Celebrate Recovery

Celebrate Recovery was started at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, CA by Pastor John Baker and Pastor Rick Warren. Pastor Rick Warren made the following statement, "We have all sinned and fallen short of God's glory. Sin is addicting and we have all sinned, so we have all created ungodly and unhealthy methods for handling life. Not one of us is untainted and because of sin, we have all hurt ourselves, we have all hurt other people, and we have all had other people hurt us..... The goal of Celebrate Recovery is to make healing choices that will help you become Christlike in character."

The purpose of Celebrate Recovery is to fellowship and celebrate God's healing power in our lives. The Celebrate Recovery program was created to help people overcome life's hurts, hang-ups, and habits through recovery principles found in the Beatitudes and the 12-steps. It provides a Christ-centered Biblical approach to recovery in the context of a supportive and safe community which meets weekly. We share our experiences, victories, and hopes with one another. In addition, we become willing to accept God's grace in solving the problems in life we face.

By working the Christ-centered steps of recovery and applying the biblical principles found in the Beatitudes, we grow spiritually. As we progress through the 12 steps, along with biblical principles, we discover a personal, loving, and forgiving Higher Power -- Jesus Christ. We gradually become free from our addictive, compulsive, and dysfunctional behaviors.In attaining this freedom, we find peace, serenity, joy, and a stronger personal relationship with God and other people.