Recovery Groups

There are seasons of life when it simply feels like you’re fighting sin and losing a lot; it’s discouraging and exhausting. In John Owen’s book, The Mortification of Sin, he writes that mortifying sin is not a “one and done” task, but an ongoing battle. The good news is that God has enabled us to fight sin and fight for our identity in Him through the power of the Holy Spirit; God dwells in you if you’re a Christian. This means that fighting sin isn’t the pursuit of morality, but the pursuit of holiness.

In addition to the Holy Spirit, God calls us to be in community with one another so that we devote ourselves to one another (Acts 2:42), confess our sin to one another (James 5:16), and to encourage one another (Hebrews 3:13). At Storehouse McAllen, we try to emphasis gospel community as much as possible through a variety of avenues. When we read Acts 2:42-47, it’s not simply a description of the local church, but a prescription of what life together is meant to be like and while our main avenue of discipleship and mission is our community groups, we do have other groups that are seasonal such as Recovery Groups.

We’re launching this new ministry of groups next month and I’m super pumped!

RECOVERY GROUPS

The most common question that we’ve received for these groups is how are they different from our normal-rhythm of community groups. And for us, Recovery Groups are designed to be intensive seasons of discipleship (about 10 weeks). Recovery Groups are for those who are battling addiction and habitual sin. We want to help people find redemption in Christ through recovery and community. And we do this by diving into God’s word, a confidential community, and addressing matters of the heart and patterns of sin; idolatry.

These groups aren’t lead by licensed therapists or certified counselors, but by faithful teachers and facilitators who want to see faith and repentance strengthened and produced as individuals fight their sin and fight for their identities in Christ.

This is the first time we will be doing Recovery Groups and while we’ve been white boarding ideas and walking through content for months, I’d love to hear if your church does anything similar and how it works for you.

If you’d like to learn more information about Recovery Groups at Storehouse McAllen, then visit our website and get hooked up!

RECOMMENDED READING

• Redemption: Freed By Jesus By The Idols We Worship and The Wounds We Carry by Mike Wilkerson

• Christian Recovery: A Twelve Step Approach To Discipleship

At the end of the movie, The Replacements, Gene Hackman says that the men on the football team go to live what every athlete dreams for: a second chance. I don't know any dude who isn't looking for a second chance. There's a reason high school "glory days" exist, many wish they could do it all over again- differently. 

For the most part, men have endless pursuits or love the TV a little too much because they either don’t want to make the same mistake twice so others don’t think wrongly of them or have simply given up. To many, it’s never enough while others will settle for the Star Wars bed sheets. But what if we had the opportunity to start new?

What would you do if you were given that opportunity? 

REDEMPTION

The Bible gives one of the most impactful messages to men: redemption. Redemption is a beautiful second chance, the kind with no strings attached. It’s the kind of chance that doesn’t remind you of what you did or didn’t do the last time, but an opportunity to be redeemed; to no longer exist in the mistakes you committed; to no longer be driven by a motivation that has an underlying foundation of fear; to exist as what you were created for: worship.  

In redemption, we are new not because of what we did or haven’t done, but because of the person and work of Christ Jesus. We are Christ’s workmanship which means that when He created us, we were given purpose; clear and intentional purpose (Ephesians 2:10). Redemption gives you identity.

Men, in our pursuit of Christ, redemption is the second chance. And the first thing you’re given with that second chance is an identity, a clear understanding of who you are because of who Christ is.REDEMPTION