“I’m not a piece of trash–I’m a person!”
The frustrated exclamation resounded through a West Virginia emergency room, and became etched into the memory of PCA pastor David Eades, the pastor who accompanied the patient. The woman had come to the emergency room seeking treatment for her battle with addiction and hoping for a long-term placement. Instead, she was ridiculed and berated by staff. Eades later learned that the woman succumbed to her addiction, adding to West Virginia’s skyrocketing overdose death rate.
The woman’s emergency room experience is common both locally and nationally. In 2024, 48.4 million people aged 12 or older had a substance use disorder, according to the National Survey on Health and Drug Use. Nearly 28 million of those were drug use disorders, and nearly 8 million of those involved opioids.
In some areas of the country evidence of addiction’s power looks like increased unemployment, homelessness, and children in the foster care system. In other regions, the issue is more concealed, with sufferers stigmatized into silence. Regardless of how addiction presents in a community, it poses unique challenges and opportunities for churches and their leaders. Some PCA churches are rising to the challenge.
For many addicts, the first exposure to opioids came with a doctor’s prescription.
The FDA approved OxyContin for pharmaceutical use in 1995 and by 2002, the number of prescriptions for the drug had grown to 6 million. As access to the drug grew, so did its illicit and recreational use, and a resulting spike in overdoses from opioid pain relievers.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers the high rates of opioid pain reliever prescriptions the first wave of the opioid crisis. The second wave followed in 2010 with a rapid increase in heroin deaths. In 2013, the third wave emerged with an even deadlier substance: synthetic opioids and illegally made fentanyl.
According to the CDC, approximately 105,000 people died from drug overdoses in 2023, and approximately 76% of those deaths involved opioids.
West Virginia is among the states hardest hit by the opioid crisis. In 2017, the state experienced five times the national average in opioid-related overdose deaths.
On August 15, 2017, the riverfront college town of Huntington experienced 28 overdoses in 24 hours. First responders and emergency rooms alike were overwhelmed by the need, and resources dwindled under the strain of the sustained crisis. Faith leaders likewise struggled to handle the scope of the need.
“Our clergy had no tools to work with,” said Monty Fulton, board member of Faith Health Appalachia. “They’d studied all about giving good sermons and Christian resources and all those grand noble things, but to deal with something that was affecting everyone in the congregation so deeply, they didn’t know where to turn for resources.”
In the worst years of Huntington’s battle with the opioid epidemic, the growing homeless population deterred people from going downtown to shop, eat, or see a movie. Many small businesses felt the impact and were forced to close.
Fulton and several other volunteer leaders in Huntingdon formed Faith Community United, a monthly training series to equip clergy with resources to combat the opioid crisis. Though the interfaith group no longer meets, at its height nearly 200 attendees came to hear from speakers in the field and gain practical resources.
“One of the beautiful things about it was that over every meeting you would see the conversations and the relationships getting built. That has stayed in effect for years,” Fulton said. “It’s all part of the healing.”
One of the biggest aims to come out of those meetings was to destigmatize the people struggling with addiction.
Ministry at “Ground Zero”
In Fairmont, West Virginia, Eades views the many in his community who battle addiction through the lens of Christ’s ministry to the most marginalized around him.
“We see folks in those contexts as the poor, crippled, lame, and blind of the New Testament.” Eades said.
Eades is a board member of Dayspring Camp and Conference Center, a ministry that began under Mission to the World and hosts short-term mission trips to serve Fairmont’s many needs brought about by addiction. He is also planting the mission church Dayspring Community Church, known locally as “Front Porch Church.”
“Addiction is a pervasive and chronic issue.” Eades said. “We’re ground zero for the opioid crisis here in West Virginia, and Fairmont is a part of that ground zero.”
The effect of addiction is evident in homelessness, poverty, food insecurity, and the number of children in the foster care system, several of whom are now in the care of families from the church. Many children in the foster care system are there because of a parent’s addiction.
“Pretty much everybody here knows somebody, either directly or with one degree of separation, who has fallen into addiction.” Eades said.
Many in Front Porch Church’s core group have moved to the area expressly to minister immersively to Fairmont’s significant needs.
“Most of the folks have come here because they love this place and they love the people and they have a heart for the type of ministry that God’s called us to,” Eades said.
Ministry in some cases can look unconventional, like bailing someone out of jail or visiting a drug house to build relationships with the occupants. One of the biggest challenges is earning trust, a long process that comes through being present.
“We enter into the lives of people on those individual levels and walk with them.” Eades said. “We have spent a lot of time giving folks rides and praying with them and pointing them to Jesus. As he says there in Luke, he came to set the captives free.”
The nature of the work is identifying what someone needs in a holistic sense, be it food, clothes, encouragement, a ride to a meeting, or a referral to another community resource.
“Addiction is very often predominantly a trauma response. It’s a holistic problem that needs a holistic solution. And it’s also powerful: spiritually, physically, emotionally and mentally powerful.” Eades said.
In addition to their own grassroots ministry, the church also supports existing organizations in the town through resources and volunteering.
Friendship Fairmont is a drop-in center for people who have nowhere to go during the day. The center provides practical resources to help residents connect with social services or obtain a social security card and identification. The center even serves as a home address for people with unstable housing situations. Front Porch Church supports the ministry’s practical needs and encourages those on the front lines of ministry.
“Getting The Heart For People”
Dayspring, and the teams of volunteers that visit, support home construction or home maintenance for those who can’t afford it. They are currently working with Compassion Central to convert two locations into sober houses for men and women.
In mid-November, one of the short-term missions teams working on these sober houses included men from Mount Airy Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Mount Airy, Maryland. The trip was one of several from the church to work on the sober houses in the last few years, and on many of the trips, church members Ken Scheffter and Leon “Butch” Lantz are joined by men from Mount Airy who are themselves in addiction recovery.
Mount Airy, Maryland, is about 30 minutes outside Baltimore, the city that in 2023 had the highest number of opioid deaths in the county, with 174.1 drug overdoses per 100,000 people.
Scheffter leads MAPC’s ministry to several sober houses run by Solid Ground Recovery in the neighboring town of Frederick. The church also partners with the Changed Life Recovery Program, a residential ministry of Frederick Rescue Mission.
Using the Authentic Manhood curriculum, Scheffter, Lantz, and three other instructors hold weekly Bible studies in each location, and their gatherings include both spiritual and practical discussions and involve instructors from other denominations, too.
Given the nature of the recovery process, some of the men in recovery participate intermittently, while some will stay in for months at a time. After a certain milestone in recovery, the residents are allowed to go on service trips to Fairmont. Given addiction’s impact in Fairmont, the service trips are often supporting ministry to addicted populations as well. The opportunity gives the men the dignity and satisfaction of making a difference, and it reminds them that ministry goes beyond words.
“It’s better for us to practice what we preach.” Scheffter said.
For Scheffter, short-term mission trips were the crucible that formed his heart for his local ministry to people in addiction. He was heavily involved in service trips both domestically and globally through MTW and MAPC, working in home repair, evangelism, disaster recovery, and medical care. Meeting people and experiencing diverse cultures opened his heart for people as God’s image bearers.
Meanwhile, a newly-particularized MAPC tasked him with starting the church’s missions outreach ministry.
“I started going on these trips, and I started getting the heart for people, and I said, ‘Wait, we’ve got to do more. There’s more than just writing checks here for our local ministries. Let’s get involved.’”
Sheffter connected with Frederick Rescue Mission and learned of the opportunity to bring the Authentic Manhood curriculum into the recovery program. Scheffter said he realized God had allowed him to participate in short-term missions trips to be the catalyst for local ministry in his community.
His advice for churches looking to explore ministry to people struggling with addiction is to see what ministry is already taking place locally, and learn how to get involved.
“Don’t start with a clean canvas. Find the rescue missions. Find the good programs, and then go talk to the leaders.” Scheffter said.
Celebrating Recovery
Celebrate Recovery is one faith-based program that several PCA churches around the country have implemented in their ministry to people struggling with addiction.
At Grace Presbyterian Church in Lawrence, Kansas, Celebrate Recovery is one piece of what Associate Pastor Mark Winton calls the church’s “high regard for the afflicted.”
The church’s broader mercy ministries serve people affected by homelessness, incarceration, and the foster care system, all issues that overlap with addiction.
“It’s a great opportunity to connect with people — reminding them of their dignity, treating them as image bearers, hearing their sad stories.” Winton said.
The church also directly ministers to people in recovery through Celebrate Recovery and a partnership with transitional living Freedom Home.
Daryl Goodnow leads the Celebrate Recovery program at Grace. When he discovered that Lawrence had no Celebrate Recovery chapter, he sensed God calling him to begin the program around 2021. He wanted to obey God’s prompting and also engage in meaningful relationships with fellow strugglers.
“I was longing for fellowship with other believers who know what it’s like to struggle,” he said.
In his own struggles with addiction a decade earlier, Goodnow sought help from Alcoholics Anonymous and eventually went through a Christ-centered outpatient rehabilitation program.
Celebrate Recovery meets weekly, and because it follows a nationwide curriculum, the meetings are the same regardless of location. The group sings a worship song and recites either the 12-step principles associated with AA or the Celebrate Recovery 8 Principles, based on the Beatitudes.
Sometimes attendees will hear a testimony and other times a lesson. The meetings also include small group time, divided by gender. These times of sharing are built on James 5:16, “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.”
Goodnow said open sharing is a vital element of weekly meetings. As participants confess their failings before God, they discover opportunities to also confess them to someone that they trust.
“We build the platform of trust, and we operate on the condition of anonymity and confidentiality,” he said. “What’s said in the group stays in the group so that we can build a safe place to heal.”
Goodnow says the support of pastors, elders, and deacons has been an important component in establishing the program.
“We’re fortunate that we have that [support] and that from a pastoral aspect they are using us as a resource,” he said.
Celebrate Recovery is open to people who are healing from different kinds of addictions beyond substance abuse, like gambling or pornography.
One common thread is that addiction often grows out of trauma, particular childhood trauma. While masquerading as a solution to that pain, addiction often compounds it through shame and isolation.
“Being caught up in addiction has a tendency to create isolation and a lack of community,” Goodnow said. “Isolation and addiction go hand in hand especially if you do have some kind of a moral upbringing,”
Celebrate Recovery uses the story of Jessica McClure as an analogy. When the 18-month-old fell down the well of her Texas home and became lodged in the piping, the only way to rescue her was to dig down into the earth and come alongside the pipe to retrieve her.
“Getting someone down there to give them hope and give them encouragement is what we’re all about at Celebrate Recovery, and that helps to bring us out of that isolationism.” Goodnow said. “The enemy takes advantage of us, our weakness and our isolation. He starts putting lies into our mind telling us that nobody understands and nobody knows what I’m going through.”
In Fairmont, West Virginia, Eades sees coming alongside people struggling with addiction as a reflection of the redemption story.
“You’ve got to go to people,” he said. “That’s the incarnation. Christ came to us.”
This call to go to the people has led Eades and many others into the houses, streets, jails, and hospitals where people have been discarded and pushed to the margins of society.
“These are real people with real names and real faces.” Eades said. “These are human beings made in God’s image.”