AC is an inter-denominational, non-profit,
Christian fellowship that ministers to three groups
Alcoholics or Substance abusers, Family members – those who relate regularly with an alcoholic or substance abuser, and Adult Children – individuals who were raised in alcoholic, substance abuse or dysfunctional families
Faith
This fellowship uses the Word of God as its primary source of direction. Those leading the meetings are all "Born Again," compassionate Christians, dedicated to the service of Jesus Christ.
Recovery
Our chief goal is to direct and restore the alcoholic or substance abuser, the family member and the adult child to a sincere and dedicated relationship with Jesus Christ. Utilizing the written Word of God, they are made aware of the mighty tools available to them as born-again believers.
Growth
We encourage that a person stay active in their local AC, AA, NA, ACOA, or other support group and continue to worship within their own body of believers. We suggest where there is no strong church ties existing, that the person becomes active in a Bible-believing church of his/her own choice.
AC ministries is dedicated to the propagation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, as well as sharing His burden for the lost and hurting individuals.
We believe that "God as we understand Him" is the triune God, "God the Father," "God the Son," and "God the Holy Spirit," and by the acceptance of Jesus Christ as personal Savior, we receive eternal life. Jesus is the doorway to fullness of life in the Spirit and the means by which we can turn our lives and wills completely over to God.
Alcoholics for Christ Interview
Click below to watch an Alcoholics for Christ interview with AC president Jeff Sheetz, feautured on Recovery Life Global.
History
In 1976 a born-again recovering alcoholic attended an A.A men's retreat. He had attended others in the past 1 1/2 years of his recovery and had always left these retreats with something good. This retreat was to be different. This retreat would be the beginning of a vision from God. He reasoned after the retreat that if people could stay sober without professional help at group meetings, why could not the same principals work on retreats as well. So in that same year he organized a retreat for A.A. men with a slight difference. All the leadership were born-again Christians.Two significant miracles happened at this retreat. The first was that except for the leadership, no one else was a Christian, but by the end of the retreat on Sunday almost every man there had made a decision to accept Jesus Christ as his personal Savior.
The second miracle was that God had given the same vision to a second man. This man had been in recovery for over 20 years and was also a born again Christian. These two servants of God began to work together and have provided the major development and direction of the Alcoholics for Christ ministry.
In February of 1977 another men's retreat was organized and it too had the same miraculous results with most of the men attending accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of their lives.
The change in the lives of these recovering men brought on another major development of God's vision. Two women that were attending Al-Anon heard of the results of the men's retreats. Not wanting women to be left out of what God was doing, they asked for help in organizing a women's retreat. The men helped and the same results occurred with the women.
No one at this time was thinking about organizing a ministry. No one saw the total picture of what God was doing in their lives. It was enough to see and experience the excitement of the changed lives around them. Not even the two men who were given the credit for founding the A/C ministry, as we now have it, saw all that God was creating.
In June of 1977 a few of the men that were involved in the retreats felt led to organize a prayer breakfast. Although these men had participated in other Christian breakfast meetings and enjoyed them, they wanted more fellowship with other Christians that were recovering from substance abuse.
The excitement for the women's retreat a few weeks earlier, meant the women far outnumbered the men at the first breakfast gathering. It was at this time God began to reveal more and more of what He was doing. It became evident that God was beginning a very special ministry. This small fellowship of believers adopted the name Alcoholics for Christ.
A second prayer breakfast was developed, and now there were two other breakfast meetings to bless people. One was on the west side of the Detroit suburb and the other on the northeast side of Detroit.
In the fall of 1977 it was decided that if A/C was a Christian group, there ought to be a Bible study. The purpose of the Bible study was to get "grounded in the Word of God" and provide a place for open table discussions. again it was felt that they should establish a group on each side of Detroit. The meeting place on the west side was held at Ward Presbyterian Church in Livonia and the one on the east side of Detroit was to be held at St. John's Episcopal Church in the suburb of Royal Oak. The Ward Group began studying the Book of Romans, and the St. John's group started with the Gospel of John. The St. John's group eventually moved their meeting to Zion Christian School in Clawson, Michigan.
1978 was another blessed year in the emerging ministry of A/C. God began to enlighten the founders with an in- depth understanding of the 12 steps of A.A and the word of God, the Bible. Scripture began to fit into the 12 steps so that recovering alcoholics could see how God's word applied to the 12-step process. The results of their endeavor led to the printing of the A/C workbook. Since then the workbook has become the outline of our group studies. The workbook is considered to be the second most important piece of literature in the A/C program. The first is the Christian Bible.
Growth came slowly at first, but by 1980 there were four breakfast meetings, one dinner meeting and five group meetings. More and more people found A/C to be exactly what they were looking for in their Spiritual search. Most of the people who came to A/C functions at this time were recovering A.A and Al-anon members. Now, the majority of A/C meetings are made up of people who have attended only a few A.A or Al-anon meetings.
The next step in the growth of A/C came in 1983. This is when the first family member table began their discussions. The first family table meeting was held at Ward Presbyterian Church.
Another important addition in 1983 was the first broadcast of the A/C radio ministry on WMUZ- FM in Detroit.
As a rush of substance abuse came on society, so did the people rush to A/C meetings. Something new began to happen. People began coming to the Bible Studies who had not experienced sobriety and Sanity. A/C was becoming a true support group ministry for substance abusers and their families. More and more churches began to trust the A/C program. The Holy Bible and the 12-step process really did work.
Two more important parts of the A/C program came close together in 1986 and in 1987. They were the establishing of the tables for those who were Adult Children of alcoholic parents, and a group called ACTS-12, which is an acronym for Alcoholics for Christ Teen situations. The ACTS-12 tables are for juniors and seniors high school age children.
Today A/C has over 100 open groups meeting nationwide. There are a number of meetings in prisons, county jails, rehab centers. counseling centers, and other institutions, 43 in Metro Detroit alone.
Members come from a variety of Christian denominations. Although there have been some changes, and new additions, the original vision has stayed the same as it was in 1977. It is still people helping people by the grace of God, the Blood Of Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit using God's Word and the 12 step process.
Mutual Recovery
Complete Total, and Whole Recovery for the marriage, for the husband and for the wife, means that:
- Any healing that has occurred in either individual adds to the completeness of the union
- That any area that is lacking healing detracts from the whole.
Collective Utilization: A couple can (together) use the 12 step recovery program in their marriage as a healing process. Both must be involved.
Step One: We (together) admitted that we (together) had become powerless over_______________ in our married life, and that our lives (together) were unmanageable. (Blank space example: deviceness & strife; excessive & frivolous spending; how to nurture/ discipline children; silence & division; etc.)
Step Two: We (together) came to believe that through Jesus Christ we (and our marriage) could be restored to right relationship (with each other) with God the Father and subsequent sanity and stability in our married lives.
Step Three: We (together) made the corporate decision to turn from the individual things of the past and invite Jesus to be the Lord and Manager of our marriage.
Step Four: We (together) made a searching and fearless moral inventory of our marriage (Our relationship to each other and with the Lord).
Step Five: We (together) admitted to God, ourselves, and other human beings (another couple) the exact nature of our wrongs.
Step Six: We (together) were entirely ready to have God remove all our connubial defects (Married state).
Step Seven: We (together) humbly ask Him to remove our shortcomings of Marriage and to forgive us - believing He would remove them-and together receive His forgiveness.
Step Eight: We (together) made a list of all the people (especially our children and our parents) we had harmed and together we became willing to make amends to them all.
Step Nine: We (together) made a direct amends to such people, wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
Step Ten: We (together) continue to take inventory of our marriage, and when we were wrong promptly admit it.
Step Eleven: We (together) sought through prayer and meditation on God's word to increase our corporate fellowship with Him. Praying continually for the knowledge of His will for our marriage and the power of His Might to accomplish it.
Step Twelve: We, together in our marriage union, having been spiritually restored and set free from "the sin which so easily beset us," we attempt to share this freedom, and the one who has freed us with those who still suffer (with a troubled marriage) and practice the principals in all our affairs.
Frequently Asked Questions
The introduction format that has been chosen, is to answer four of the more common question we are asked. The basic thrust of the Alcoholics For Christ ministries outlined in our materials is to provide non-denominational, Jesus-centered, substance abuse support groups that utilize a common format and can be supported by the entire Bible-believing Christian community worldwide.
This is a big job, but we are seeing remarkable evidences that the Body of Christ is beginning to be open to using the tools that are available to them for the recovery from chemical dependency.
Why Alcoholics for Christ? Why not my own local church or group sponsored by a particular denomination or ministry?
A. A/C is basically a para-ministry that God has established and blessed. It has been time-proven and is growing at a steady rate. As you know, para-ministries face unique sets of problems within Christian community, and by bringing individual groups together in unity of purpose and communization of study materials we can then help each other to grow as these situations are met and resolved.
B. Because A/C is non-denominational and solely dependent financially on the support of those individuals who attend it, there is a greater chance of it's being non-denominational or ministerially non-threatening.
C. A/C Can serve as a neutral vehicle which ideally, the entire Christian community can support, thereby preventing some of the competition that we know exists, unfortunately, between various denominations, Christian factions and ministries.
What about the name? The A/C name is offensive to some, why not call it something that the Church is comfortable with?
A. The church in general has never effectively dealt with the problem of chemical dependency on a meaningful scale, and in order for it to move from the point where it presently is, many uncomfortable changes may be involved.
B. The name Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) has been offensive to many for years; however, it remains the world's leader in the successful treatment of alcoholism. A/C really portrays what AA was originally intended to be and by association of names is easily recognizable "up front" as a Christian substance abuse program. Our desire is to see the strangle-hold of "denial" broken in the Church and the very name of A/C itself can help it to happen.
What about A/C and non-Christian groups?
A. A/C, because of the 12-step recovery program used by organizations such as AA, NA, OA, etc., comfortably utilizes these programs throughout the world until such time as local A/C chapters are established and are meeting the needs of those attending them.
What about treatment centers, does A/C have its own?
A. This is not our ministry. We at one time considered developing several half-way houses but the Lord convinced us that we should not divide our efforts and that we should concentrate on the establishment of support groups.
B. Christian treatment centers such as those found at Raph House, City of Faith, Salvation Army and others are desperately needed and we wholeheartedly support the establishment such centers worldwide.
It is our prayer that as these centers are established that A/C support groups can be included as part of the recovery program, which in turn would enable those who have received treatment to return to their homes not only with recovery but also with the seed planted of seeing an A/C chapter in their area.
Finally, A/C support groups can be established by all the Christian denominations and major ministries without the need to reject them on the basis of their being sponsored by another denomination or ministry they may not be always theologically in agreement with. We believe that now is the time for all Bible believing denominations, independent churches and Christian ministries to be willing to enter into a united effort by which the Christian community as a whole can begin to cope effectively with problems of chemical dependence.