Celebrate Recovery
Mondays at 7 p.m. (doors open at 6:30)
South Park Church - 1330 Courtland Ave, Park Ridge, IL
About Celebrate Recovery
In 1991 Saddleback Church launched Celebrate
Recovery with 43 people. Celebrate Recovery is now in over 35,000 churches
worldwide. To date over 5 million individuals have completed a Step Study.
This support group and recovery program is
designed for individuals (and their families) who are dealing with a hurt,
habit or addiction, including drugs, alcohol, codependency, overeating, stress,
worrying, sex, obsessive compulsiveness, anger, depression, and more.
Celebrate Recovery is now hybrid! Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for in-person meetings and we'll start promptly at 7 p.m. Meetings will also continue to be streamed live via Zoom. All are welcome to attend!
Celebrate Recovery Step Studies
Celebrate Recovery has ongoing Step Studies - please contact us and we will keep you informed with the start of a new group! Cost is $20.
Please email Celebrate Recovery at South Park Church for more info and meeting details.
EMAIL southparkchurchcr@gmail.com
Celebrate Recovery involves 8 principles from
the beatitudes of the New Testament, and the 12 steps and their biblical
comparisons. This program is distinctly Christian, uncompromisingly biblical,
and proven to work. It has brought people together to discover a new level of
care, acceptance, trust and grace, and for those who seek to mature
spiritually, making better decisions that will help them become more
Christ-like in character.
Be a part of this proven program that takes a
Biblical approach to overcoming your hurts, habits and hang-ups!
"Welcome to the 'Road to Recovery.' You
are in for an exciting and amazing journey as you take the hand of the true and
only Higher Power, Jesus Christ, and walk with Him toward healing and
serenity."— Pastor John Baker founder of Celebrate Recovery
Have you heard about The Landing?
The Landing is a South Park Church ministry designed to help students in grades 8–12 (13-17yr old) find a path to freedom, healing and wholeness as they journey with other students to pursue a relationship with God. This exciting teen support ministry meets each Monday night at South Park Church 7:00–9:00 pm.
The Landing creates a Christ-centered environment where students can learn to make wise choices and develop healthy patterns for living. It's a safe haven to help overcome life-controlling hurts, hang-ups and habits by providing insights on following God's path to greater freedom in life.
The ministry uses interactive and age-appropriate versions of the Celebrate Recovery lessons being explored in the corresponding adult meeting on Monday nights, giving families the opportunity to discuss what they’re learning as they grow closer to God together.
Click here for the info packet
Click here to visit The Landing website
Q. What is Celebrate Recovery?
A. Celebrate Recovery is a 12 step Christ-centered recovery program that is based on God’s Word, the Bible. When Jesus taught the Sermon on the Mount, He began by stating eight ways to be happy. Today we call them the beatitudes. From a secular standpoint, these statements don’t make sense but when you realize what Jesus is saying, you’ll realize that these eight principles are God’s road to recovery,wholeness, growth and spiritual maturity.
Celebrate Recovery is a program adopted from a church in California called Saddleback Valley Church. John Baker, a believer who struggles with alcoholism found help through Alcoholics Anonymous and began healing. He found emptiness at AA because he could not refer to his personal Higher Power, Jesus Christ. He presented a plan to start a Christian 12 Step Recovery program to his pastor, Rick Warren.Pastor Rick said, “Do it!” John did and Celebrate Recovery was born.
Q. What happens at Celebrate Recovery each week?
A. We meet on Monday nights from 7-9 pm, with a main session consisting of worship, teaching, and testimonies, followed by gender specific smaller open share groups that provide a format for more specific personalized sharing. Wrapping the evening up, we have an opportunity to socialize with each other in our cross-talk cafe.
Q. What is recovery?
A. In physical health, recovery refers to the process of moving from illness to wellness. Our hurts, habits and hang-ups are like an illness and using the tools of Celebrate Recovery we begin to move toward wholeness. Some might say from bondage to freedom in Christ. Others might say from self-reliance to faith in Christ.
Q. Is Celebrate Recovery for me?
A. Celebrate Recovery offers a person the opportunity to participate in a group where love and hope combine with God’s purpose to mend our lives. Ask yourself:
- Are there things in my life that I do that hurt others?
- Is there something I wish I could live without?
- Is it time to crack my denial and admit I am not in control of my life?
- Do I have a painful habit or hang-up from which I need to be freed?
If you answered “yes” to any of these statements, then we urge you to attend a Celebrate Recovery meeting to see if it is for you.
Q. How does Celebrate Recovery deal with my past hurts?
A. Celebrate Recovery is forward looking. Rather than wallowing in the past or rehashing and rehearsing painful memories over and over, Celebrate Recovery focuses on the future. Regardless of what has already happened, the solution is to start making wise choices now and depend on Christ’s power to help make those changes.
Q. What type of issues does Celebrate Recovery address?
A. Celebrate Recovery addresses all types of habits, hurts, and hang-ups. Some recovery programs deal only with alcohol or drugs or another single problem. A wide variety of hurts, hang-ups and harmful behaviors are represented at Celebrate Recovery. Examples include dependency on alcohol or drugs, pornography, low self-esteem, need to control, depression, fear of rejection, fear of abandonment, perfectionism, broken relationships and abuse.
Q. What is the difference between AA and Celebrate Recovery?
A. The principle difference between AA (and other twelve step programs) and Celebrate Recovery is that Celebrate Recovery focuses on Jesus Christ as the true Higher Power and uses God’s Word as the authority in relation to the twelve steps. The twelve steps have a Christian heritage as they were modeled after the Oxford Society. In order to reach people who would be offended by Jesus or the Church, AA focused on a Higher Power. But Celebrate Recovery’s 8 Principals to the Road to Recovery tie the twelve steps to Jesus Christ’s teaching known as the Beatitudes given on the Sermon on the Mount.
Q. What is a Step Study?
A. Celebrate Recovery uses the twelve steps and its related scripture as the biblical model for living your life. A step study is a personal journey through each of these steps in a confidential group led by a facilitator who has completed the steps. We use Celebrate Recovery’s four participant books. A step study is a long term commitment to the members of the group. It will typically take 12 months to complete the study. After completing the step study, we hope you will join with us as we help others dealing with their hurts, habits and hang-ups. We do have guidelines for the groups. All step study meetings are gender specific.
Q. How is an Open Share Group different than a Step Study group?
A. The open share groups are designed as a confidential safe place to start sharing the hurts, habit and hang-ups that are surfacing in your life both before and after completing step studies. The share time is open to what you are processing and feeling at that moment in time. In contrast, the step studies are a guided journey through the twelve steps and the sharing is more specific to what you are experiencing on that journey.
Q. Is Celebrate Recovery confidential?
A. Yes, Celebrate Recovery maintains strict confidentiality. This promotes an atmosphere of trust and enables recovery. We are diligent about confidentiality and anonymity. The guidelines and rules protect all of us from judgment and being “fixed”. In a “safe place” you take of your mask and be real and honest without fear. You are 100% in control of when and how much you participate.
Q. Do I have to share?
A. In the groups, absolutely not... until you are ready. You can pass anytime you wish and for as long as it takes for you to become comfortable.
Q. Does it cost anything to attend?
A. Celebrate Recovery does not charge for this ministry. Celebrate Recovery is self-supporting so if you choose to attend there is a free will offering basket. We encourage you to give as you are able, with no expectations to do so. Workbooks used in the step studies as well as Celebrate Recovery journals and Bibles are available for purchase.
Q. How do I get started?
Q. Do I have to be a member of South Park Church to attend?
A. No, Celebrate Recovery is open to anyone who is interested in a Christ centered recovery program that will enable them to recover from life’s hurts, habits or hang-ups. There are attendees who are not members and/or do not attend South Park Church. We do encourage you to attend a loving supportive church on Sundays. If you are not a part of a Church you are invited to attend South Park Church's services on Sunday mornings at 10:00 a.m.
Q. Who are the leaders of Celebrate Recovery?
A. The leaders of Celebrate Recovery are men and women who have gone through similar addictions,hurts, hang-ups and harmful behaviors and have been through this or a similar recovery program. The leaders are not counselors and do not offer any professional clinical advice.
Q. How often does Celebrate Recovery meet?
A. Celebrate Recovery meets every Monday evening. The meetings are designed so that a person may begin on the road to recovery at any time; you need not to wait for a start date in your recovery.
Q. What if I can't make it every week?
A. You are welcome to come when you can on Monday evenings. However if you join a step study, you are expected to come each week until you complete it. As with any endeavor, the more effort you put into Celebrate Recovery, the more benefit you will gain.