Celebrate Recovery

Dear Victorious Conqueror,

I’ve done a little on-line research and find you are not so anonymous. Your name shows up as being associated with Celebrate Recovery. Isn’t this the 12-step program you’ve endorsed for addiction and other recovery issues? Why aren’t you more forthcoming about in your blog? What do you really think of this program?

Fan of CR

Dear Fan,

Yes, I have been associated with Celebrate Recovery, the Christian recovery program developed at Saddleback Church in southern California.. It is a good program and many people have benefited from their involvement in it. (I am one of them!) I’ve worked with several churches who have implemented the Celebrate Recovery program. I don’t publicly endorse it or even recommend it on my web site for two reasons.

First, I don’t think Saddleback Church or the national officials of Celebrate Recovery would appreciate such an endorsement. They work hard to distance themselves from anyone who would try to commercialize the program or its concepts – or exploit it for personal gain (financially or otherwise). So out of respect for John Baker and his national leaders, I’ll let the program sell itself.

Secondly, I have encountered some limitations in the Celebrate Recovery program. It isn’t for everyone. And it isn’t for every church. I think it would be reckless to assume that everyone should go to Celebrate Recovery or that every church should have it. Neither is true.

I have what I believe are some well-grounded observations about Celebrate Recovery. They aren’t necessarily things that Saddleback Church or Celebrate Recovery officials would tell you. But since you asked, I’ll share some of more pertinent of those observations.

- Celebrate Recovery is a wonderful discipleship tool. It is perhaps one of the very best that I’ve seen anywhere. As such, I believe absolutely anyone can benefit from Celebrate Recovery --- even if they think they don’t need it.

- I am not a fan of how Celebrate Recovery is distributed around the country and around the world. Saddleback Church has chosen to make it a grassroots kind of adoption. As such, there are no consistent standards and the program looks and feels lots of different ways in lots of different places. As such, it is impossible to have any expectation of Celebrate Recovery. If I send you to a McDonald’s restaurant in Seattle, I have a pretty good idea of what kind of standard you’ll find there. If I send you to a Methodist church in Seattle, I also have a pretty good idea of what kind of standard you’ll find there. (I call this the franchise standard.) But with Celebrate Recovery, it is entirely a crap shoot. You may find a wonderful program that will minister to you deeply --- or you may find a poorly run program that would wound you. Those odds and variables aren’t acceptable in my mind. I wish Saddleback would take a firmer lead in distributing and managing the franchise.

- I have been to many churches that have Celebrate Recovery. I have found few of them that I thought were good. Most lack senior pastor support. Most are run in an ad hoc manner and are treated like a step-child ministry in the church. As I’ve met with senior pastors and other church officials, I find they are much more willing to invest themselves (financially and otherwise) in other ministries than they are in Celebrate Recovery. Rick Warren says that it has been a “growth engine” for his church. I’ve not found too many pastors who believe him enough to invest in it. Instead, they go looking for growth in other ministries, programs and strategies. I happen to agree with Rick Warren … and think Celebrate Recovery could be a growth engine for any church. Sadly, it isn’t for most churches. (But that is the fault of the churches and their leaders.)

- Finally, I think Celebrate Recovery suffers from too close of an association with secular 12 step programs like AA. All too often I’ve seen what is called “the AA conflict” arise in a church that is trying to do Celebrate Recovery well. The traditional AA crowd will show up and enthusiastically support CR. They will volunteer and serve. But they inevitably think it’s just AA with Jesus on it. When it doesn’t behave like AA, the conflict arises. Celebrate Recovery has to function under the direction of the local church. As such, its leaders must submit to Biblical standards for church leaders. Decisions must be made according to Biblical standards and not to “what the ‘big book’ says on page such-and-such. But it functions too closely to AA, which is confusing to participants.

I am grateful for the impact Celebrate Recovery made in my own life. I’m an eyewitness to the wonderful impact it has made for many people who were trapped in hopeless lives of bondage. But I recognize that it is no panacea or an automatic fix. Celebrate Recovery doesn’t change people. Jesus Christ transforms His obedient people.

So like I said in the beginning, at its best, Celebrate Recovery is a great discipleship tool to teach God’s people who God is and to teach them how to relate to Him and other people effectively.