Chapel Hill United Methodist Church is partnering with Recovery at Cokesbury Network to start Recovery at San Antonio, a 12-step program with a Christian emphasis on Sept. 15. Funding for this ministry was supported by the Mission Vitality Center New Places, New People Grant.

The ministry started when Pastor Dave Felps and his church leaders noticed a need for recovery addiction while going through the Healthy Church Initiative.

“The spur for [Recovery at San Antonio] was rewriting our vision statement,” said Felps. “We recognized we were short of reaching people in emotional distress in our community. We noticed we were the only church in a 15-mile radius that would have an addiction ministry.”

Felps heard about the New Places, New People grant from the Rio Texas Conference Unidos eNewsletter and from his colleagues. After applying for the grant, Chapel Hill UMC was awarded grants to cover parking lot lighting upgrades for the Thursday night ministry. The bulk of the funds will be used for advertisement and marketing.

 “Our goal is to bring in 100 new people to be a part of this ministry,” said Felps. “I believe God moves in big ways. We want to see people free from addictions, as well as return to full employment and reunited families.”

Felps explained that the Recovery at San Antonio parallels with the 12-step program. 

“John Wesley went into the places where people were hurting. He went into those places where people lost hope. He preached the word of Christ. The faith that we have drives us toward those places,” said Felps. “If you look at the 12-steps and the way they work, there’s a lot of overlap with Wesley. It’s a good fit.”

 Volunteers interested in helping this ministry may visit recoveryatsanantonio.com

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