Opportunities and challenges with recovery ministry
Rev. Howie Baird was ordained an elder in the Dakotas Conference in 2006. He served at Mitchell; De Smet; Piedmont; and Grand Forks Wesley. He received his undergraduate degree from Concordia University and his Master of Divinity from Iliff Seminary. He is an experienced Recovery Coach with a demonstrated history of working in the religious institution and mental health industries. Howie is an alcoholic in recovery. He resides in Maple Grove, MN with his wife Megan, daughters Elise and Grace, and son Myles. He spoke at the 2024 Dakotas Annual Conference in Bismarck, North Dakota, about the opportunities and challenges with recovery ministry.
Key points:
After battles with alcohol addiction and several devasting illnesses, Rev. Howie Baird shares his gratefulness to the Dakotas Conference and the great theologian Elton John, “I am still standing.”
He shares that since the pandemic, the number of people who suffer from addiction and depression has risen dramatically. Overdose deaths related to Fentanyl are the number one killer.
“What is clear today is that people are turning to substances to deal with their struggles,” said Pastor Howie. “I get to walk alongside people when they are at the lowest point in their lives and offer the Good News of Jesus. When you feel we are bruised and discarded, we have a God that loves us and heals us.”
As a person who has struggled with addiction, dealt with illnesses that brought him close to death, and felt discarded by others, Pastor Howie knows what it is like to be bruised. He also knows what it feels like to be recovered by God’s grace.
“I hope we become a church where God’s grace is extended to others. The church and society have not had the best record dealing with people who are struggling with mental health and addiction,” said Baird.
Pastor Howie shared that people with addiction sometimes act in gruesome ways. Those suffering from addiction get wrapped up in the legal system and live on the fringes of society. Addiction is a disease, not a moral failure.
“We need to look at those suffering from addictions as potential miracles and people of Christ,” said Pastor Howie.
Three things will help the Church connect with people suffering from addiction: resources, education, and community. Resources include meetings, treatment centers, and essentials. Churches can host all three categories of resources.
“Please do not forget to reach out to those using the resources, pray with them, visit them, and connect with them,” he said.
Pastor Howie recommends books for churches wanting to learn and educate themselves about recovery ministry: Breathing Underwater: Spirituality and the 12 Steps, The Recovery Minded Church: Loving and Ministering to People with Addiction, and Grace for the Afflicted: A Clinical and Biblical Perspective on Mental Illness.
“People with the disease of addiction are suffering from a cycle of loneliness and isolation. They need spiritual community,” said Pastor Howie. “The opposite of addiction isn’t sobriety. It is connection.”
Healing begins with connection, and churches need to provide that connection. People need each other, sincerity, and the story of how Jesus is in their lives.
“If we are going to be a church that works with people in addiction, we must be real. We need to be willing to say that 'I have been lost and I have been found,'” he said. “We need to be the Acts II church– the church that welcomes everyone no matter who they are and what their past has been.”
There are resources to open the doors are in our churches and communities to enable the miracle of recovery.
Gifts to the 2024 Miracle Offering will help to expand the impact of the recovery ministry in the Dakotas Conference. Each year, churches and individuals in the Dakotas Annual Conference demonstrate their love for God and their neighbors through the Miracle Offering. So far $36,000 has been collected. The Miracle Offering will be divided among the following recipients: the 31:8 Project, Abbott House’s Bridges Therapeutic Foster Care, recovery ministry grants, and the Clergy Sustentation Fund.
