Spotlight Newsletter - Summer 2024
Welcome to our Spotlight newsletter.
During the first half of this year we have been encouraged to see a number of churches starting up The Recovery Course in their communities for the first time, having caught the vision that it is possible to find freedom from an addiction that many feel will enslave them for the rest of their life. However, hope, support and freedom are within reach for those seeking help, and it is a thrilling experience to be able to play a small part in that. In Spotlight, we are handing over this space to those on the front line running courses so that they can, in their own words, share their experiences and lessons learned of running the course, providing hope, support, and guidance to those in need.
In this edition of Spotlight, we hear from the Rev Andrea Leonard at Christ Church Luton in Chatham, Kent, who after starting the course in her church and seeing the impact says, “To me this is the Gospel in glorious technicolour, offering freedom to the captives and recovery of sight for the blind. I am so grateful for the support and the resources that The Recovery Course offers, and I believe it will be very fruitful going forward into the future here in Chatham.”
Nigel Skelsey, Founder The Recovery Course
“The course is going so well, I am so thrilled with the changes that we are seeing in the lives of the attendees. You can tell that people are relieved to be in a safe place where they can share their struggles.”
"We have been wanting to run The Recovery Course at Christ Church for some time, we live in a very deprived area where drug and alcohol use is very prevalent. However, we have people who have asked to join who have very different addictions. We decided not to advertise locally for our first time, but just to advertise via our local GP surgery. We now have 10 people coming along, of whom 2 are people who have struggled with addictions in the past and the aim is to have a smallish group to start with, so that the next time we run the course we will have a good group of leaders available.
"The course is going so well, I am so thrilled with the changes that we are seeing in the lives of the attendees. You can tell that people are relieved to be in a safe place where they can share their struggles, and to watch some of the testimonies from the website. And so far we have no one who has dropped out, and three more potentials who would like to join on week three. We have become a tight knit group – and each week we delight in having a guess as to what colour shirt Nigel will be wearing in the video!
"While I was away on mission in Kondoa, Tanzania, the recovery course was expertly managed so they didn’t miss a session. Last night was session 14, so it is session 15 and the last one next Wednesday. The following Wednesday we are having a Chinese takeaway party to celebrate, and then we are going to continue the group by doing Alpha together as voted for by every member of the group, as they do not want to stop meeting. It has been brilliant, significantly changing the lives of at least 4 people. And for the first time running the course that is brilliant, I think.
"My vision is for the course to be run every year at Christ Church, next year being run by those who are suitable who have completed it this year. The local GP network is impressed with the impact it has had on one of their patients, so next time they will be even keener to send more people along.
“All in all I am really delighted with how it has gone and continues to have an impact, so bless you and all the team.”
Rev Andrea Leonard, Course Leader, Christ Church Luton, Chatham, Kent
The experience at Christ Church is being replicated by many churches around the UK. If you think your own church may like to play a part in this exciting journey, then why not sign up for one of our FREE online ‘How to run The Recovery Course’ training sessions to learn more and see if it may work for you. The next training session is Saturday September 14th 10:00-12:00. More details can be found below.
This is not just another course; it is literally saving lives.
Nigel Skelsey, Founder The Recovery Course
