Recovery Programs

Dear Victorious,

I know that you're a fan of Celebrate Recovery (I read your main blog). But I see many flaws in Celebrate Recovery. Don't you think the secular twelve-step programs do just as good a job of helping people get sober?

Kyle D. - Ponca City, OK

Dear Kyle,

No, I don't. Secular twelve-step programs have excellent structure and discipline. They also offer camaraderie, which is valuable. But they stop far short of producing spiritual wholeness (versus sobriety).

When last I counted there were more than three dozen twelve-step programs out there. They cover everything from drinking to shopping and gambling. The thing is that each overlooks the underlying reason why people turn to vices or get basics in life (such as food and sex) into some perverted context where it destroys their lives.

People are spiritually empty and only a personal relationship with Jesus Christ can fix that. Frankly, spiritual wholeness is considerably more important than sobriety (i.e., victory over any specific hurt, habit or hang-up). Celebrate Recovery's principles for effective living are based on the Beatitudes (Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, found in Matthew 5). These principles are Biblical and correlate to the rest of Scripture.

I too see many flaws in Celebrate Recovery. It has it shortcomings. But overall, I've not seen a more effective discipleship tool out there. So I'll take the flaws and shortcomings because they pail in the face of the spiritual wholeness that is produced when someone actually submits themselves to Christ by actually working the principles of Celebrate Recovery.