Developing “Life Support” Ministries

By Keith Gaines

The Biblical/Theological Basis

In spite of the negativity expressed by some recently about ministering to “felt needs” and “needs-based” ministry, all true ministry is “needs-based.” Without a need, there would be no reason for ministry! Jesus came to meet the ultimate need of every person—a relationship with God. As He did, He met people where they were and often met their immediate “felt” needs, particularly where those interfered with their ability to acknowledge their ultimate need!

Determine the Need(s) You Will Address

Look for a “natural fit” for your church by looking at the people in your church and community. Do you have a significant number of folks who are dealing with alcohol or drug abuse issues in their lives or in the lives of their family members? Likely, there are probably more than you know who could benefit from a ministry for addicts and their struggling families. Do you have a large number of divorced persons or blended families? Are eating disorders an issue among your young people?

Determine what issues are prevalent in your church and the community you are seeking to reach. There will always be more needs than any one church can address directly, so you will likely need to focus on a few specific needs rather than attempt to address all the problems you find.

Discover and Enlist Potential Leaders

Before making a final choice as to which need(s) you will address, determine the potential leadership base in your church. Starting with the people you discovered in your survey of needs, look for active, growing Christians who have recovered or are in recovery—particularly those who seem to attract other people dealing with their same or similar issues.

Always start such a ministry with leaders who know the issues from personal experience or from professional training, and who are committed to this ministry and to the theological approach of your church in addressing the issues. They should be willing to enter into a covenant of responsible accountability to the church and to the ministry leader to work within the church’s guidelines.

Establish Goals

“Life support” ministries may involve anything from providing a meeting place for community support groups, to leading a discovery class dealing with specific topics, or establishing an on-going church-based support group, to providing professional counseling services and treatment programs and anything in-between. Decide the level of your ministry based on the make-up of the leadership team and to what they are willing to commit themselves.

A word about motive is in order here. Make certain that you and your church have the primary motivation of providing a ministry of healing and growth to hurting people in the name of Christ and not increasing your enrolment or attendance figures. This is an area where a lack of authenticity will be evident to the very people to whom you are trying to minister and your efforts will soon fail.

Choose a Model

Working with your enlisted leaders, determine what material or model you will use to address the issue(s) you have chosen. There are a growing number of such resources available. For example, a recent Internet search for “Christian AND recovery AND alcohol AND curriculum” yielded 658,000 hits! Obviously many of these are duplicates or related and do not represent hundreds of thousands of different curricula, but the reality is that there are plenty of resources available.

Have your identified leadership team review several, looking for theological compatibility and integrity. Choose a model or material that deals realistically with the issue(s) with a distinctively Christian foundation. In this way, you will provide a true alternative or adjunct to the usual community-based recovery group approach.

Depending on the level of expertise and experience of your leadership group, you might develop original material. This requires great expertise and is extremely time- and energy- intensive but may be something to consider if your identified issues and theological considerations are not well represented in the plethora of recovery models and materials available. Another option is to adapt existing material to your situation. Of course, this will require expert consultation and oversight.

Get the Word Out

One of the best promotional avenues for your “life-support ministries” will be the experiences and relationships that your leadership team members have already developed in their personal recovery. Word-of-mouth promotion is invaluable, especially when dealing with such personal issues. Leadership team members who have good relationships with existing community-based support groups should promote the ministry there.

A sermon or series of sermons dealing with the needs your ministry will address may be in order. Combine that with testimonies from your leadership team, as they are willing, concerning their personal struggles and victories in recovery and the realities of life as a Christian in recovery and you may help others to identify their own needs and get involved.

It is helpful to provide information about the ministry to local therapists and physicians as well as attorneys who are always looking for appropriate referrals for their patients and clients. They will appreciate a supply of brochures or “business-card” announcements of the ministry that they can put in the hands of people they refer.

Maintain the Ministry

As with any on-going ministry, constant evaluation and leadership development are essential. Be willing to make changes in approach when necessary and determine not to allow this ministry to become just another program set in concrete!

Through “life-support” ministries your church has the opportunity to connect hurting people with the ultimate source of healing and growth and to provide the opportunity for them to help others in turn. Is not that what we have been called to do by the one whose body we are?

Keith Gaines serves as the Associate Pastor of the FBC of Albany, Georgia where he and his wife Dianne direct a local meeting of Celebrate Recovery, a Christ-centered, church-based ministry developed by John Baker and Rick Warren, which they began at First Albany over four years ago. In addition to the M.Div. (S.B.T.S. '83), Keith has a Masters Degree in Counseling and Psychology (Troy State U. at Dothan) and 17 years of experience in Alcohol and Drug counseling and treatment.