‘The love is here’In Brooklyn, a church without much money gives addicts a rare welcome mat by Emily Belz in New York
Post Date: January 17, 2019
In our coverage of the drug crisis over the last few years, we’ve asked ourselves regularly: Where are churches? Why are there so few Christian resources for a crisis that is killing 72,000 Americans a year? Kristen Gunn, a woman I interviewed last year who had become dependent on benzodiazepines, told me her church was “the hardest place to talk about any of this.â€
In Brooklyn, we found a church where churchgoers feel comfortable talking about their addictions. Recovery House of Worship (RHOW) has few resources, but it is seeding church plants across the country focused on bringing the gospel to addicts. With a congregation of about 200 in Brooklyn, it now has plants in the Bronx, Staten Island, Pennsylvania, and California. Another is in the works in London. ...
Today the church’s annual budget is small—$300,000—and its congregation is mostly the outcasts of a gentrified neighborhood. (Pastor Edwin) Colon does outside fundraising for his $39,900 salary, teaches at Redeemer City to City, and sublets his apartment for extra cash.
But RHOW shows what churches can accomplish purely through relationships and discipleship, without much of an official recovery program. The church hosts daily 12-step meetings in its building as well as breakfasts throughout the week, both of which create an open door for addicts. With a critical mass of recovering addicts in the congregation (even at 27 years clean, Colon describes himself as “in recoveryâ€), the church has strong mentors for addicts trying to leave substances behind. ...
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