Three reasons your ministry can’t ignore the porn epidemic

Despite the spiritual and relational carnage caused by porn use, few churches and ministries actually address the issue.

What if helping your staff and students break free from pornography was a key to your ministry’s fruitfulness?

Here are three reasons we can’t ignore the porn epidemic:

1. Sin impacts our usability

God was ready and willing to use Israel to settle the Promised Land, but He refused to move ahead because there was sin in the camp. Our usability is impacted by our holiness (2 Tim. 2:20-22).

The Bible teaches that, “the effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much” (James 5:16) and that our prayers can be hindered by sin (1 Peter 3:7).

There is sin in the camp in the form of habitual porn use by staff and student leaders.

Until there is true repentance among ministry leaders to address the issue, we shouldn’t expect to be fully used by God.

The trend among millennials is the younger the age the more porn they consume. This is true for ministers as well.

I have interviewed multiple campus ministry leaders who say that more than half of their staff men are struggling regularly with porn.

Ministries must create a restorative culture in their organization instead of a punitive one that keeps their staff in hiding for fear of being fired or punished.

A restorative culture helps staff repent and get help.

Having a restorative culture doesn’t mean we are content with people staying stuck in their sin. It actually means the opposite.

A restorative culture creates an environment for repentance and recovery instead of secrecy and sin.

Repentance means following through on recovery, not just starting it.

To establish a restorative culture many churches and ministries have adopted the following policy: As long as you haven’t done anything illegal or with another person and you are committed to recovery, then you can get help for your struggle with porn without the fear of punishment.

Unfortunately some ministries have an enabling culture.

In an enabling culture, maybe the issue is addressed minimally, but there is no call to repentance with accompanying accountability to diligently pursue recovery.

Don’t allow this sin to keep you, your staff, and your ministry on the sidelines instead of being fully used by God (2 Chronicles 7:14).

2. Repentant staff can help students

When staff live in the light and aggressively deal with their sin in a recovery group, they can begin to help students break free.

When a ministry builds a restorative culture where staff members are encouraged to repent and get help, it models vulnerability and openness to the students. This is a model that students desperately need.

The tendency for the student struggling with porn is to deny, minimize, and rationalize, so it’s powerful when staff model repentance.

At our summer projects we have a manhood/womanhood night where each gender gathers to focus on breaking free from porn or other unwanted sexual behaviors and walk in purity.

Staff and student leaders share testimonies of their past bondage and how they are walking in purity.

It is powerful when staff and students share how they used to struggle but are now walking in freedom.

This is a life changing time for students who can now start bringing this area of their lives under the Lordship of Christ.

We start addressing the issue with sophomores when they apply for leadership positions.

We sometimes turn guys down because of their porn struggle, but we champion their vulnerability and get them plugged into recovery groups.

This has created a culture of vulnerability and dealing with the issue early, which can take one to two years (it’s not a quick fix).

But this creates a culture where the students who come on staff have significant freedom in their lives so we are able to maintain the standards for spiritual leadership.

The ministries that are not effectively addressing the issue with their staff ultimately hurt their students because they don’t get the help they need. These students then come on staff only to perpetuate the problem.

The result is you have more staff who struggle with porn and don’t address the issue effectively with students.

This can create a false sense of “accountability and vulnerability” where everyone admits that they struggle but they seem content to stay stuck instead of pursuing genuine freedom in which they put their sin to death.

3. We are in a spiritual battle

To continue to ignore the issue is to ignore the reality of the negative spiritual impact this sin is having.

1 Peter 2:11 commands, “Abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.” The enemy is using porn to wage war against people, both believers and the lost.

Dr. Samuel Perry’s research shows that the more porn a person watches, the less he practices his religious activities (ie. going to church, reading the Bible, and praying), while he has an increase in religious doubts.

The relationship between porn and doubts is: the more porn you watch, the more doubts you have. Porn dulls a person’s appetite for God and His word while increasing his doubts.

We are warned by God about sowing to the flesh and reaping corruption (Galatians 6:7-8).

Porn is waging a war against the souls of our staff and students, so to not address it is undercutting the very spiritual investment we are making into the lives of our staff and students.

Not addressing a person’s porn struggle can communicate that the Bible and the power of God are inadequate to deal with the real issues of life.

Whether it’s educating a lost student on how porn actually hinders sexual satisfaction (and illustrates John 10:10a) or helping a student break free from addiction, real answers rooted in the Bible make a huge impact.

In addition to a biblical and gospel-centered approach, the most effective programs are holistic and address the brain science of porn addiction as well as the emotional components of the struggle.

If you don’t address the roots of the addiction, you just get behavior modification instead of genuine freedom where people put their sin to death.

The ministries willing to address the issue put their staff, students, and ministries in the strongest place possible to be used by God.