Home Outreach Leaders Articles for Outreach & Missions Is Jesus Enough for Drug Addicts?

Is Jesus Enough for Drug Addicts?

Many people come and go out of government-sponsored rehab programmes and, to a (wo)man, they come out with little or no support. They go back to the communities that they know. Back to the same old faces. Maybe they get a drugs worker, a social worker or some kind of support worker for one or two hours a week. It is not enough.

Their GPs have little more than 10-20 minutes per appointment. They need long-term, sustained support. They need to be in a community where they are not the centre of attention. Where they are not the only one with problems. Where life does not revolve around amusing them or making them feel better.

They need to learn self-sacrifice. They need to learn humility. They need to learn to tell the truth. They need to learn service. They need to learn all of this in a safe environment. And for that to happen, there needs to really be a community. We can’t share our faith and then just leave them hanging when it comes to the hard work of discipleship.

According to drug rehab miami, many people get it wrong when it comes to our drugs problem. It is not just a social issue. It is a spiritual one. Only a life transformed from the inside by God’s Holy Spirit can affect lasting change. The good news of Jesus really is good news today because it changes people so supernaturally it leaves you scratching your head. But far too many churches have it wrong too.

They think that Jesus alone is the answer. They park people with the good news and then fail to deliver the follow-up package. Or, they think that only the specialist few can handle the problem of this kind of discipleship. But it must be a community affair. There is no training necessary to live as God intended us to.

People need a change of heart. They need hope. They need a reason to put down the needle. They need to want to stop anaesthetising themselves. They need the gospel of Jesus Christ. But many church programmes are a bit like Methadone. They mean well and they offer a small window of respite in a chaotic world. But they just park people where they are.

They teach them the basics, but they don’t move them on. They don’t integrate them fully into the family. They don’t move them forward quickly enough into service. Of course, there are no easy answers. But the local church can be a powerful tool in our broken and chaotic world if we not only hold out the light of the world, but live together in that light too.