time wishing things were different, we worry, we try to escape (which often leads to other addictive behavior that only increases the hurt), we isolate ourselves from people and situations, we get angry and lash out, and on and on it goes.  All of these coping methods are temporary at best, and they only add to our problems in the long run.

For years, my first suggestion was to encourage hurting people to come to church on Sunday.  Over the years though, I have learned that that may not be best thing.  I know it’s hard to believe that a conservative pastor would say such a thing, but here is why…

While on the streets of Ellwood City, New Brighton and other small towns I have also found that many people are disappointed with church.  There is something that people who attend regularly and those who don’t need to understand about Sunday morning church.  That service is a worship service (at least that’s what it is in many churches).  For a believer in Christ, a Worship service is a wonderful and necessary thing; where the church gathers together to give praise to God and worship Him.  We need that.  But let’s be honest, if you are hurting you probably don’t feel like singing praise songs or listening to a sermon about living the Christian life, right?  That is especially true if you haven’t been attending church regularly because of a habit you’ve been struggling with or a hurt that has left unforgiveness in your heart.  Oh, and if you have managed to attend regularly while hiding some habit or hurt, you are probably tired of the weight of guilt you feel when you are at church on Sunday.

Worship services are necessary for believers; they are a wonderful time of expressing our praise and gratitude to our Saviour and God.  For a believer who wants to draw close to God, worship is a big part of doing just that.  But whether you are a believer or not, hiding a habit or hurt means you are holding God away from you, not letting Him in to deal with it; that’s kind of the opposite of worship isn’t it?  That’s why coming to a worship service is so hard.

Celebrate Recovery is not a worship service like we have on Sunday mornings.  CR is a time of healing designed to address our hurts and habits.  It is a group of people, myself included, who come together because they are tired of struggling alone, tired of the cycle, tired of trying so hard and things are not getting better.  We cannot fix each other; I can’t fix anyone, but I know who can heal those hurts and remove those habits.  We come together on Friday nights to draw near to our only Hope and Help: Jesus Christ.

Look, we’ve all been hurt, we’ve all struggled with some habit.  God doesn’t lock us up to keep us from hurting ourselves or others.  He doesn’t write a prescription to dull us to our hurts or keep us under control.  Our loving God does bring His full power and authority to bear on our hurts and habits, to free us from them…if we open ourselves to Him.

The Bible tells us that our battle is not against flesh and blood – physical things, but that is exactly where we concentrate all our losing efforts.  We try all kinds of things to force the changes we want to make, but nothing changes.  That’s because our hurts and habits are just symptoms.  The real battle isn’t physical, emotional, relational, or financial…the real battle is spiritual.  We do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against spiritual evil.  That is where we loose the battle, which then compounds the hurts and habits. 

If you want to start the process of celebrating your recovery, come visit us on Friday nights.