Eastiew Community Church
Eastview Community Church

Today at Eastview

Celebrate Recovery

Marc Neufeld - 2009-10-10

Desgin by Kylee Chandler“I believe at the end of the day the church must accept the reality that...our churches and communities are filled with people – of all ages, genders, and walks of life – who are suffering with pain and shame, and need true freedom from life’s hurts, hang-ups and habits.”

These words, typed out in an email from Eastview’s Outreach Chaplain Greg Armstrong, perfectly resonate with all we had discussed only hours earlier. They portray an incongruity between reality and God’s plan for His children. They unreservedly sum up perhaps the single most important opportunity for the Church today: Recovery Of Hope.

Hope is the key word in a new initiative currently being explored by Greg and Adult Ministries Pastor Dave Ens, among others here at Eastview.

The brainchild of Rick Warren and John Baker, both pastors (current and former, respectively) at Saddleback Church in Mission Viejo, CA, Celebrate Recovery was launched 14 years ago by Baker – once an addict himself – and has seen hundreds of thousands of lives changed. Through this program, churches become ‘Recovery Centres,’ hosting weekly meetings following an outlined format, allowing the local community and out-of-towners to feel safer and more comfortable should they choose to come. It focuses on fellowship and celebration of God’s healing power in our lives, the freedom from our “hurts, hang-ups and habits,” and the resulting peace and stronger relationship with God and others.

“The Church has become a hotel for saints instead of a hospital for sinners,” says Greg. Celebrate Recovery seeks to address this issue with a variety of different ministries within the main program.
One of those ministries, Life’s Healing Choices, stems from a book and companion study guide which Greg calls a ‘pathway’ to Celebrate Recovery. “This is the starting point,” he says; “this will help people realize we need to go on a recovery journey.”

An “eight-week spiritual growth experience based on The Beatitudes,” the program walks participants through steps based on Warren’s “Road To Recovery” sermon series and has been compared to “AA’s 12-step program, [though Baker] clarifies that Christ is the source of lasting change.”

“Looking through the study guide [to Life’s Healing Choices] – it reflects what I see Care Groups being: open, vulnerable, a safe place to find hope and healing,” says Dave. “We need to face up to things, and finding people to stand with really resonates with me when I think of what care groups could be about. We do need each other… we’re all in this together.”

“[The program] offers a whole church-wide curriculum, potentially,” adds Dave, though he admits it is only a prospect at the time of this writing. “Regardless, it’s something we will offer to Care Groups. But it’s a direction we’re looking to head.”

Another ministry is called Celebration Station, and is as Greg calls it “a pre-covery” program geared toward children. While the other ministries help people after the fact in a reactive manner, Celebration Station employs a proactive approach “designed to inspire children through fellowship, teaching, and hope ... while we all learn to rely on God.” It consists of weekly sessions featuring songs, small-group time, crafts, and teaching times – all in an effort to “open the door to healing communication by teaching children to talk to each other, talk to God, and talk to their parents.” Says John Baker: “The Celebration Station dream is to put Celebrate Recovery out of business by breaking the cycles of dysfunction in our families.” Greg is currently in talks (and looking to assemble a team) to bring the 52-week program to the Keenleyside/Hampstead community.

“There are few committed Christ-centred programs out there,” says Greg regarding the difference of Celebrate Recovery from other programs. “Often secular programs motivate addiction replacement [also known as transference] where un-discipled believers move from one thing on to something more socially acceptable, and it remains a vicious cycle... We never become whole because we’re only dealing with the surface. The hard work is below the surface.” He concludes: “God loves us, He did his best for us, but now he asks our participation, through actively living out good choices. The intention is that we would find God’s path to wholeness – not just freedom from the addiction.”