"Sarge"
Director NCFP
18 posts
Jun 25, 2009
9:39 AM
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Ours is a different kind of ministry; different in a good sense. Many ministries focus their efforts on the unsaved. Their goal is evangelism and the salvation of the lost. Other ministries focus their efforts on the saved. Their goal is the edification (building up) of the saved. Our ministry also focuses on the saved. Our goal, however, is the sanctification (holiness) of the saved. God has called us to purify the Church. Ours is a different kind of ministry.
How do we go about pursuing our ministry? We partner with local churches to help them launch purity ministries to men, women, and teens. We do this by challenging, training, and resourcing them to purify their congregations. It is a slow, tedious, often hard ministry but the results are gratifying. Local churches who embrace the ministry report significant changes in their men, women, and teens as they become more pure. We are seeing added blessings from the purity ministry. Local churches are reporting that many wounded marriages are being healed, men are stepping forward to lead in ministry, financial support has increased, men are worshiping and praying from the heart, and men are beginning to fulfill their roles as husbands and dads. That is the sort of change we would expect as the Lord begins to revive His Church. Ours is a different kind of ministry.
Some have asked, “Is NCFP a ministry to the sexually addicted?” No. The sexually addicted make up 15-18% of the population. NCFP targets men and women who are not yet sexually addicted; the 65-70% who are sexual sinners. These are the ones who periodically dabble in sexual sin and minimize it as “not so bad.” They tell themselves “it’s only my problem,” “it doesn’t affect anyone but me” and “I can stop anytime I want to.” Those are lies that must be countered with the truth. Sexual sinners sit in the pews of our churches. Many pastors assume that because they are Christians or because they show up for Saturday or Sunday worship, they must not have a problem with sexual sin, however, all of the research points to the opposite conclusion. Christians are vulnerable to sexual temptation and too many yield to it.
There are a number of ministries which focus on sexual addiction: Sex Addicts Anonymous, Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous, Sexaholics Anonymous, Celebrate Recovery, and personal therapy with a professional counselor to name just a few. Why do people avail themselves of these ministries? They go because they have crossed the line into addiction and have begun to suffer the consequences of their addiction. Their pain drives them to seek help.
Not so with most sexual sinners. Most sexual sinners do not go to recovery groups or for counseling. The pain is not sufficiently severe. Although they may be progressively moving toward addiction, they have not yet crossed the line. As mentioned earlier, they lie to themselves about the consequences of their sin and its impact on their lives. This challenging population is the target audience of the National Coalition For Purity. We want to help this audience fulfill God’s command to, “…be holy because I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16).
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