About the Book and Author

Now Featured in the Patheos Book Club
The Recovery-Minded Church:
Loving and Ministering to People With Addiction
by Jonathan Benz, with contributor Kristina Robb-Dover

About the Book

You want to have vibrant and healthy relationships with those who struggle with addiction in your church and community. But you find yourself wondering how to meet their needs in a wise, helpful and God-honoring way.

The Recovery-Minded Church addresses the pressing questions you are facing in ministering to those with addictions. Here you will discover a clinically informed, biblical and theological framework to love the addicts in your midst and also practical tools to help you succeed in doing so, including discussion questions after each chapter for use in small group settings.

God desires to welcome his prodigal children with open arms and a spirit of celebration. We need to reflect this same kind of grace and mercy in our ministry to those with addictions, to move our churches from being recovery-resistant to recovery-minded.

Features of this book worth noting are that it:

-Offers a Christian theological framework and clinical vocabulary for understanding addiction

-Presents practical tools and practices to become a recovery-friendly community

-Reveals insights from focus group surveys of one hundred pastors and lay leaders

-Provides discussion guide for small groups

-Includes curriculum for one-hour workshop or congregational course

-Answers congregations’ biggest questions about addiction and recovery

About the Author

Jonathan Benz (MS, Palm Beach Atlantic University) is a clinician, public speaker, ordained minister and certified addictions professional who serves as the program director of the Three Strands Christian addiction treatment program at The Recovery Place in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. As a leadership consultant to various agencies in the United States and United Kingdom he specializes in teaching team leadership, task efficiency, crisis management and conflict resolution to people in the midst of life transitions. He is the author of Live A Legacy: Spiritual Principles for Strategic Living.