Purpose
The purpose of Celebrate Recovery is to encourage fellowship and to celebrate God’s healing power in our lives as we work the road to recovery.
Celebrate Recovery:
- Is a 12 step program based on the principle that Jesus is the “ONLY” higher power.
- Is for anyone that has issues related to “hurts, habits, or hang-ups.”
- Provides a safe and confidential environment.
- Provides an opportunity to share in a small, gender-specific environment.
- Founded in 1991 at Saddleback Church in Southern California by church member John Baker, under the leadership of Rick Warren.
- More than 7500 people have worked through their hurts, habits, and hang-ups at Saddleback Church alone. The program has expanded to hundreds of churches in numerous countries.
Program
Celebrate Recovery has three components. Each member of this ministry may participate in the large open groups, followed by small share groups. Participants will also have the opportunity to participate in step studies if they choose. The step study groups are issue specific, and gender specific and meet at a time separate from the open groups.
12 Steps of CR@RC
- We admitted we were powerless over our addictions/compulsive behaviors, that our lives had become unmanageable.
- We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
- We made a decision to turn our lives and our wills over to the care of God.
- We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
- We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
- We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
- We humbly asked Him to remove all our shortcomings.
- We made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
- We made direct amends to such people whenever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
- We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
- We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and power to carry that out.
- Having had a spiritual experience as the result of these steps, we try to carry this message to other and to practice these principles in all of our affairs.
The Road to Recovery
Eight Principles Based on the Beatitudes
1. Realize I’m not God. I admit that I am powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing, and that my life is unmanageable.
Happy are those that are spiritually poor (Matthew 5:3).
2. Earnestly believe that God exists, that I matter to Him, and that He has the power to help me recover.
Happy are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted (Matthew 5:4).
3. Consciously choose to commit all my life and will to Christ’s care and control.
Happy are the meek (Matthew 5:5).
4. Openly examine and confess my faults to myself, to God, and to someone I trust.
Happy are the pure in heart (Matthew 5:8).
5. Voluntarily submit to every change God wants to make in my life and humbly as Him to remove my character defects.
Happy are those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires (Matthew 5:6).
6. Evaluate all my relationships, offer forgiveness to those who have hurt me and make amends for harm I’ve done to others, except when to do so would harm them or others.
Happy are the merciful (Matthew 5:7).
7. Reserve the daily time with God for self-examination, Bible reading, and prayer in order to know God, His will for my life, and to gain the power to follow His will.
Happy are the peace makers (Matthew 5:9).
8. Yield myself to God to be used to bring this good news to others, both by my example and my words.
Happy are those who are persecuted because they do what God requires (Matthew 5:10).