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Rebooting with leadership role

For Fapstronauts who are disciples of Christ

  1. I'm curious who here is in a leadership role at church. How did/do you deal your addiction in light of this role? Did you step down, share the truth with leaders only, share the truth with members of the congregation? How did your role change as a result?
     
  2. I led a Celebrate Recovery group once upon a time. I had 18 months of recovery. Then I fell back into PMO. I did not confess to my APs, my sponsor, or my group. That group fell apart in short order. I poisoned it with my deception and failure to face the reality of my sin. After the group fell apart, I did confess the role I played in its demise to its former members. Relationships with each one of those people are to this day either non-existent or strained. It was a hard lesson, and one I will not soon forget.

    I do not know how others handle this tension. Deception is one strategy that I can guarantee does not work.
     
    mrtumnus likes this.
  3. I am a Deacon in my church. I have not confessed this struggle to any of them or the elders, or even the pastor. I would respond truthfully, if asked. My hesitation is that there is not a culture of confession or vulnerability in the broader church, and particularly among the leadership. Me doing so would probably result in a lot of avoidance, awkwardness, and perhaps shame. I am relatively confident that others in leadership struggle with P, statistically.

    On the other hand, perhaps this would be an opening for others to begin to find healing themselves. Maybe I am shortchanging the spiritual strength of these brothers with excuses to avoid something that is difficult. The only way to find out will be to test the waters, maybe begin a high-level conversation with a few (pastor, lead deacon).
     
  4. Just one question: How is this in any way the Body of Christ, then?
     
    mrtumnus likes this.
  5. I think the Body is there, but more present in the smaller, community groups, Bible studies and within certain friend groups. And to be fair, I have only recently awoken from my addiction and had not been actively seeking the Body, so I may just not have found it yet within my church.
     
    Tao Jones likes this.
  6. It is interesting that you are able to hold office in this church with zero ramifications based on your spiritual health. If the picture you paint is accurate, the same might be said for any of the officers within the congregation, up to and including the senior pastor. How would anyone ever know if they were living in the midst of flagrant, dedicated sin?

    An organizational structure that keeps ticking along long after the Head has been removed seems a bit ghoulish, don't you think?
     
  7. YES. I'm a little disappointed in the first place that there have been no checks on my health (unless I was subconsciously avoiding them). And the pastor is aware of my past sexual sin as well.

    It seems that the obvious choice is to man up and come forward with it. But there is no example or process for doing this, that I can see. That sounds like a lame excuse.

    Don't get me wrong, I think there are several, faithful, and humble people here that would readily come alongside me.
     
  8. That is who I would choose to confess to, if I was in your shoes. Focus on the faithful!
     
    mrtumnus likes this.

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