The meeting in the sanctuary and the meeting in the basement
In opioid country, churches get to know their recovery communities.
When Janice Ford was called to be rector of the Church of the Reconciliation (Episcopal) in Webster, Massachusetts, she had no idea that in a few years she would be vacating her office in order to make room to house men in recovery.
Like many small cities across the country, Webster has had an opioid epidemic and few resources for responding to it. With moving boxes strewn about her office, Ford recalls how she began her ministry to addicts and those in recovery. “At the time I arrived, I wasn’t thinking that this would be our ministry. It just sort of evolved.”
Ministry in a local jail combined with an intensive educational program in addiction and recovery opened Ford’s eyes to the needs of an ignored population.
