Recovering In Christ: Building A Durable And Adaptable Twelve-step Christian Recovery Ministry For Small Groups, Churches, And Other Settings

2007·3.3 MB·English

by  Paul William Bradley

RECOVERING IN CHRIST:
BUILDING A DURABLE AND ADAPTABLE
TWELVE-STEP CHRISTIAN RECOVERY MINISTRY
FOR SMALL GROUPS, CHURCHES, AND OTHER SETTINGS

By

Paul William Bradley

A DEMONSTRATION PROJECT
Submitted to
New York Theological Seminary
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF MINISTRY

New York, New York

2007
ABSTRACT

RECOVERING IN CHRIST: BUILDING A DURABLE AND ADAPTABLE
TWELVE-STEP CHRISTIAN RECOVERY MINISTRY FOR SMALL GROUPS,
CHURCHES, AND OTHER SETTINGS

By

Paul William Bradley

This project grew out of my deep belief that the transformative experience of
working the Twelve Steps in a program of recovery has much to offer the Christian
Church, and my equal conviction that the expression of Christian faith has much to offer
people in recovery. Building on the seventy years of history, tradition, and practice of the
Twelve Step recovery movement and seven years of experience in the Step By Step
Recovery Ministry, I set out to place the Twelve Step experience in its broader context—
historical, theological, and biblical—and based on this knowledge, to explore ways that
this experience could be shared more broadly. My project documents ways that we have
introduced the Twelve Steps to Christian groups and methods we have used to celebrate
Christian faith in a Twelve Step recovery context for a wide audience of people within
and outside Twelve Step recovery.
The paper begins by presenting the historical context of the Twelve Step recovery
movement—from the antecedents of Alcoholic Anonymous and its many influences—up
to present with the development of the Step By Step Recovery Ministry and the
theologies of both movements. An exploration of the biblical basis for Twelve Step
recovery includes an analysis of the “disease model” of addiction in dialogue with Judeo-
Christian understandings of Sin.
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We then take the experience of the first seven years of Step By Step to another
level in a variety of ways and settings. We reached out to a wide cross-section of
churches in Manhattan to establish two new sites for the Step By Step ministry,
documenting the stages and processes required to bring this to fruition. We opened the
windows and doors of Christian recovery to an entire church congregation by offering a
“Recovery Sunday” service using liturgical elements developed in Step By Step,
integrated into the particular worship style of that congregation. We turned our ongoing
Step By Step services into a worship laboratory, experimenting with the liturgy and many
other elements of our worship services to find new and different ways to worship God in
a recovery context. We reached out to the recovery community with resources
specifically designed for an audience that included non-religious and non-Christian
people. We sought to learn what current and past Step By Step members liked and did
not like about Step By Step worship services and learned about their past and current
religious backgrounds and practices. We applied the same questions to a broader national
group of people. Finally, we documented the steps necessary to launch various forms of
recovery ministry for churches, seminaries, and other organizations in the form of a
workbook or manual.
This research and experience is applied to a Christian ministry resource center
that uses the model of Twelve Step Christian practice developed in Step By Step to offer
a wide array of services. This “Resource Center for Recovery Ministries” will provide a
variety of tools to empower people in recovery to start their own Twelve Step recovery
ministries.

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Copyright © by
Paul William Bradley

2007

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For Bob Abel

Loving and patient partner

Unwavering source of support and encouragment
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This project is the result of a very long journey, along which I have had much
encouragement and support from many generous and inspiring people. The journey
began when I went into recovery in 1990, and I must thank all who stood by me as I
put down alcohol and drugs one day at a time and began a spiritual adventure that
continues to this day. My long-time sponsor, the late Bob Roche—a pillar of the
A.A. community in New York City and beyond—is one of many angels who guided
me in my early days and years of recovery, and it was he who encouraged me to
return to church after many years away. At the church I joined in 1992, The
Riverside Church, my pastors further encouraged me and to each of them I owe a
particular and distinctive debt of gratitude: the Rev. Dr. James A. Forbes, Jr., the
Rev. Erik Kolbell, the Rev. Sally Norris, the Rev. Elizabeth Wheeler, the Rev. Dr.
Brenda Stiers, and the Rev. Linda Tarry-Chard.
At Union Theological Seminary, where I earned my Master of Divinity in 2002,
members of the Administration including Dr. Joseph A. Hough, Jr., the Rev. Mary
McNamara, J. Richard Butler, friends on the Development Staff, and numerous faculty
and advisors were supportive as I discerned my call to ministry: Dr. Christopher Morse,
the Rev. Barbara Lundblad, Mr. Troy Messenger, Dr. Janet Walton, Dr. James A. Cone,
and Dean James Hayes, but especially Dr. Gabriella Lettini, who first encouraged me to
research Twelve Step theology, and Dr. Kathleen Talvacchia, who mentored and guided
me through my Master’s thesis on the topic which has expanded so greatly today into this
Doctor of Ministry thesis.
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My friends and colleagues in the United Church of Christ also have been
incredibly supportive, guiding me through my ordination process and helping me to
perceive my calling to Step By Step and Christian recovery ministry: Dr. Norris, Rev.
Wheeler, and my mentor, friend, and advisor, the Rev. Dr. Martha Jacobs, who also
served as the leader of my Doctor of Ministry site team for this project. Other U.C.C.
friends have also lent invaluable support: the Rev. Ruth Garwood, the Rev. Rebecca
Voelkel, the Rev. Michael Caine, the Rev. Susan Switzer, Mr. John Larberg, and many
others.
Finally, at New York Theological Seminary, where I have the privilege not only
of working but also of studying in the doctoral program, I have been blessed with
thoughtful colleagues who have supported me in the marathon effort that pursuing a
doctorate while working full-time entails: the Rev. Dr. Hillary Gaston, Sr., past
President, and Dr. Laura Pires-Hester, former Vice President for Operations; the staff of
the Office of Development and Institutional Advancement, who have been more than
patient: the Rev. Vernon M. Dougherty, Ms. Phyllis Conley, Ms. Courtney Wiley, Ms.
Gemma Barrow, and Dr. Cynthia Diaz; and the rest of the Administration, Faculty, and
Staff, who have had to contend with my occasional absences while I completed critical
pieces of this project. My most heartfelt thanks go to my Advisor, the President of New
York Theological Seminary, the Rev. Dr. Dale T. Irvin, who has been a stalwart advocate
for me in this project, prodding and encouraging me in new directions (leading to another
ten pages of research!) and joining me in celebrating the joy that is found in Step By Step
and the Twelve Step Christian ministries it is birthing. Finally, my deepest thanks to the
Rev. Dr. Lester E. Ruiz, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Academic Dean and
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Director of the Doctor of Ministry Program, for setting high standards and expecting the
best from me and from all of my D.Min. classmates in a rigorous degree program that
produces projects that are meaningful and transformative.
My D.Min. site team deserves special thanks and recognition for their energetic
and creative engagement in this process and many helpful suggestions and critiques along
the way: Dr. Martha Jacobs led the team which also included Dean James Hayes, Ms.
Sophia Pazos, the Rev. Cari Jackson, Ms. Carrie Brunken, Ms. Kellie Anderson-Picallo,
Mr. Kevin Lai, and the Rev. Dr. Robert Gunn. For all your encouragement and input, my
warmest thanks.
I am mindful of the constant and unwavering support of my wonderful parents,
the Rev. Dr. William L. Bradley and the Honorable Paula E. Bradley, who have always
believed that I would get this project done and fill me with joy in their expressions of
pride.
My beloved partner, Robert J. Abel III has been incredibly patient and supportive
throughout this long process. Many a weeknight and weekend have been spent with me
unavailable on the computer and Bob patiently occupying himself elsewhere. He knows
that “payback time” is coming as he moves to the next phase of his own graduate studies
as soon as I complete mine.
I have no question that my completion of the equivalent of a doctoral dissertation
represents nothing less than an absolute miracle, for this recovering alcoholic and
addict who couldn’t have conceived of attaining this level of academic achievement
when I was still drinking a little more than sixteen years ago. To God goes the glory,
all thanks, and all praise! Amen.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................... 1
PART ONE: ....................................................................................................................... 4
THE HISTORICAL, THEOLOGICAL, SCRIPTURAL, AND SCIENTIFIC
FOUNDATIONS OF THE RECOVERY MOVEMENT AND THE STEP BY STEP
RECOVERY MINISTRY ................................................................................................ 4
CHAPTER ONE............................................................................................................ 6
THE HISTORY OF THE TWELVE STEP RECOVERY MOVEMENT ............... 6
AND THE STEP BY STEP RECOVERY MINISTRY .............................................. 6
Alcoholism and Addiction ...................................................................................... 7
Earlier Temperance and Sobriety Movements ........................................................ 7
The Oxford Group................................................................................................... 9
Influence of Methodism and the Holiness Movement .......................................... 12
The Rev. Sam Shoemaker’s Influence .................................................................. 17
A.A. Breaks with the Oxford Group ..................................................................... 18
Formative Influences on Bill Wilson, A.A.’s Co-founder .................................... 22
Swedenborgian Influence on Bill Wilson and Alcoholics Anonymous ............... 24
The Founding of Alcoholics Anonymous ............................................................. 28
A.A.’s Principle of Anonymity ............................................................................. 30
Author’s Note: “Breaking Anonymity” ............................................................ 32
Beyond A.A.: The Broader Recovery Movement ................................................ 33
The Step By Step Recovery Ministry ................................................................... 35
Origins of Step By Step .................................................................................... 35
Influence of Womanist Theology in Step By Step ........................................... 35
The Step By Step Ministry Reactivated ............................................................ 41
Step By Step’s Mission ..................................................................................... 44
CHAPTER TWO ........................................................................................................ 50
THE THEOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS ................................................................ 50
OF TWELVE STEP RECOVERY AND CHRISTIAN RECOVERY.................... 50
Introduction ........................................................................................................... 50
Twentieth-Century Theological Foundations of Alcoholics Anonymous.................. 51
The Twelve Steps: Van Dusen and Niebuhr Connections ................................... 51
The Serenity Prayer: Origins and Theology ......................................................... 54
Theological Parallels between Karl Barth and A.A. Theology ............................ 58
Lessons from the Desert Fathers and Mothers ...................................................... 63
A “Theology of Helplessness” or a “Magnificent Defeat?” ................................. 66
The Theology of Step By Step .............................................................................. 67
The Liberation Theology Subtext of Step By Step ........................................... 68
Lessons from Other Recovery Ministries ............................................................. 72
A Hermeneutics of Recovery: Textualizing Step By Step, its Local Theologies,
and the Theology of the “Now” ............................................................................ 77
Local Theologies in the Twelve Step Recovery Movement ................................. 83
The Present and the Now in Twelve Step Recovery............................................. 87
Christology of Twelve Step Recovery .................................................................. 93
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Textualizing Step By Step .................................................................................... 96
New Forms of Grace: the Theology of Body and Disability in Recovery ............ 98
Step By Step and the Theology of Imperfection ................................................... 99
Toward a New Theology of Inclusion and Affirmation ..................................... 101
Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 104
CHAPTER THREE .................................................................................................. 106
ADDICTION, RECOVERY, SCIENCE, AND SIN ............................................... 106
IN THE SACRED TEXTS OF CHRISTIAN RECOVERY ................................. 106
Introduction ......................................................................................................... 106
Sacred Texts ............................................................................................................ 106
Texts of Recovery ............................................................................................... 106
The Use of Holy Scripture in Christian Recovery .............................................. 114
Alcoholism and Addiction in Scripture .............................................................. 115
A.A. and the “Disease Model” of Addiction ...................................................... 123
Sin and Addiction ............................................................................................... 130
Sin, Addiction, Recovery, and the Imperative for Justice .................................. 136
Using Extracanonical Sources for Twelve Step Ministry: Good News in the
Gospel of Mary for People in Recovery ............................................................. 141
History and Setting of the Text ....................................................................... 143
Using the Gospel of Mary in Ministry with People in Recovery ................... 147
Meaning of the Gospel of Mary for LGBT People in Recovery .................... 149
Wisdom in the Serenity Prayer and the Gospel of Mary ................................ 150
“Higher Power” in the Twelve Steps and the Gospel of Mary ....................... 151
Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 154
PART TWO ................................................................................................................... 156
A TWELVE STEP RECOVERY MINISTRY IN PRACTICE: .............................. 156
BUILDING A FLEXIBLE AND DURABLE ............................................................. 156
CHRISTIAN RECOVERY WORSHIP PROGRAM ............................................... 156
CHAPTER FOUR:.................................................................................................... 158
“I NEVER SANG IN A MEETING BEFORE!” ..................................................... 158
BRINGING TWELVE STEP RECOVERY AND CHRISTIAN PRACTICE
TOGETHER THROUGH THE ARTS OF WORSHIP ......................................... 158
Introduction ......................................................................................................... 158
Step By Step’s Theology of Worship ................................................................. 158
“What Happens?” in Step By Step Worship ....................................................... 160
Step By Step’s Sites ............................................................................................ 166
Step By Step as Small Group Ministry ............................................................... 167
Format and Order of Worship ............................................................................. 171
Central Elements of Step By Step Worship ........................................................ 173
“I Never Sang at a Meeting Before!” The Use of Hymns and Other Music in Step
By Step ................................................................................................................ 178
Experimenting with Step By Step’s Forms and Settings .................................... 186
Launching Step By Step in New Sites ................................................................ 191
Outreach to Manhattan Churches........................................................................ 192
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