Tips for churches confronting pornography in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic

Tips for churches confronting pornography in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic

On March 24, one of the internet’s biggest pornography websites offered a month of free premium services under the guise of wanting to help people through a difficult time. That day, the site reported an 18.5% increase in worldwide website traffic.

But even as the COVID-19 pandemic has amplified a “perfect storm” of issues, including pornography and sex addiction, it also has increased ministry opportunities for the church and healing, according to those who counsel and minister to individuals struggling with sexual sin.

The porn industry has sought to capitalize on the pandemic in order to grow business, said Traylor Lovvorn, executive director of Undone Redone, a ministry that helps individuals and couples who have been hurt by sexual addiction, pornography and other related issues.

Pornography use and sex addiction also have likely grown worse while people have been in isolation, according to Greg Oliver, executive director of Awaken Recovery, a ministry that helps those struggling with sexual brokenness and addiction.

Oliver noted that people are scared, vulnerable and entering “you-name-it into their search bars.”

“The porn industry knows that,” Oliver said. “So without a doubt, I would say [pornography addiction] is up.”

Isolation is a “benchmark of porn addiction” and pornography a “wounded way of seeking connection,” Oliver said.

The change in routines brought on by the pandemic only adds to the personal crisis, Lovvorn said.

“All that stuff that normally, in a normal pace of life, is kind of neatly compartmentalized and never really surfaces begins to surface,” he said. “When that begins to happen, we naturally begin to run to whatever coping mechanisms or ways of medicating that anxiety.”

Ministries like Undone Redone and Awaken Recovery, which utilize a variety of in-person group and individual counseling strategies, have had to rethink their approach and get creative in reaching out to those who have been isolated for weeks and months at a time.

Online approaches

While Zoom calls, podcasts, webinars and other online approaches are better than not meeting at all, they don’t provide the same level of support, Oliver said.

“There’s something special about sitting in the room face-to-face with other people who share your struggle,” Oliver said. “There were a lot of people who were regular attendees at our support group meetings that we didn’t see or hear from for really the whole eight or 10 weeks we were not able to meet in person.”

Since some of the in-person meetings have resumed, about 60% of his clients have returned, Oliver said, with many sharing their struggles with being in quarantine.

But while meeting in person can be more effective, both ministries say they will continue to utilize online platforms to help more people.

And now is a good time for the church to address sexual addiction, said Lovvorn, who believes the church has been silent on these issues for too long.

“The church has not been talking about healthy sex,” he said. “The church has been silent, and into that vacuum comes a very different message. Really, it’s a perversion certainly of this beautiful gift that God has given us.”

Overall, these difficult times are an opportunity for the church to offer support and solutions to those struggling with addiction by helping them realize they are part of “a vast group of people,” Oliver said.

“Christians addicted to porn, the vast majority of them, feel deeply shameful about it, and they would stop if they could,” he said. “So a message that says, “Quit looking at porn!’ is not going to be helpful. A message that says, “Here’s how we can help you get free from porn’ is going to be much more helpful.”

Both ministries are actively seeking to grow partnerships among Southern Baptist churches and the evangelical community to provide counseling to those who need it.

Partnerships

Most pastors aren’t equipped and trained to provide the needed counseling on their own, said Oliver, who is a member of The Church at Brook Hills, Birmingham. He noted that “most of our seminaries don’t do very much in terms of training pastors on working with sexually broken people.”

One of the challenges, Oliver said, is that church leaders need to identify trustworthy outside groups and then be willing to let them do their jobs.

“There are so many good counselors who are themselves believers who don’t want to usurp the spiritual authority of the church,” Oliver said.

Ultimately, pornography addiction recovery is a gateway to the gospel, said Lovvorn. The solution is about calling men to “a bigger and better story” and addressing the root issues of the problem.

“God can use these things to bring us to Him,” he said, “and help us see our desperate need for Him and that actually is a good thing.”

For more information about these ministries, go to undoneredone.com and awakenrecovery.com.