Pubdate: Sat, 16 Dec 2006
Source: Tuscaloosa News, The (AL)
Copyright: 2006 The Tuscaloosa News
Contact:  http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1665
Author: Sarah Bruyn Jones

CHURCHES TAKE ON DRUG, ALCOHOL ABUSE

On Sunday night, drug paraphernalia and parents took  over the space 
typically reserved for Bibles and  teenagers at Valley View Baptist Church.

Bongs, pipes, drug-storage containers and other items  hinting at 
illicit behavior were displayed inside the  church's student room. 
Parents, teachers and other  adults were on hand to learn the facts 
about illegal  drug use among adolescents. Teens were asked not to attend.

The gathering had a simple theme: Talk openly and  frankly with 
adults about teen drug use and addiction  and the early warning signs.

"This is about awareness," Valley View youth minister  Jason Duran 
told the small group of adults.

Duran wanted adults in the church to know about the  substance-abuse 
reality and peer pressure facing  students inside and outside the 
church's walls.

"We're not saying they're here [at Valley View]. But  hopefully, they 
are coming Wednesday night so we get  them out of that life," Duran 
said of teenagers who  drink alcohol or use illegal drugs.

Duran then turned the program over to Leandra Celaya, a 
representative with Bradford Health Services, which  provides 
mental-health and addiction treatment.

Celaya has given similar presentations for years,  usually at school 
assemblies. Recently, however, she  started reaching out to churches, 
specifically Valley  View. In the spring, Celaya helped organize a 
prevention event for both parents and kids at Valley  View. Hundreds 
turned out for the presentation.

"When it happens outside of school, the message tends  to have an 
even larger effect," Celaya said. "They  almost expect prevention 
programming in the schools."

Celaya is not giving up the school presentations, but  she is going 
to visit other captive audiences,  particularly religious 
institutions. The approach by  Bradford follows suggestions from the 
federal government and researchers to target faith-based  communities 
in finding outlets for substance abuse  prevention and recovery programs.

A 2001 study by the National Center on Addiction and  Substance Abuse 
at Columbia University first documented  the connection between 
spirituality, religion and  substance abuse. In looking to the 
future, the study  recommended substance-abuse treatment 
providers  establish working relationships with clergy. Duran 
and  Celaya's partnership is an example of such a venture.

At the time, the center said its study was a call to  action "to tap 
into the power of religion and  spirituality to help prevent 
substance abuse and  addiction and improve recovery."

A spokeswoman for the center said no new research has  been conducted 
since 2001 and could not say if more  clergy and treatment providers 
were forming these  relationships. She did not know when, or if, any 
follow-up research would be conducted.

Anecdotally, however, local clergy along with  substance-abuse 
treatment specialists say the  relationships are gaining a stronger 
presence within  religious communities.

"I think you are seeing more and more pastors  recognizing this as a 
problem affecting not just the  guys crawling around in the gutter, 
but that it is also  our members in a suit and tie. And it is their 
children," said the Rev. Sidney Allen, a recovering  alcoholic for 21 
years and pastor of Beulah Baptist  Church in Eutaw.

Many denominations, including Southern Baptists, have  long preached 
against drug use and the consumption of  alcohol. The Assemblies of 
God, Church of God, Church  of the Nazarene are among the 
denominations to take a  similar stance on abstaining from alcohol. 
In the past,  however, that approach has had a silencing 
effect,  rather than a healing impact.

"You were taught not to touch it, and you were really  looked down on 
if you did," Allen said. "It was  probably to the extent that you 
wouldn't go back to  that church if they knew."

Allen, who ministers to substance abusers at Calvary  Baptist Church 
and the non-denominational New Covenant  Church, said it wasn't until 
recently that the taboo  subject has started to be embraced by 
Christian  churches. Even now, he said, much of the work he does  is 
one-on-one.

Dan Ireland, executive director of the interfaith  ministry Alabama 
Citizens Action Program, points to an  increase in substance abuse 
among youth. Ireland's  program, which is run mostly in schools, 
teaches  students to abstain from any use of drugs, including 
alcohol, tobacco and illegal use of prescription drugs  or 
over-the-counter medications. The majority of its  funding comes from 
Baptist churches, Ireland said.

"You know it's gotten out of hand," said Ireland, who  has a 
doctorate of divinity and ministry. "A lot of  organizations and most 
of the evangelical denominations  have an interest in preaching about this."

Ireland said he hasn't come across resistance in  churches to talking 
about substance abuse, but that  there is an issue of awareness.

"It's a matter of educating mamas and daddies that it's  a problem," he said.

According to th National Center on Addiction and  Substance Abuse 
study, it's also a matter of educating  clergy. While 94 percent of 
clergy considered substance  abuse an important issue in their 
congregations, only  12.5 percent had any training during their 
theological  studies to address the issue, the study found. 
Additionally, the study showed nearly two-thirds of  clergy 
- --including pastors, ministers and rabbis --  preached a sermon more 
than once a year addressing the  issue.

While churches have long opened their doors as a venue  for holding 
Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, it wasn't  until recently that 
churches began running programs of  their own, using the Bible to 
help alcoholics through  the recovery process. Christian-based 
programs steeped  in Scripture, but that echo AA's 12-step approach, 
are currently being held at The Church at Tuscaloosa and  New Covenant.

Besides continuing those programs, Allen said the  latest challenge 
is to take the message of substance  abuse beyond addicts and to the 
general congregation.

"I'm seeing more churches willing to do that," he said.

Both the Southern Baptist Convention and the Alabama  Baptist State 
Board of Missions passed resolutions this  year at their annual 
conventions supporting education  of alcohol abuse and promoting 
abstinence from alcohol.

Acknowledging the problems caused by alcohol, 
including  drunk-driving deaths and divorce, the state 
resolution  passed last month urged Baptists to be involved 
in  educating the public about alcohol abuse. Additionally,  the 
resolution asked Baptists to become involved in lobbying government 
to curb alcohol use.

"It's a holistic challenge," Ireland said. "Whether you  talk about 
enforcement, groups like ours or churches,  it is a challenge for all 
of us to coordinate our  efforts together to put a stop to it."
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MAP posted-by: Elaine