One Year with Celebrate Recovery

October 7, 2019 | Uncategorized

God is Working at Celebrate Recovery!

By Susanna Allen, Communications Coordinator

One year ago, on October 1, 2018, a new ministry was started at King Street Church.  Pastor Adam Keath, our Director of Restoration and Recovery, led the launch of Celebrate Recovery, a Christ-centered, 12 step recovery program for anyone struggling with hurt, pain or addiction of any kind. Celebrate Recovery offers a safe place to find community and freedom from the issues that are controlling our lives.

I choose the word “our” very intentionally, because I came into CR with my own complicated mix of depression, anxiety, shame, and compulsive eating.  I found a family of people who openly confess to being broken.  I found a place where I can take off my “I’m ok” mask.  And I found a place to dig into my heart, find those root issues that took hold years ago, and pursue lasting healing through Jesus Christ.

 

What is Celebrate Recovery?

Every Monday night, the Celebrate Recovery community meets in the lower level of the Baker Center in the Student Ministry area.  The evening begins at 6:00 pm for those who come early to connect and enjoy refreshments.  We are blessed to have awesome food thanks to the investments of more than one experienced chef, and a devoted team of volunteers!

At 6:30 pm the large group service begins. A live band leads worship – and the worship is  amazing!  Various members of the leadership team facilitate other elements of the service, such as prayer and responsive readings.  Together we read the 12 steps of recovery and biblical principles for healing, along with coordinating Scripture verses.  We celebrate milestones in our healing and sobriety by handing out chips and hearing short testimonies.  Each week we hear either a life story of transformation and healing through Christ, or a message from the Word of God.

Lynn Eberly, one of our men’s leaders, shares, “I really love our worship times at CR.  Being able to praise God standing beside my brothers and sisters that are walking through hard things in life is very encouraging to me.  I know as we praise God that the Spirit is working.  Being able to celebrate recovery milestones with each other is awesome.”

Rose Zook leads a women’s open-share group.  The worship service is also a highlight for her: “Monday night’s worship  is a blessed way to begin our time together.  I can feel the Holy Spirit lifting me out of any negative feelings that I brought with me and preparing me for a wonderful evening of fellowship and sharing.  Adam’s teachings and the testimonies of people sharing their hurts, habits and hang-ups set the tone for our open share groups.”

Around 7:30 pm, the large group is over and participants head to their open share groups.

We offer two groups for men and two groups for women.  Within these groups rules of safety and confidentiality are strictly maintained, and vulnerability is encouraged.  The inspiration behind the share groups is James 5:16, “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.”  To get the conversations started, each group begins with a few thought-provoking questions related to the message or testimony.  The share groups are judgment-free zones where participants are free to describe situations from their week, along with struggles, praises, fears, confessions, worries, insights – any thoughts at all.  The rules of open share groups protect participants from being censored, and provides for a truly safe place for processing.

Eldon Lehman, a men’s leader, shares, “When you see other people being honest about their own hurts, habits and hang ups, you realize that this is a safe place. You can be honest here. It makes it very easy for you me to be honest about my own hurts, habits and hang-ups.”

Often, friendships develop through open share groups, and accountability relationships are formed.  These bonds pave the way for lasting success. For those who want to go even deeper with their recovery, they can join a Step Study (one for women and one for men) that meets on Wednesday evenings.

Jeremy Arnett leads a men’s open share group at CR.  He says, “I have seen CR change the lives of many people this past year. I know for me, without CR I would not have fully given my life to Jesus Christ and I would most likely be on the path of self-sabotage. It has helped me in so many ways but I can see the small impacts on a daily basis just in the communication between me and my wife and my kids.”

Eldon feels that the camaraderie of the men’s group as an instrument for good in his life: “Strength is given to us when we can meet each week and encourage each other.”

Lynn describes the power of the groups when he shares, “The men’s step study has become very valuable to me.  I recently sent my group a text asking for prayers to overcome a heaviness and spiritual attack.  Immediately, uplifting prayers and comments came flooding my way.  It’s like being able to call in an airstrike on the enemy!  Satan was sent away defeated and my spirit was restored!  I love the way God uses one another at CR to surround and cheer us to growth!  I really believe I have developed lifelong friends that are there for me!”

 

Is CR just for those with an addiction?

A common misconception about Celebrate Recovery is that it’s just for those with a substance abuse problem, or sexual addictions.  In reality, addictions make up less than 30% of attenders.  Other issues that are more common include control issues, co-dependency, pride, anger, eating disorders, anxiety, depression, and many more.  One thing that I have noticed, is that so many of our “issues” can be traced to the same root causes.  Sometimes you will be sharing in the group and describing feelings of, for example, inadequacy or shame, and you look around the room to see many of the others nodding.  We come from different backgrounds and struggle with different problems, but at our core, we experienced many of the same wounds and we fight against the same lies.

Rose has seen the power of the open-share groups first-hand: “I co-lead the Women’s Life Issues group.  When I started CR, I told myself (and everyone else) that I was attending to support my son, but it didn’t take long for God to show me that I needed the support for myself.  Hearing others share their hurts encouraged me to step up and admit that I had so many hurts of my own that I had not come to terms with.  My relationship with God and my ability to relate to and support others has flourished.  So many ladies have come in to the group feeling very alone and downtrodden, but, after being able to share their hurts in a very non-judgmental setting, they leave having started the healing process.”

Molly Shull, a recent addition to the CR team, shares “Being on the Leadership Team has made me realize that we ALL have issues that we need God’s help for.  None of us have it ‘all together.’  Praise God, we serve a merciful, loving Savior.”

 

Why is CR important for the church?

Galatians 6:2 reminds us, “Carry one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”  We know we are all part of the body of Christ, but there is a tendency for those who are suffering or struggling to withdraw from the community.  This is not the standard the Lord puts before us in I Corinthians 12:26, when He says, “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.”

Every Monday night at CR, we stand together as one, worship together as one, lament as one, and support each other as one.  Individuals will even be so brave as to stand on the stage and admit a failure, share a victory, claim a chip that is given out for milestones accomplished, or celebrate the overall work that God is doing in their lives.  And with every single comment and confession, we bond a little more as the body of Christ.

Jeremy sheds light on this question – why is CR important for the church – when he says, “There is a stigma that Christians and the church in general, that if a person is saved and has given their life to God that they don’t struggle. But the reality is that life is one big struggle and each of us has our own struggles that we deal with. As CR puts it, we all have our ‘hurts, habits and hang-ups.’ Those habits can be an addiction to alcohol, drugs, pornography, food etc. Often times those addictions are a result of a hurt from a family member, friend, co-worker or even someone we don’t even know.”

He goes on to say, “Many people are hesitant to not only enter a church, but to go in with so much baggage and feeling like they are too far gone or have committed too many sins to be forgiven by God. CR allows those who are broken and have been beaten down by life the opportunity to come into God’s home and worship with others who are struggling with the same issues. It’s amazing to see how much KSC and the KSC family has been so supportive of this ministry.”  Jeremy is quick to praise King Street Church in general, as a welcoming and supportive church.  He says, “I am grateful for CR, but my family and I have been so blessed with the support and relationships we have made since we started coming to KSC three years ago.”

Missy Ardinger, a leader with CR, shares, “ It has been another avenue to people to come to know the Lord and become connected at King Street – it has been a part of engaging and blessing our community.  There is a stigma attached to needing recovery – I think that this ministry has started to break down those walls and destroy that stigma by showing that we all have issues for which we need healing and support.”

 

How is CR impacting lives?

It makes me laugh to consider that I came to CR with the idea that I could help.  At the time I was unwilling to admit how deeply broken I was.  I discovered a community that completely accepted me, and with whom I feel a kinship.  I am now reliant upon my CR family to keep me focused on my recovery, to support me on my hard days, and cheer for me on the good ones.  The beautiful miracle woven into this ministry is that I’ve been invited to serve even though I don’t “have it all together.”  That has given me great hope.  The Lord is teaching me to reach beyond my boundaries.  It’s exciting to be involved in something where you see people being transformed on a weekly basis.  I praise God for CR!

Lynn: “Over a year ago I was experiencing awful hurts from a broken relationship with my father over many years.  CR gave me a place to open up and begin to heal.  The 12 steps teaching and Scriptures really worked.  I now enjoy a complete forgiveness and restoration with Dad that I never thought would be possible.  It’s awesome!  Giving and receiving forgiveness is possible in the hardest situations – I now believe that there is hope in every situation!”

Rose:  “Words are inadequate to describe how my involvement with CR has impacted me both personally and through the lives of others.  While CR is not in place to ‘fix’ people, they leave our gatherings knowing that if they give their hurts over to God, He is always there.  One of our richest blessings is seeing people come to the Lord.  The support and encouragement that I can both give and receive through CR is helping me to grow into the woman that God created me to be.”

Missy:  “I have seen new believers come to know Jesus – it’s an awesome thing to have someone say ‘I want to know Jesus!  Can you help me with that?’  I have grown in my relationship with my  spouse, and with others here in CR and my relationships with family members have improved because I let Jesus in to be a part of those relationships. God has shown me that giving this time helps others as well as me.  I hear God’s voice in the worship music and see all around me how he is working in our lives.  My heart has been softened toward people dealing with all kinds of issues.  This ministry is the best thing I have ever been involved with. ”

Jeremy: “I look forward to each Monday night now. I have made many new friends but most importantly I have come to accept the fact that Jesus died for my sins and that I am FORGIVEN!  It didn’t happen overnight but my relationship with Jesus Christ is stronger than ever and growing by the minute!”  He further explains, “Thanks to CR, I no longer hide behind a mask, or worry about what others may think, because I know that I am defined by my Maker, not my mistakes! And today I can boldly declare that ‘I am a believer in Jesus Christ, and I struggle with everything.’ “

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So many of the testimonies share the same themes:  restoration, hope, spiritual growth, forgiveness, and rich community.

Now that’s something to celebrate.

 

Note: everyone who was quoted in this article gave their express consent to be identified.

 

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PARTY ON MONDAY, OCTOBER 7!

Experience CR for yourself at the celebration on Monday, October 7, at 6:15 pm in the Student Ministry Center.  We plan to have a full meal, special testimonies, extended worship, and more!

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