Our Mission

Healing, fellowship, and renewal for clergy in recovery.

We provide confidential peer support for clergy across denominations who are navigating addiction and recovery. We believe honesty saves lives. We believe recovery is possible. And we believe no clergy person should have to walk this path alone. 

Our values are simple :

Compassion

Honesty

Fellowship

Confidentiality

Our History

The Fellowship of Recovering Clergy (FRC) began in 1990 as the Fellowship of Recovering Lutheran Clergy (FRLC). Two pastors—one from the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS) and one from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)—recognized the need for a confidential support network for Lutheran clergy recovering from alcoholism and founded the organization.

For more than three decades, we have provided support, fellowship, and resources to clergy navigating recovery. While our initial focus was alcoholism, our mission gradually expanded to include clergy recovering from other substance use disorders as well as behavioral and process addictions, including codependency, workaholism, eating disorders, and other compulsive behaviors.

As the need became increasingly evident, we began welcoming clergy from denominations beyond Lutheran traditions, many of whom had no comparable support network available to them. We later expanded membership to include other qualified church leaders while maintaining a commitment to verifying ministerial credentials and preserving the integrity of our fellowship.

In 2025, recognizing both the growing demand and the lack of recovery support available in many church bodies, we formally expanded our mission to serve clergy and licensed ministers from all Christian denominations. Today, we continue to provide a variety of recovery resources, including:

Confidential peer support
Online 12-Step meetings
Educational materials and publications
Retreats and gatherings
Recovery-focused ministry resources

Over the years, we also recognized that many denominations lacked clear guidance for supporting clergy through addiction and recovery. In response, we began developing resources specifically designed to help bishops, judicatory leaders, district presidents, and other denominational leaders more effectively support clergy in the healing process.

In 2018, in response to the opioid crisis, we convened a national conference to help clergy and faith leaders better understand addiction and recovery. That conference led to the creation of the Center of Addiction & Faith, which now operates as a separate nonprofit organization dedicated to awakening faith communities to address addiction.

In 2024, the Fellowship helped launch another related ministry: the Center for the Restoration of Impaired Clergy, an ecumenical parachurch organization focused on equipping bishops, presidents, and other church leaders to better understand addiction and more faithfully accompany clergy through recovery and restoration.

Today, the Fellowship of Recovering Clergy continues to serve as a supportive network for clergy in recovery by:

Providing opportunities for newly recovering clergy to connect with peers.
Developing a broad network of clergy in recovery who can support clergy, congregations, and families.
Serving as a resource to church leaders addressing addiction and recovery concerns among clergy.
Hosting annual retreats and gatherings.
Organizing regional events as needed.
Sustaining the ministry through member and donor support.