Purpose of Celebrate Recovery
Celebrate Recovery is a place to celebrate God’s healing power in our lives by using simple steps and applying principles of recovery to our lives.
We start this process by sharing our experiences, strengths and hopes with one another. Soon we become willing to accept God’s grace in solving our problems. By applying these Biblical principles, we begin to grow spiritually and become free from our addictive, compulsive and dysfunctional behaviors.
This freedom creates peace, serenity, joy and most importantly, a stronger personal relationship with God and others. As we progress through the program, we discover our personal, loving and forgiving Higher Power – Jesus Christ.
The History of Celebrate Recovery
Celebrate Recovery started in 1991 at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California. At that time, the church was meeting at a high school gymnasium. John Baker wrote Pastor Rick the “now famous concise 13-page single-spaced” letter outlining the vision God had given him for Celebrate Recovery. After reading John’s letter, Pastor Rick said, “Great John, go do it!”
The first night 45 people attended, and Celebrate Recovery was born. Beginning with only four Open Share Groups—Men’s and Women’s Chemical Dependency, and Men’s and Women’s Co-Dependency—the ministry has grown to over fourteen groups today. Over 8,500 people have gone through the program at Saddleback Church, and many of them are now serving in Celebrate Recovery and the church. Celebrate Recovery has become the number one outreach ministry at Saddleback Church, with over 70 percent of its members now coming from outside the church.
The first night 45 people attended, and Celebrate Recovery was born. Beginning with only four Open Share Groups—Men’s and Women’s Chemical Dependency, and Men’s and Women’s Co-Dependency—the ministry has grown to over fourteen groups today. Over 8,500 people have gone through the program at Saddleback Church, and many of them are now serving in Celebrate Recovery and the church. Celebrate Recovery has become the number one outreach ministry at Saddleback Church, with over 70 percent of its members now coming from outside the church.
We started our Celebrate Recovery leadership program at Sierra Pines in early November. Our Team leaders are Flint, Denise Dick, Linda Newton and Jeannine Hendrix. We started with the plan of a 12 week prep to train leaders to facilitate all phases of Celebrate Recovery at our church. This is quite an involved process, requiring leaders to greet newcomers, train teachers, train people to share testimonies, lead and participate in the worship team, prepare food, facilitate prayer team and clean up. We will also have a recovery session for young people which will be offered each Wednesday evening, the same time the adult program runs.
We have had 45 to 65 people attend each week and we haven’t yet had our official kick off. We are thrilled! Our kick off will be sometime in late January. About this time Bruce will start an 8 week series from the pulpit on recovery / Jesus / freedom.
Celebrate Recovery at Sierra Pines
We started our Celebrate Recovery leadership program at Sierra Pines in early November. Our Team leaders are Flint, Denise Dick, Linda Newton and Jeannine Hendrix. We started with the plan of a 12 week prep to train leaders to facilitate all phases of Celebrate Recovery at our church. This is quite an involved process, requiring leaders to greet newcomers, train teachers, train people to share testimonies, lead and participate in the worship team, prepare food, facilitate prayer team and clean up. We will also have a recovery session for young people which will be offered each Wednesday evening, the same time the adult program runs.
We have had 45 to 65 people attend each week and we haven’t yet had our official kick off. We are thrilled! Our kick off will be sometime in late January. About this time Bruce will start an 8 week series from the pulpit on recovery / Jesus / freedom.
Celebrate Recovery Small Groups Can
- Provide you a safe place to share your experiences, strengths, and hopes with others that are also going through a Christ-centered recovery.
- Provide you with a leader who has gone through a similar hurt, hang-up or habit and who will facilitate the group as it focuses on a particular Step each week. The leader will also follow Celebrate Recovery’s “Small Group Guidelines.”
- Provide you with the opportunity to find an Accountability Partner or a Sponsor.