Abundant Life in Christ

“We started attending Celebrate Recovery at Saddleback Church in the early 90’s” JoAnne Nearman says. She’s a respected peer counselor and is excited to hear that the Boise Vineyard will be offering this new recovery ministry. “It was a fairly new program then, but I have to say it was life changing for us. At that time our marriage was experiencing a lot of turmoil…, we were in need of rest, healing and renewal.”

“One problem I faced was that I never saw myself as 12 Step material. I wasn’t an alcoholic (AA), or a drug addict (NA), was not overweight (OA), did not live with an addict (Al-Anon), had never been abused, and was not a child of an alcoholic. I knew I wanted what those groups had to offer, but felt I could not be accepted unless I had a label.”

Many unfortunately share JoAnne’s assumption of not being 12 Step material because there is no direct identifiable “addiction”. Yet, as Saddleback Church’s senior pastor Rick Warren puts it: “The Bible clearly states "all have sinned."  It is my nature to sin, and it is yours too.  None of us is untainted.  Because of sin, we've all hurt ourselves, we've all hurt other people, and others have hurt us.  This means each of us need repentance and recovery in order to live our lives the way God intended.”

“You've undoubtedly heard the expression that "time heals all wounds" Rick continues. “Unfortunately, it isn't true.  As a pastor I frequently talk with people who are still carrying hurts from 30 or 40 years ago.  The truth is - time often makes things worse.  Wounds that are left untended fester and spread infection throughout your entire body.  Time only extends the pain if the problem isn't dealt with. What we need is a biblical and balanced program to help people overcome their hurts, habits and hang-ups. Celebrate Recovery is that program. Based on the actual words of Jesus rather than psychological theory, our recovery program is unique, and more effective in helping people change than anything else I've seen or heard of.  Over the years I've witnessed how the Holy Spirit has used this program to transform literally thousands of lives at Saddleback Church and help people grow toward full Christ-like maturity.”

The program Celebrate Recovery is centered on the eight recovery principles based on the Beatitudes. These principles are:

1. Realize I am not God – Happy are those who know they are spiritually poor (Matt 5:3)
    

2. Earnestly believe that God exists – Happy are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted (Matt 5:4)
    

3. Consciously choose to commit all my life and will to Christ’s care and control – Happy are the meek (Matt. 5:5)
    

4. Openly examine and confess my faults to God, to myself and to another person whom I trust – Happy are the pure in heart (Matt 5:8)
    

5. Voluntarily submit to any and all changes God wants to make in my life – Happy are those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires (Matt 5:6)
    

6. Evaluate all my relationships – Happy are the merciful (Matt 5:7) and Happy are the peacemakers (Matt 5:9)
    

7. Reserve a daily time with God for self-examination, Bible reading, and prayer in order to know God.
    

8. Yield myself to be used by God to bring this good news to others, both by my example and by my words – Happy are those who are persecuted because they do what God requires (Matt 5:10)

The evenings will start with a meal, continue with a general teaching on the Beatitudes or people will share testimonies. After this, people will split into small groups to discuss the topic of that evening and how it relates to their specific struggle. The evening will conclude with all attendees gathering back into the sanctuary for coffee and pie.

Joanne tells us, “My first night at CR was quite an experience. I had never been in a place where people were so willing to be honest about what was really going on in their lives. I experienced their freedom to be who they were, to confess their sins, and to share their stories. I knew it was what I wanted and needed, but it was very scary. I was tentative at first, but over the weeks, as I tentatively began to share honestly, change began to occur. When Jesus talked about confessing our sins to one another in order that we might be healed, I think He was referring to what I experienced there. When we open our dark places to the light of Christ and His body, healing naturally happens. It wasn’t fun, and certainly wasn’t always pretty, (which is probably why I hid for many years), but it was life giving.”

“This program is designed for everyone” Joanne concludes. “If there is one thing that I learned from being involved in CR, it is that we need each other to live the kind of abundant life that Christ promised.”