Vision

The Church at large has made many great strides towards helping the homeless and drug addicts break free from bondages.  While we do not dismiss that there are some that might be impacting ministers*, we are very hard pressed to find a ministry that is dedicated to working with the ministers who have sinned and have regret.  We inspire to join the ministries who ministers to the pre-burnouts and the struggling to complete the ministry with recovery ministry.

Our Philosophy

Our philosophy is generated out of both our passion to be Biblically correct, as well as our love and experience with recovery.

• We support, we don't shoot our wounded.  We suggest, where possible, the person in need of recovery is granted six months of pay (paid on normal cadence).  We suggest this because it would enable them to work on their recovery without fear of financial woes.  Additionally, there are many times a family to concern ourselves with.  We want to ensure that we support that family regardless of the end result of the person seeking recovery.

• Not patient, not client, but resident.  We refer those that we help as residents.  We are not a medical facility.  We do not believe in classism (in practice, not existence).  The reality is the resident is merely living with us (the program) alongside the rest of us to be able to help navigate recovery.

• A real friend will both hug you and hurt your feelings.  We understand emotions are complex.  We also understand that sometimes we have gotten stuck in destructive routines because nobody has had the guts to set boundaries with us.  We desire to honor both sides of the equation.  We want to be compassionate where there should be compassion and strict where it is needed.

• Struggle exposes that which is inward.  There is a balance that needs to be done with allowing a resident to struggle.  When a person is under too much stress, they may break.  Additionally, that same struggle may expose the inward trauma that needs to be dealt with for the resident's breakthrough.

Our Process

Many people have risen their concerns to us as to whether we are encouraging the "disqualified" pastor to return to the pulpit.  Let me assure the person who is reading this without knowing us.  We do not set out with any idea of what the end will look like for a person.  Much like the drug addict from the street, you do not know which of these will make it and which will not.  We make no prejudgments.  This is our basic process.

• Assessment: Do we see fruit of repentance?  Is there an openness to change?

• Stage 1: Turn off the world.  This is a time to unplug from social media and any other distractions.  Technology is not allowed.  Correspondence is limited.  During this phase we will work on identifications of triggers and the who, what and why's of what brought us to this point.  During this time, the resident will not have any ministry involvement or employment.

• Stage 2: Using what we identified in Stage 1, we set boundaries to help keep recovery on track.  We work internally and externally to the organization to provide the best help our resident.  There is no pre-defined time for this stage as it depends on a number of different factors.  During this time, the resident may or may not have limited ministry involvement.  There will be absolutely no ministry leadership of any kind at this stage.  There is no employment at this time.

• Stage 2.5: This stage may be skipped for some.  This stage is available where the resident is not ready to do a "soft launch" yet, but is ready to take more independent steps from Stage 2.

• Stage 3: At this stage, we allow a "soft launch."  This is where the resident starts to move towards where the Lord is leading them.  If this is secular employment, they may seek a job and start working in that direction.  If this a return to ministry (if approved by RLM leadership), then working towards that is appropriate.

• Stage 4: This is the point where the resident is no longer bound to RLM.  While RLM would prefer to engage with alumni accountability efforts, that would be completely dependent on the now former resident.  Accountability would include coordinating calls with individuals on RLM staff.  Additionally, we would love for there to be alumni events.

* Resurrection Life Ministries defines a minister as a pastor or leader of any ministry (parachurch or ministry within a church) regardless of licensing, credentialing, worker type, pay amount (if paid or not), educational background, or gender.

Please contact info@rlifemin.org for more information.