With a population of just 2.6 million people, the Eastern European country of Moldova has the dubious honor of the world’s highest alcohol consumption rate. It’s no surprise, then, that this former Soviet nation also claims the highest rate of alcohol-linked deaths, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). One in four deaths is blamed on alcohol, compared with a world average of one in 20, Time magazine reports.

Although the government has taken measures to curb addiction, these efforts have fallen far short. Worse, there are just not enough places where Moldovans can turn for help in achieving lasting sobriety.

To meet the needs of those struggling with addiction, a Nazarene church in Moldova is working to extend hope and healing through a Coffee House ministry and weekly visits to a narcotics detoxification center. At the center, the Chisinau Church of the Nazarene members chat with residents, sharing about God’s power to break the chains of addiction. Each visit, they invite those who are interested to attend the church’s weekly Coffee House ministry, where they can find out more. 

At the Coffee House meetings, support is formed through casual conversations over tea, coffee, and cookies. Next, the attendees settle around different tables to discuss prepared questions “... related to addiction, deliverance, inner struggles, and so on,” Pastor Sergey Talalay describes.

The meetings also include a time of worship and testimony, featuring stories from those who have been freed from active addiction and found hope in Christ. Talalay himself witnesses to 16 years of sobriety after 10 years of narcotics abuse.

“When God gave me freedom, I promised to serve the same people as I once was,” he says.

At one recent visit to the detox center, the ministry volunteers saw a man with whom they’d had coffee conversations before. 

“He had been told many times about God's love and the opportunity to change his life,” Pastor Talalay recalls. “But, on this special day, we asked if he would like us to pray for him, and he agreed.”

After they prayed, the man told Talalay that he was ready to go to a rehabilitation center. “This man has now been living without addiction for more than a year,” Talalay says. “He was baptized and visits drug treatment clinics with us.”

It wasn’t the cup of coffee that changed his life, though that may have been how the journey began. It is Jesus who brings such lasting transformation.

This story adapted from the latest issue of NCM Magazine. Read more here.