The Arc of Faith-Based Initiatives by John P. Bartkowski & Susan E. Grettenberger

Author:John P. Bartkowski & Susan E. Grettenberger
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer International Publishing, Cham

5.2 Comparing Faith-Based and Secular Addiction Recovery Programs: Broad Patterns

What, then, do we learn from the faith-based and secular addiction recovery programs located in the Puget Sound and Portland areas that participated in our study? Overall, a careful comparison of these programs indicates that the sharp distinctions often suggested in scholarship on faith-based and secular social services are not evident in these organizations. In most of the faith-based programs—specifically those that are faith-related—the role of faith operates in a quite subtle fashion. The most dramatic distinctions across programs, in fact, lie elsewhere. Faith-intensive drug treatment programs are quite different from their faith-related counterparts.

Faith-intensive treatment programs all offer extensive instruction in the Bible , including formal Bible study classes.22 And, given the fact that these programs receive no public funding, they are all in a position to require worship service attendance among their clients—literally, church attendance, given their explicitly Christian commitments. Generally, church attendance is offered—and mandated—on the organization’s premises, thereby permitting the agencies to monitor clients’ degree of commitment to the program through participation in core activities. Intensive exposure to religion is also provided through counseling offered by staff. This counseling has a strong spiritual focus and, under some circumstances, is provided by chaplains or other religious personnel.

Distinctions among faith-based organizations and their treatment programs are also evident in terms of their ties to the external world of the courts , judges , parole officers , and other government agencies and personnel. Faith-intensive Open House Ministries and City Team Ministries do not have strong and ongoing relationships with third-party government referral entities such as the courts . And, perhaps because of this, these two programs have a blurry line between their shelter program and their addiction program. More specifically, Open House Ministries offers an eight-week alcohol and drug recovery curriculum that is scripturally (biblically) based. This program is available to anyone in the shelter , including individuals without any history of serious substance abuse. Many shelter residents take this eight-week curriculum more than once because they find it so helpful in their efforts to improve their lives. Clients with addictions participate in most of the other shelter activities, including the work program, with other shelter residents.

Although Open House Ministries ’ curriculum is eight weeks in duration, residents with addictions are expected to stay at the shelter for at least a year or longer and take the curriculum as many times as is deemed advisable by the staff. For example, one of the clients interviewed had arrived at the shelter with his wife after losing custody of his children. He had a long history of addiction problems. When interviewed, he and his wife had been at the shelter for almost two years and had regained custody of their children. (The shelter has an active and thriving child-care program on site.) This couple is now part of the shelter staff. At Open House Ministries , individuals in the treatment program live and interact extensively with the other men in the shelter .

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