Reach out to the hurting people in your church and community

By John Baker

We live in difficult and uncertain times. Many people in our churches are feeling hopeless and defeated as they face job losses, financial pressure, and an array of physical and emotional hurts, hang-ups, and habits.

Pastor, if there are hurting people in your church, I have good news for you. We know that God uses hard times to draw people closer to him. Romans 8:28 (NLT) tells us, “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” We know that the only true answer for those feeling hopeless is to turn to Jesus Christ.

After serving as the founding pastor of Celebrate Recovery for almost 20 years, I’ve learned that everyone struggles with something. We’ve all been hurt by other people, we’ve hurt ourselves, and we’ve hurt others. And as a result, every single one of us ends up with some sort of hurt, hang-up, or habit.
But when people learn to apply the principles from the Beatitudes of Jesus, their lives are transformed.

Matthew 5:3-10 (NLT) says:
God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth.

God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied.

God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.

God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God.

God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
By applying the principles from this passage over the years, we’ve discovered that happiness and healing are choices – and we choose them one choice at a time:

1. Admitting need – the reality choice
2. Getting help – the hope choice
3. Letting go – the commitment choice
4. Coming clean – the housecleaning choice
5. Making changes – the transformation choice
6. Repairing relationships – the relationship choice
7. Maintaining momentum – the maintenance choice
8. Recycling pain – the sharing choice

Regardless of what someone is struggling with – whether it’s emotional, financial, relational, chemical, physical, spiritual, or sexual – the principles and choices that lead to happiness are the same.

How you can reach out to the hurting people in your church and community?

There are several key ways you can lead your church and community to freedom from hurts, hang-ups, and habits this fall:

1.    Offer your support as the senior pastor. When you encourage people to make healing choices and get help, you make it acceptable for someone to be in recovery. People understand it’s not just for “those” people anymore – it’s for all of us.

2.    Commit to leading your church through a Life’s Healing Choices Campaign. To help you care for the hurting people in your church, lead your church through an eight-week sermon series based on the recovery principles in the Beatitudes. To receive your free online access pass, go to www.lifeshealingchoices.com.

3.    Encourage your small groups to do the Life’s Healing Choices curriculum. To accompany the sermon series, we’ve developed an eight-week small group study guide to help people discover and face their hurts, hang-ups, and habits for perhaps the first time. While freedom does not happen overnight, small groups offer a safe place to begin the journey.

4.    Offer fellowship events. If you have a Celebrate Recovery program at your church, make sure it’s out in the open and easy for people to join together and get God’s answers on how to overcome their struggles. With good leadership, fellowship events help members grow into a support team of sponsors and accountability partners.

5.    Reach out to those in your community. It’s great to have a recovery program for those who attend your church, but this isn’t just a strategy for your own members – it’s also an outreach opportunity to connect with the unchurched in your community. Make sure your community knows you have a safe place for people to begin dealing with life’s hurts, hang-ups, and habits.

6.    Include worship. Worship is a central part of Celebrate Recovery at Saddleback. It’s also a major difference between a Christ-centered and a secular program. It gives everyone an opportunity to put aside the busyness and hassles of the world and get in touch with the true Higher Power – Jesus Christ.