The Recovery-Minded Church Quotes

“The disease of addiction, for all the pain and damage it causes, is an invitation to see this prodigal God in action. The question is, will we? Will we as the church step out of our comfort zones into uncharted territory that will at times be unpredictable and even scary for us? Or will we, like the older son, gloat, sulk and stomp off in resentment? Would we rather be party poopers or partygoers, estranged children or reconciled ones?”
― Jonathan Benz, The Recovery-Minded Church: Loving and Ministering to People With Addiction

“If the epidemic of addiction in America is a sobering commentary about the state of our collective soul, the recovery movement bears witness to something else: that the kingdom of the prodigal God is alive and well outside the four walls of the church—proclaiming good news to the poor, setting the captives free and opening the eyes of the blind.4”
― Jonathan Benz, The Recovery-Minded Church: Loving and Ministering to People With Addiction

“where Jesus is, there the church can be also.”
― Jonathan Benz, The Recovery-Minded Church: Loving and Ministering to People With Addiction

“getting an addict into recovery is as much about getting recovery into the church.”
― Jonathan Benz, The Recovery-Minded Church: Loving and Ministering to People With Addiction

“Transformation happens when we see our own crippling brokenness and need for God’s grace in the face and story of the addict in front of us. When addicts are not just the heroin pushers or prescription pill junkies “out there,” but are in our pews and among us, we are in the right position to begin helping addicts step into recovery. And this identification can’t be emphasized enough: my own secret cravings, patterns of self-destructive behavior and unchecked forms of consumption (of money, power, approval—you name it) may not manifest themselves in quite the same way as those of the crack addict in front of me, but they fall within the same realm of human bondage. So getting addicts into recovery means first standing in solidarity with addicts, recognizing that their plight and their stories are hitched to our own and in many ways are similar.”
― Jonathan Benz, The Recovery-Minded Church: Loving and Ministering to People With Addiction

“When addicts are not just the heroin pushers or prescription pill junkies “out there,” but are in our pews and among us, we are in the right position to begin helping addicts step into recovery.”
― Jonathan Benz, The Recovery-Minded Church: Loving and Ministering to People With Addiction

“The question is not whether you will encounter addicted people, but how you will respond when you encounter them.”
― Jonathan Benz, The Recovery-Minded Church: Loving and Ministering to People With Addiction

“Addiction recovery is more than a referral to the closest AA group. It is a one-of-a-kind opportunity for a whole community of wayward children to be transformed by the grace of a wildly-in-love-with-you God.”
― Jonathan Benz, The Recovery-Minded Church: Loving and Ministering to People With Addiction