a safe place to find community and freedom from the issues that are controlling our lives. Meets Thursday evenings from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in Room 105 across from the church Library.
THE DNA OF AN AUTHENTIC CELEBRATE RECOVERY MINISTRY
1. Jesus Christ is the one and only Higher Power. The program is a Christ-centered ministry.
2. The Bible and Celebrate Recovery curriculum consisting of the Leader’s Guide, The Journey Begins, The Journey Continues, Your First Steps to Celebrate Recovery, Celebrate Recovery Program Bundle, Testimonies to Go, Life’s Healing Choices, Celebrate Recovery Daily Devotional, Celebrate Recovery Journal, The Landing, and Celebration Place are to be used exclusively. The Large Group lessons are taught from the Leader’s Guide, keeping at least the acrostic and the Scriptures as the key points in the lessons. This is to keep consistency within groups, allowing teachers to be creative with the introduction and conclusion of each lesson.
3. The ministry is “group based.” All groups are gender-specific and “The Five Small Group Guidelines” are implemented and followed every time.
4. There are NO CR online groups. Face to face meetings ONLY. Also no CR lessons are to be posted online via Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo or any other public forum as this is a copyright violation.
5. We expect each group to be accountable to Christ, the local church, and the model of Celebrate Recovery established at Saddleback Church.
6. Celebrate Recovery is a ministry of the local church. Therefore, Celebrate Recovery will not attempt to dictate any doctrine or policy to a local church. A local Celebrate Recovery ministry should follow the policies of their local church and continue to be grateful for their continued support.
Small Group Guidelines
The following five guidelines will ensure that your small group is a safe place.
1. Keep your sharing focused on your own thoughts and feelings.
Not your spouse’s, someone you’re dating, or your family members’ hurts and hang-ups, but your own. Focusing on yourself will benefit your recovery as well as the ones around you. Stick to “I” or “me” statements, not “you” or “we” statements.
Limit your sharing to three to five minutes, so everyone has an opportunity to share — and to ensure that one person does not dominate the group sharing time.
2. There is NO cross-talk. Cross-talk is when two people engage in conversation excluding all others. Each person is free to express his or her feelings without interruptions.
Cross-talk is also making distracting comments or questions while someone is sharing. This includes speaking to another member of the group while someone is sharing, or responding to what someone has shared during his or her time of sharing.
3. We are here to support one another, not “fix” one another. This keeps us focused on our own issues.
We do not give advice or solve someone’s problem in our time of sharing or offer book referrals or counselor referrals!
We are not licensed counselors, psychologists, or therapists, nor are the group members. Celebrate Recovery groups are not designed for this. It is up to the participants to include outside counseling to their program when they’re ready.
4. Anonymity and confidentiality are basic requirements. What is shared in the group stays in the group. The only exception is when someone threatens to injure themselves or others.
We are not to share information with our spouses/family/co-workers. This also means not discussing what is shared in the group among group members. This is called gossip.
Please be advised, if anyone threatens to hurt themselves or others, the Small Group Leader has the responsibility to report it to the Celebrate Recovery Ministry Leader.
5. Offensive language has no place in a Christ-centered recovery group.
Therefore, we ask that you please watch your language. The main issue here is that the Lord’s name is not used inappropriately.
We also avoid graphic descriptions. If anyone feels uncomfortable with how explicitly a speaker is sharing regarding his/her behaviors, then you may indicate so by simply raising your hand. The speaker will then respect your boundaries by being less specific in his/her descriptions. This will avoid potential triggers that could cause a person to act out.
Prayer for Serenity
God, grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time,
enjoying one moment at a time;
accepting hardship as a pathway to peace;
taking, as Jesus did,
this sinful world as it is,
not as I would have it;
trusting that You will make all things right
if I surrender to Your will;
so that I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with You forever in the next.
Amen.
Reinhold Niebuhr