MARTINSBURG, W.Va – Camp Hill-Wesley United Methodist Church in Harpers Ferry has helped serve Jefferson County’s spiritual needs since 1829 and is preparing to serve in a new way in the coming months.
In a recent visit to the Eastern Panhandle, Dr. Rahul Gupta, the Director of the National Drug Control Policy for the Biden administration, announced a plan for the church to pursue designation as a certified Recovery Ready Worship Place, making it the first in West Virginia to commit to achieving that status.
The Rev. John Unger, a former West Virginia state senator who pastors the church, serves as a special advisor to Gupta, the former Chief Health Officer for the state of West Virginia, and was tasked with fostering ways for religious bodies to help combat substance abuse. Unger believes that if any faith-based organization is to truly serve the public, addressing the issue of addiction is paramount.
“If the church or the faith community is to be responsive to the needs of the community, and particularly be relevant to the community, this is an area where they have to respond and provide support,” he said on the Panhandle News Network’s “Panhandle Live!” Tuesday.
As part of its pledge to become a certified Recovery Ready Worship Place, the church published a statement outlining a series of commitments being made to help support its mission of battling substance abuse disorder. Unger explained steps have already been taken to make Camp Hill-Wesley United Methodist a supportive place for those struggling with addiction and that the commitments resemble those for a similar designation in workplaces around the country.
“We have at Camp-Hill Wesley United Methodist a couple folks that are trained as recovery coaches. We also have Naloxone just in case, something like a first aid kit, and so we’ve also taken this pledge,” he said, “The Office of National Drug Control Policy has these things called ‘Recovery Ready Workplace’ and a lot of corporations have signed on to this. The idea here is to develop an environment that helps an individual through prevention and then help them.”
Unger, who pastors three churches in Harpers Ferry, was struck by the desperate need for recovery resources, even in his own congregations, after preaching a recent sermon that referenced the church hosting meetings of both Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous.
“Five different people independently from the different congregations approached me and revealed to me that they had an addiction of some sort or someone close to their family and wanted me to become their recovery coach,” he said.
With a history of faith-based service that includes volunteering with Mother Teresa in Calcutta during the monsoons and riots of 1990, as well as work with the United States Refugee Program in Hong Kong, Unger has long held an understanding of the church’s ability to make an impact. He believes this is an opportunity to step up once again.
“At one time, faith communities started hospitals. They were the ones that started schools. They did a lot of the aspects of our community. That’s kind of evolved away but there is a real huge demand for the faith community to come forward,” he said.
Unger hopes that other places of worship join Camp Hill-United Methodist in its pledge and says those interested in doing so can find more information through the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
