I had lunch with a very old friend of mine today.  When I knew this man he and I sang together at the church we were attending.  He was a married father of two, an ordained deacon, worship leader and successful business man.  At that time in my life I was in my late teens and secretly struggling with homosexuality.  My friend was one of those manly men I thought might never understand a struggle like mine.  Today I found out that I was wrong.

While my friend John hasn’t battled same-sex attractions, he personally understands sexual addiction as he was embroiled in a deep struggle with pornography for a few years.  At one point his wife found out.  Unfortunately, like many, they didn’t tell anyone because of fear and shame.  That’s the same reason why I waited so long to share my struggles.

A couple of years ago that all changed for my friend John and his wife Joy when they began sharing their story of freedom. They also started a dynamic new ministry to educate and equip the Church, as well as to help others find freedom.  My heart leaps when I hear people using the pain and struggles of their past to build the Kingdom of God.  That is what Exodus is about! I long for the Church to “get it” and to begin reaching out as the arms of Christ to a world in need.

My friends’ ministry, Unshackled, is just in the beginning stages of reaching out in our nation to churches.  At our lunch today he expressed a frustration that I have experienced: a lack of receptivity from many churches and an unwillingness to address these critical issues.  I shared with him my about those who don’t want to address sexual brokenness in their congregations are afraid of one of three things: 1) the negative feedback they’ll receive; 2) that they will actually have to deal with the problem in their congregation; 3) that they will have to look at their own addictions.  Maybe all of the above.

Martin Luther King, Jr. once stated, “The Church is neither the master of the state nor the servant of the state but rather the conscience of the state.” Edmund Burke, an 18th Century statesmen, said, “All that is necessary for the furtherance of evil is that good men do nothing.”  Both quotes ring loudly in my ears today.  We (the Church) have lost our footing in the conscience department because we are secretly struggling with a pandemic of sin (sexual and otherwise) in our own lives.  So, we do nothing and evil abounds.

Please join with ministries like Exodus and Unshackled and the numerous others who are mobilizing the Church to accept its call as the hope of the world.  The Church is Christ’s answer for a lost and dying world.  We are His arms, His feet, His mouth.  We must have His heart.

If you are struggling with sexual or emotional addiction, please get help. Exodus International has more than 200 ministries (support, counseling, church) that can assist you. Several other excellent ministries not affiliated with Exodus are listed in the sidebar.

Obedience leads to change and both are possible!

All for the Kingdom,

Alan Chambers