Alcoholism: best left to experts?
‘My name is Paul, and I am an alcoholic.’
With these words I introduce myself to the meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous that I have attended for the last 16 years.
They are significant words. They imply difference and that implied difference often has church members (and leaders) feeling out of their depth when confronted by an individual alcoholic. But I want to suggest that the little known Oxford Group (not to be confused with the Anglo-Catholic Oxford Movement), from whom modern AA emerged in the 1930s, can help evangelical churches recover the issue for Christ.