Ministries / Celebrate Recovery

Purpose

Celebrate Recovery’s purpose is to encourage fellowship and to celebrate God’s healing power in our lives as we work the road to recovery.

It is a 12-step program based on the principle that Jesus is the “ONLY” higher power.
It is for anyone who 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.
Over 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.

We admitted we were powerless over our addictions/compulsive behaviors and that our lives had become unmanageable.
We believed that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
We decided to turn our lives and wills over to God’s care.
We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
We admitted to God, ourselves, and 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 the persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
We made direct amends to such people whenever possible, except when doing 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 the power to carry that out.
Having had a spiritual experience as the result of these steps, we try to carry this message to others and practice these principles in our affairs.

Realize I’m not God. I admit that I cannot control my tendency to do the wrong thing and that my life is unmanageable.

Happy are those who are spiritually poor (Matthew 5:3).

Earnestly believe that God exists, that I matter to Him, and that He can help me recover.

Happy are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted (Matthew 5:4).

Happy are the meek (Matthew 5:5).

Happy are the pure in heart (Matthew 5:8).

I will volunteer for every change God wants in my life and humbly accept Him to remove my character defects.

Happy are those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires (Matthew 5:6).

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).

Reserve daily time with God for self-examination, Bible reading, and prayer to know God, His will for my life, and to gain the power to follow His will.

Happy are the peacemakers (Matthew 5:9).

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).