Transcription
Hey, I'm Andy. Welcome to the church basement. The church basement. What does that even mean? Well, if you've listened or you've watched for a while, you probably know what I mean. But if you haven't, here's what I mean by church basement.
So, the church basement is how I describe this place that had a big impact on me and many other people. It really is a literal place. It might be an actual basement or downstairs of a church building, but it doesn't have to be. It could be something like a storage room, a wreck room, maybe even a virtual meeting.
But what makes the basement unique and special is that it's a place where people have been meeting and experiencing God's grace and healing and community and connection and recovery. I'm also talking about people who have been meeting in these basements for the past 90-ish years and all the stuff that goes on there: the relationships that are formed, the wisdom that's been passed down, and the actions that are being taken. I'm talking about recovery or 12-step groups.
If the church sanctuary or the auditorium, the upstairs, is where people come together to worship God, the basement or downstairs is where people have been coming together to deal with their struggles and their mess and finding recovery from addiction.
Real quick, I am in recovery, and I have been for several years because I have an addiction. In other words, I'm a recovering addict. Now, if you're like, "Geez, this guy is a piece of work," just wait. It gets worse.
While I was secretly trying to overcome my addiction on my own for so many years and losing, I was also a Christian and a pastor. And guess what? It didn't go well for me. I bottomed out. My life fell apart, and I found myself in the basement.
Now, an interesting fact about how I ended up in the basement: I was given basically an ultimatum. It's true. I was in counseling at the time, but I wasn't really honest, basically just sharing half-truths for many years, holding back my worst secrets out of fear. But eventually, I came clean about everything, including my addiction and all my struggles, and my counselor said flat out, "I can't really help you unless you start going to a 12-step group. I'll meet with you, but I don't think it's going to help you." That's how messed up I was.
Now, at the time, I didn't like this. I didn't understand it, and it didn't make sense. But clearly, having made all the decisions in my life that led me to where I was, my own judgment, not so good. So I listened to him, and I went to that first group, and it was literally in a church basement.
Now I talk about this stuff more in other videos, and those are linked down in the description if you want to go check those out.
Now, when I look back, I feel like I have this interesting perspective on attending church. For a long time, I went to church, and I currently go to church upstairs. I'm in an auditorium or in a sanctuary, whatever you want to call it. We worship, we sing, there's preaching and teaching, all the things that most people are probably familiar with when it comes to church.
But then I started going to church downstairs in the basement, and it was a very different experience with a very different focus and goal. And both of these experiences have shaped me as a follower of Jesus. And I want to share what that looks like because sometimes there seems to be this tension that exists when I share my story with people. And it's a tension between what we'd think of as church and then this idea of 12-step or recovery groups.
And what is going on downstairs? How do these two things mesh? Can they mesh? Should a Christian go to 12-step groups? Is it wise? Are 12-step groups the same as church upstairs? Are they a replacement? Are they completely different? And if it is different, how so? Why does it even exist? How has it helped me? How could it help others? Is there anything the church in general can learn from what's going on in the basement? These are the types of questions I hope to answer in this video and future videos.
So, if you're someone who's unfamiliar with recovery, 12-step groups, and all this basement stuff, I hope this video will give you some understanding and a new perspective. And even if you are familiar, maybe you've spent time in the basement yourself or maybe someone you care about has, I hope this video reminds you of the benefits and the uniqueness of the basement.
Quick disclaimer: this is based on my own experiences, both as a follower of Jesus who is active and who participates in his church, and also once upon a time worked in a church. But, you know, I haven't gone to every single type of church. So, I'm limited to more of the typical evangelical American type church, and my experiences are limited to the recovery groups I've gone to. Other people might experience different things than I do. So, I definitely do not speak for everyone.
That said, the upstairs versus the downstairs, the differences. A common misconception is that the basement 12-step groups are somehow thought of as a replacement for church service or a replacement for being part of the church. Like, instead of attending on Sunday, you know, I attend Thursday night, and instead of the auditorium, we meet in the basement. Some people might have this attitude, but I don't, and I don't think most people do. This idea totally misses the point of what I think is the true purpose of the 12 steps and what goes on in the basement.
I think of the basement as more of a supplemental activity to the church. So, let's think about this kind of like how we would think about food and a diet.
So, our spiritual diet: my involvement in the church community is my main diet. I attend Sunday. We gather as a large group to worship, to praise God, to hear the gospel, the word, a message. We take communion. Occasionally, we celebrate baptisms. We hang out as a community. That's the bulk of my diet. I also help out in children's ministry on Sundays. So, there's an element of contributing and serving, using your gifts, that takes place upstairs for many, many people.
Outside of Sundays, you know, the rest of the week, many of us meet in smaller groups. I personally, you know, meet or talk to people one-on-one, maybe once or twice a month. So, throughout the week, there's a focus on connection, community, discipleship, being known, all that. I consider this being part of the church as well. And all of this makes up my main diet that helps me connect to God, to connect to other people, and all of this helps me follow Jesus.
I think of the basement as a supplement to my main diet. If you know much about supplements and vitamins, we take them not to replace food, but to take in specific things, nutrients our body needs that might be lacking in our diet. So, for anyone struggling with an addiction, they probably have certain deficiencies in their life. And the basement is a great place where those deficiencies are brought into the open and addressed with the help of other people who know what it's like.
So, we lack certain things that cause us to turn to our drug or our behavior of choice to fill these voids in our life. Before recovery, we typically lack support from people who understand what it's like to struggle with addiction. We lack experience in knowing how to deal with it. We lack wisdom, guidance. We lack the tools to move forward. We carry around an immense amount of shame and guilt. We have some wounds and maybe some traumatic stuff from our past that has never been talked about, never been dealt with. We don't know how to process most of our emotions. The basement provides much of the support and help we need to address this stuff and round out our spiritual diet. At least that's how I tend to think about it. And this is how I've seen it play out in many people's lives.
Of course, you might find this support upstairs. Honestly, I think we should, but we don't always, and I'm going to save that for another time. But one of the things that makes the basement unique compared to what goes on upstairs is the fact that it's really only people with common struggles helping each other downstairs. There's no experts, there's no outsiders, there's no teachers. All the support comes from people who have been there, done that, and live to tell about it, literally. So, to me, this is really the key. Recovery groups, they're in addition to; they're not supplemental. They don't replace anything. At least I don't think they should for a Christian.
Now, sticking with this diet metaphor, imagine you had someone who, you know, they have a healthy diet. All of the things you're supposed to have, supposed to be eating, you know, the pyramid, the plate, whatever is popular right now. Yet, they have an iron deficiency, right? And it's causing a lot of problems. So, they start taking an iron supplement, and it solves many of the problems in their health, and their health is dramatically increased. Would it make sense for that person to now say, "Well, I guess I don't need to eat food because I have these iron pills"? No. Man cannot live on iron pills alone. That's not Jesus. That's me. I made it up. But I think it's true. The iron supplement filled critical gaps in the diet that caused serious problems, but it's just a piece of the overall diet, and it didn't replace healthy food that is the bulk of the diet and the foundation of being healthy. But when that person added that one tiny pill, it made a huge difference in that person's health. This is how recovery can be for someone struggling with addiction. So, at least for me and many other Christians I've met in the basement, recovery-focused groups are not a replacement. They're a supplement.
Now, not all people see it that way. They might think of recovery groups not as a replacement or a supplement, but as an alternative, a different thing altogether that has nothing to do with Jesus or his church. You know, there's no Bible, there's no gospel, and what's up with this "higher power" talk? People don't like this term, and I understand why. It's vague. It's foreign. It's kind of new-agey, pseudo-spiritual, mumbo jumbo. I don't know. It just doesn't sit well with many Christians. That's fine. If you're a Christian that ends up in the basement, welcome. You're one of us. You don't have to say "higher power" in the basement. You can refer to God however you want. And this is because of a big difference between upstairs and downstairs. Upstairs is mainly about theology, and downstairs isn't.
I think sometimes because recovery groups meet in a church, we assume the focus will be similar: God. So, we expect similar language and teachings, and all the emphasis is on God. And trust me, I believe the end goal of recovery and the 12 steps is trusting God more. But the focus really isn't on him. The focus is on what is getting in the way of him.
I think we can see this most clearly when we ask the question, "What are we learning about?" As a Christian, I'd argue that upstairs, what we typically think of as a church service, right? The focus is the gospel, the good news. We come together to put a lens focused right on Jesus: who he is, what he's done, and what that means for us, how we can respond. We're learning and we're developing a theology. It's all about God. And we also worship and praise God. So, we're responding. We remember what he's done for us through communion, through baptism. And not just upstairs on Sunday, but the rest of the week. The purpose continues in a disciple's life. We continue that purpose, and we respond by loving God, loving others, and making disciples.
In the basement, rather than a lens, we find a mirror, and the focus shifts to us: something inside us that is making our life harder, hindering us from responding to what we focus on upstairs. In the basement, we focus on something that is part of being a follower of Jesus. It's the struggles we face. It's the hurts. It's the habits. It's the hang-ups. Whatever the things are that are wrecking our lives. For me, this is the difference. The reason we gather in these two different places is really for two different reasons. Do they overlap? Sure. Yes. Let's not get black and white on this. But there's a primary focus in each one of these places. Upstairs, church. Throughout the week, amazing truths about God. Downstairs, hard truths about ourselves. Upstairs, we celebrate who God is. Downstairs, we bring into the light who we are. Upstairs, theology. Downstairs, anthropology.
What is anthropology? We'll get there.
Quick example. Upstairs, what are we reading? Well, we're reading the Bible, the source material for all our theology. Downstairs, what are we reading? Basically, something called recovery literature. So, these are books or other writings that each anonymous group uses; they're approved of. So, it's books like the AA big book, the 12 steps and 12 traditions. Each group typically has its own literature that is based on the 12 steps and people's experiences. The fact is, these books are very general and vague in their God talk. And while books like the AA big book definitely seem to be influenced primarily from a Christian worldview of God, there is very little about who God is. It's not a theology book. It's not a book about God's attributes, who he is, what he's done in history. Rather, they're books about addiction and the people who struggle with addiction. And it often includes stories and examples of how they've trusted or found hope in God to help them. So, what we primarily learn in these books isn't necessarily theology. It's anthropology, specifically a low anthropology.
So, here we go. What is that? This is a newer term for me, but I believed the underlying ideas long before I heard the term. But once I heard it, I realized it captures perfectly what I and many other people have been learning and experiencing in the basement. I first heard this term in Dave Zall's book, "Low Anthropology." Link below. Awesome book. And this book is so awesome, I'm just going to quote him. He says, "Anthropology simply means what we believe about human nature." So, beliefs about how we operate. What do we tend to be like? What's our main issue? Our limits, our weaknesses, things like that. What your anthropology is determines how you answer these types of questions.
To keep things simple, you can have a high anthropology or you can have a low anthropology. David Zaul describes it like a continuum with low on one side and high on the other. Sort of like a barometer of human potential. He says that a high anthropology is any characterization of human beings as basically good, which views people as defined by their best days and greatest achievements, their dreams and their aspirations. Whereas a low anthropology accepts that our ability to do the right thing in any given situation is hampered by all sorts of unseen factors.
So, a high anthropology would be the belief that is more optimistic about humanity. We're basically good and less influenced in some negative way. We have the power, we have the will, we have the might to get our act together, to fix our issues on our own, that we can rise to the occasion. There are few actual limitations that people have, right? And if we're running into them, we ought to be able to do something about them. Again, it's primarily a view that people are good and able, and if not, something is wrong with that person. And if we just do XYZ, they'd be better.
A low anthropology is less optimistic. It's a belief that people inherently have limitations, weaknesses, a lack of power, or the ability to solve them on their own by their own might. It's a view that people are sometimes good, but also sometimes bad. It's not because there's always something wrong with them, but this is what humans do. We're flawed. We're messy. We're screwed up. We're scared. And no amount of effort or willpower or perfect circumstances can guarantee some better performance or the ability to measure up.
If you've been to a high school or a college graduation where the main message is "the sky's the limit, nothing can stop you," you've heard someone talk about high anthropology. If you've heard someone admit their flaws and their weaknesses, their struggles, their sins, their frustrations, their brokenness, you've heard someone declare a low anthropology. And a lot of what gets said in the basement reinforces a low anthropology belief about humans, even from longtime sober members.
So, a low anthropology doesn't mean we can't do anything good or that we can't change or grow. We can, but a low anthropology accepts and argues that we can't do it on our own, by our own power, without help from someone or something outside of ourselves. This low anthropology flows throughout all recovery material, which is what we're learning from in the basement. In fact, the very first words of the 12 steps are, "We admitted we were powerless." That doesn't mean hopeless or helpless, but it means on our own, by our own might, we lack the power, the ability, the strength to do something about this situation. That's a low anthropology.
And guess what? Scripture, the Bible, also supports a low anthropology. Read anything from Genesis 3 to the end of Revelation, and you're going to find examples of people who continually stumble and struggle even though they know better. This doesn't mean that there aren't examples in scripture of people doing some great things, but they were never done without God's help, without the power and his grace. Also, you're going to find low anthropology supported by verses like Romans 7:18 through 20. Here Paul says, "I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now, if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me." The way many interpret this verse, including me, is that Paul is describing really a self-sufficient, self-reliant, self-righteous believer. Someone who maybe believes or knows intellectually the right things and has a desire to do them, calls themselves a follower of Jesus, but is trying to go about following Jesus and doing all these good things on their own without trusting God's help, without relying on God's spirit. Paul had a low anthropology, and he's reminding us that a high anthropology gets in the way of following Jesus faithfully.
Jesus also said something similar when he said this in John 15:5: "I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit. But apart from me, you can do nothing." "Apart from me, you can't do anything." That's low anthropology. But what's important is that with God, with Jesus, with trust, with dependence and reliance on God's power, you can do things you can't do on your own. Through faith, we bear much fruit despite our weaknesses, despite our limitations, despite our flaws. In other words, despite our low anthropology. Again, Paul sums this up beautifully when he says, "When I am weak, then I am strong." This truth is foundational to following Jesus faithfully and humbly. And this is why recovery can be so beneficial for followers struggling with things like addiction, because recovery is built around this truth, this low anthropology. And this truth is echoed in scripture. We have to admit and accept we are weak. We are limited. We are powerless on our own to do anything over certain situations and circumstances and struggles. Right?
Listen to how the big book says it. This is one of my favorite sections because it hits this idea so well. Quote, "After a while, we had to face the fact that we must find a spiritual basis of life or else. If a mere code of morals or a better philosophy of life were sufficient to overcome alcoholism, many of us would have recovered long ago. But we found that such codes and philosophies did not save us, no matter how much we tried. Our human resources as marshaled by the will were not sufficient. They utterly failed. Lack of power. That was our dilemma. We had to find a power by which we could live. And it had to be a power greater than ourselves." This is so good. He's saying if there were a way to recover and get over our addiction on our own, we would have nailed it. If there was something in us that could tap into this power and get over our issues, we could have done it. If we had the power on our own to solve our life's problems, we wouldn't be struggling. But here we are, lacking the power to do it on our own. Leaving us with this realization: we need a power greater than ourselves in order to change, heal, grow, and get through life. And we come back to this phrase "higher power," but said differently, a way I actually like: "a power greater than ourselves."
I know a lot of Christians who they believe in God. They profess Jesus as Lord. Yet they act, think, and believe, and live like they have all the power to follow Jesus on their own, by their will, by their might, doing it alone. The message of recovery is you ain't that powerful. Your best effort, your best thinking, your best intentions got you to the bottom. The basement, what goes on down there, which we'll get into, it starts with embracing the truth of low anthropology so we can have a higher view of God. So, when you pair that with the theology and the truth and the community we experience upstairs, many of us find ourselves with a deeper attitude of surrender and dependence on Jesus. Once we accept and admit what's true about us, man, we're freed up to choose to depend, to choose to trust, to choose to rely on God's grace, his power, his spirit, the truths of the gospel, whatever it is. When we turn away from ourselves and to God, we find the source of power. We are given strength because his strength works through us even while we are still us. That's the power of a low anthropology. And the basement is an amazing place where you find it on display. You learn it without even knowing you're really learning it. Your whole worldview about yourself and human nature changes.
So, in the basement, not a replacement for church, it's supplemental. And while definitely influenced by basic truths about God, the basement is not a place where we learn and develop a theology, but a place where we learn and we understand anthropology, specifically a low anthropology. These are, in my opinion, the big differences that can help us think about the basement recovery 12-step groups as a follower of Jesus. Of course, there are many more differences that are more specific. The same way you can't like take two churches that are different and go one by one through all the differences. That's not the point of this video. There are many more things that are different about what goes on in the basement and upstairs. But as a believer who has experienced time upstairs and time downstairs, these ideas have helped me see the basement and how it fits into following Jesus more faithfully. It provides specific help and support in key areas of my life that hinder obedience, my trust, my faithfulness, and the follow-through of really believing the gospel.
And there are really three main things that make the basement special. It's surrender, the steps, and support. So, surrender: we let go of our will, what I want. We let go of control, what I think I can make happen. And we let go of self-righteousness: I think I can measure up. And instead, we learn to accept God's will, our limitations, his grace. Then we use the steps to work through these ideas and do some healing from the damage that addiction has caused. And then we find support from others to help us with all of this because we need help. These are basement fundamentals, and they sum up the benefits a believer can experience through recovery. I'll look at these in future videos, but if you want more information specifically on addiction or recovery, I've also linked those below.
As always, thanks for watching. If you enjoyed this, like it. If you want to watch more, subscribe. And feel free to let me know your thoughts in the comment section. Also, if you're willing, share this with others if you think it could help them. My hope is to provide resources that help people who are struggling with this kind of stuff, and you sharing it would be a big help. But that's all. Thanks again for checking out the church basement.