Clergy & Churches
A Home Mission assisting faith-based organizations to be a resource for addiction/recovery in their communities.
Our Mission and Vision
At Steered Straight, we realize that we are all imperfect, broken and in need of love, guidance and God’s grace so we can soar into the lives that He has created for us. For some of us and those we love—that brokenness has become being trapped by an addiction of any kind: substances, porn, gambling, food, etc.
Our Faithing Addiction program exists to offer a connection in our communities based in faith and spiritual values and principles:
- To support those who are in need and struggling with addiction, as well as their families, friends and loved ones.
- To offer resources, guidance and spiritual connection on their journey of recovery as well as the same for families and loved ones, strengthening their foundation of a new life.
- To offer education, prevention and awareness for the faith-based organization, as well as the community, focusing on reaching our youth.
- To assist those in recovery to soar to new heights of self-worth, purpose, spiritual growth and service to God and others as well as ongoing life skills development and guidance.
The Vision
Our Faithing Addiction program will help any faith-based organization initiate, strengthen or expand a recovery/addictions ministry. We offer inspirational and educational presentations to engage your faith-based congregation and local community and bring awareness and a sense of purpose to the cause. We will continue with ongoing support through written materials, webinars, recovery coach/peer support training, films, workshops and many other tools and resources. We seek to serve our faith-based communities in building these ministries, so they can be a source of hope, so they can bring awareness, understanding and compassion and healing to their congregations and communities.
Addiction is a growing epidemic. The battle is overwhelming with traditional resources very limited. There are two battles in recovery: breaking free and staying free. Neither addiction nor recovery are individual efforts. The church is God’s support group.
The Problem
Addiction is a disease that affects the spirit as much as the physical self. It’s a spiritual problem. Spiritual problems need spiritual solutions. Faith based communities want to help, but often are not sure how. They don’t always know what to do to use their resources in order to provide the best solutions for their communities. Faithing Addiction partners with these faith-based organizations and will help find and implement the solutions needed.
The Statistics
- 5 million Americans over the age of 12 battle with addiction of some kind.
- 12% of surveyed clergy reported having any education or training on addictions or recovery pathways in seminary or initial training (over 80% had NO exposure to addiction/recovery training)
- 94% of clergy consider addiction to be an important issue
- 38% of clergy find that alcohol/substance abuse is present in over half the family problems they deal with in their congregation—of those they are aware of
- Over 96,000 people died from an overdose from 2000-2021. 36% higher than the previous year.
- 2 million or 8.33% of 12- to 17-year-olds across America report using drugs in the last month. Among them, 83.88% report using marijuana in the last month.
- 591,000 teenagers aged 12- to 17-years-old used an illicit drug other than marijuana in the last month.
- 8.7% of 8th graders have used illicit drugs in the last month and 21.3% of 8th graders have tried illicit drugs at least once.
- By the time they’re in 12th grade, 46.6% of teens have tried illicit drugs. That’s nearly half of our youth today!
How can faith-based organizations help?
As the addiction epidemic grows, funding is cut, resources dwindle and there are less treatment beds available along with a shortage of addiction professionals to staff those facilities. It is clearly up to the peer support organizations, grass roots organizations and faith-based communities to step in and help. Churches and other faith-based groups are called to be sources of hope, healing and to show compassion and love. Faith-based communities are made up of an abundance of caring people with a multitude of gifts, talents and skill sets.
Addiction doesn’t have to win or claim more lives. Outreach, compassion, care and community can prevail.
Chains fall. Lives healed. Hope found.
You can help spread the hope.
Faith organizations are highly esteemed in their communities and are in the perfect position to be a caring, consistent and comprehensive resource to help change and prevent the effects of addiction through faith and the spiritual principles and practices we embrace and practice in our congregations. Faithing Addiction is not only an outreach ministry adopted and adaptable for individual churches, we are also a home mission seeking to assist at risk churches and those communities to be a resource for recovery and to become strengthened and flourish in the process.
Faithing Addiction is a grass roots, home mission seeking to serve and reach as many faith-based communities as possible. We need your support to continue to reach these communities in need.
As a 501c3 organization, we depend on your support of any amount, which is greatly appreciated!