Biblical Alternatives to Celebrate Recovery: Why and What

(Click here to jump to the Biblical alternatives.)

Celebrate Recovery

Celebrate Recovery claimed to be a Christ-centered, 12-step program. They claimed it was like Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) but based on the Bible instead. The proponents say it's a life-changing program with information every Christian needs to know. People who won't go to church sometimes will go there. The founding church says over 5 million people have "gone through the program." That all sounded really exciting!

A friend who wouldn't go to regular churches invited me to C.R. saying it was like a church. I originally came just to get her plugged into something. It was a welcoming, worshipful community with many people who love Jesus. I stayed to review the program, encourage people, and learn from them. Specific people there had a big impact on me. In each case, those people were exemplifying Biblical principles to do that. It was Christ and God's Word, not C.R. itself, that caused it.

Over time, I noticed more and more stuff that bothered me. There were many gaps, or even contradictions, between Scripture and C.R.. They grossly misinterpreted Bible passages. In many cases, they promoted worldly, pagan, or even false teachings over clear teachings in the Bible. Those teachings sounded right out of A.A. or a self/works-focused gospel. They also talked to non-believers and people in false religions like they were already part of Christ's church. They either didn't or barely shared the Gospel. They would go into depth on C.R. material, encourage evangelizing the program, and even had an overseas missionary for it. My skepticism peaked when they said not to question is because the originating church spent decades figuring out how to get its results. Just believe, follow, and you will to.

I decided to step back to look at the whole program with fresh eyes. I looked into the originating church (Saddleback), the founders (Warren/Baker), the history, booklets, and so on. What I learned led me to discourage people from attending C.R. or using its materials. God's Word says to have nothing to do with false gospels or teachers. To help you evaluate C.R., I'll do a quick rundown of its good points, corrupt philosophy of the host church, and false teachings in the program. Then, there's a few proposals on how to do a Biblical, support group.

Strengths of Celebrate Recovery

The strengths in the order that I ran into them:

Many of those practices were in the New Testament. I expected to see them in churches. Yet, most of us attending C.R. didn't see that in our churches. The results people claimed that C.R. gave them made me keep coming to better understand what I was seeing. Plus, it was just really awesome to see God move in many, visible ways every week. 

Both church-going and un-churched people kept asking for help like this. Even with that demand, most people I talk to at our church had no interest in doing something similar or helping those people in a Biblical way. Most would say it was interesting before going back to daily activities. Some people told me to refer those in need to a therapist or something. Most wouldn't even speak to them if they visited a church. If they did, it was a few minutes before leaving them alone again.

Yet, we're called to love and help others. I feel like there's instead a lot of apathy toward people in need in otherwise Biblical churches. I feel like this drives people to seek help outside of those churches in programs like these. And, if those churches lack love, how can they claim to be more Biblical? If better at interpreting the Word, shouldn't we hold them to an even higher standard when they love and care less than non-Biblical programs?

We need Christ, His Word, solid teaching, personal holiness, and love all together. All are necessary and work together. If a group failed in one or more areas, I struggled to figure out how to react to that with what priorities. I stayed in C.R. longer trying to figure it out. What I noticed was churches with bad teaching, esp not Biblical, went in the wrong directions the most with turn around being hard or never happening. I'd continue to make the Gospel and God's Word the highest priority, use conformance to them as main tests, and address the remaining problems from there using the Word. That's worked for around 2,000 years.

Problems of Celebrate Recovery (esp false teaching)

The problems of Celebrate Recovery are severe. I'll split this into a few sections. One set is where Celebrate Recovery came from with what philosophy. There's so much disobedience to God's Word in each step that big problems are inevitable. The next set describes the problems that showed up in abundance.

Rick Warren and Saddleback Church

The Purpose-Driven Life (Warren's philosophy)

So far, both "test the spirits" and "test everything" tell us to avoid Rick Warren and Saddleback at all costs. They follow themselves more than Jesus and His Word. Anything they produce will be corrupted by their P.D.L. philosophy. If the rest build on it, we will be able to review them much more quickly.

Alcoholics Anonymous and John Baker (briefly)

Celebrate Recovery's Problems (in order I encountered them)

In summary, C.R. is thoroughly filled with false teaching. The founding church refuses to repent of that and its decades of sin. That's enough to walk away from both immediately. At least, that's what most people would advise if just using verses on false teaching. If your theology leans toward 1 Thes. 5:21, these are still enough problems to avoid promoting C.R. to reduce the spread of false teaching. Even buying C.R. materials for a non-C.R. group would fund Saddleback which spreads their false teaching.

When I delivered critiques, C.R. proponents kept countering that what I said was addressed in the "step studies." They dig in deep there with lessons, therapy workbooks, and a Recovery Bible. They do these over eight months with the goal of changing their entire lives for the better. They said the Gospel and God's Word is all over C.R.... if you enter a step study vs attending the service. With this program, there's always another thing you have to do before knowing who Jesus Christ is. After entering it, I found it had the same problems from Purpose-Driven Life, a few good things, and a Bible. Again, you can get a Bible and therapeutic advice without all the horrors I've described. Most importantly, nothing justifies minimizing Christ or rejecting His Word!

Can Churches Have the Same Benefits?

With their life-changing experiences, many Christians attending C.R. believe it makes sense to have a C.R.-like program. I tried to imagine one with all its benefits but none of its weaknesses. The alternative must be solidly ground in the Gospel, God's Word, have accountability for acting on both, and practical lessons that don't contradict either. Churches could implement it themselves alongside regular, Bible teaching. If they didn't, groups in churches or outside of them could do the same. What might that look like?

Developing Biblical Alternatives

Many missionaries in South Asia build their churches using the Three Thirds model. It divides a meeting up into discussing the past week, a lesson, and goals for next week. If needed, that can be expanded into a full service with more information and activities. Three Thirds meetings already have group prayer, personal sharing, worship, lessons with group discussions, and goal setting. Just make sure the sharing time includes our actual sins, temptations, and worries.

For the lessons, the new program can ditch the pagan, 12-step model. Instead, we'll use topical lessons grounded in God's Word. They can cover issues such as suffering, forgiveness, marriage, addiction, mental health, and so on. The topics of the new program can be in any order. If open-source and online, they can also be given to the group members ahead of time so they can jump right to learning what's most important to them. They can share what they learned on any topic in the personal-sharing part of the meeting. If on-topic, they might share it during the lesson discussion.

My big questions include what topics to teach, how much is theology, how much is personal issues, how to embed the Gospel, what Bible passages teach on specific topics, and whether and how much to use secular sources for therapy questions (esp worksheets). While brainstorming, I came up with a few models that might work. I encourage people to experiment while being careful about false teaching.

I'll be referencing therapy worksheets. Open-source questions are probably best made by Biblical counselors but will they? Meanwhile, I did find a web page claiming to link to tons of them. Some of them might be open-source or willing to do it. If using non-Christian sources (most will be!), carefully vet the questions against God's Word, cite them as external, and mark their references as "non-Christian." We don't want to repeat C.R.'s mistake of treating worldly teachings like they're Biblical.

Bible Study Method

Before I describe alternative models, I want to mention why and how we'll use the Bible in the accountability group. We want participants first and foremost to know who Jesus Christ is, how He saves us from our biggest problem (Hell), and that God's Word is the ultimate authority. We're putting Christ and His Word first. We also show these people how to properly read it, apply it to their lives, and just soak up more of it. We'll also build on sources of free, theological training to encourage believers to use them, too. Using the Word might also lead the Holy Spirit to speak to and through believers in ways that weren't in the planned lesson.

We'll teach Bible passages using the historical-grammatical method, or "expository" style. That will show the audience how to read God's Word in its original context. We'll teach them the SWORD method so they can get a quick and easy application out of any passage. Then, we'll tie the passage into the person of Christ and the redemptive story that runs across the whole Bible. We'll embed the Gospel into the lesson somewhere.

Once we understand the passage, we will draw out the practical lessons it taught people of that time. Then, we'll apply them to today. We'll add the therapy questions that tie-in to the passage. They can discuss all of that. We can give them web sites and/or handouts to dig deeper into any of that.

On topical lessons, we'll use Bible passages that teach those or similar lessons. The topics might be just Biblical (eg God's character, nature of sin) or C.R.-like topics. Examples: Forgiveness or family issues might use Joseph's story (definitely include it somehow). Instead of "Starting Over" in C.R., we'll teach the need for repentance, regeneration, and sanctification. We can embed similar advice into them while highlighting the role of the Holy Spirit. For non-C.R. topics, we might cover identity (including gender roles), marriage, and children. We might use Jacob's and David's families to make those interesting. If about feeling stuck or hopeless, we can use Israel's exile in the O.T. and Paul's imprisonment in the N.T..

Also, we might have an opening class that teaches critical techniques above. Basic interpretation, SWORD, good translations, good commentaries, and where to get Biblical answers. To support using SWORD, we might summarize God's character, man's attributes, our sins, basic commands, and God's institutions. Maybe also a sheet with a method on how to pull more specific applications out of Bible passages. We'll give them solid resources to learn about topics on their own: GotQuestions, DesiringGod, IBCD's free resources, and ACBC reading list. For deeper education, we'll give them BibleProject, BiblicalTraining, and No Place Left's training. Only SWORD with a good translation will be mandatory.

The point of all of this is to equip them in a way that keeps paying off during these and other Bible studies. They'll see how and where to look for answers to important questions in God's Word. If outside a church, this might also be their first exposure to Bible study like this.

Brainstorming Results

Option 1

(Far as I know, this is how God has used His Word to transform most peoples' lives since the church was founded. John Wesley also made this a formal, group activity in his churches. Many others have, too.)

We'll look at passages with sins, good traits, and outright commands. Then, we'll ask if we've done or are doing any of those individually.

Next, we'll look at each institution in our lives: parents/children (family unit), jobs (business), neighborhood/schools (community), and government interactions. In each case, we'll ask what sins we've committed, been victim of, what good we've done, and so on. We'll assess our spiritual health in all areas of life.

Optionally, there might be a day-to-day portion. Participants will be given basic lists of sins and fruits of obedience. They're to journal day to day what God shows them in their interactions with other people, esp failures or improvements. They share those. People answer any questions they have about what God's Word says in such situations. So, they're are meditating on what God is showing them now in their own lives while also steadily learning from His Word.

Doing this is basically how God transformed the lives of many Christians for thousands of years. That includes mine which started with a long list of sins. We just read the Bible, explore all the ways it might apply, pray for answers, note what pops into our minds research it, apply it, and discuss it with each other. We often learn from more mature believers, too. God steadily sanctifies us this way.

Option 2

(This is the most like Christ-centered, Bible teaching.)

This is similar to Option 1. The difference is we focus on passages about Christ, who He is, who we are, and try to close the gap. I mention it second because it takes more interpretation than passages with clear commands. The benefit is you really get to know Jesus Christ as you try to imitate His character.

If being more specific, you might pick part of God's design which Christ exemplifies in His life and character. Examples might be being filled with God's Word, putting others' needs first, humility, purity, or even respect for authority. Cite verses that illustrate it. Describe (exposit) their meaning. If you know any, include verses and real-world examples of any benefits that come from living that way to show God's goodness.

Then, start listing the ways we fall short of that, the problems that result, verses showing that, and real-world examples.

Give therapy questions that tie into those failures. Maybe ask follow-up questions about how God's principles might have prevented or helped each situation.

Give pragmatic advice on those topics ground in or at least compatible with God's Word.

Option 3

(This is the most like C.R..)

This option assumes two things: the real value of church is growing together in Christ and God's Word; the remaining value of C.R. is in its therapy workbooks that help us dig into our lives. We're already going to point them to Biblical teaching and churches. People wanting this option will say that a C.R. alternative needs a huge pile of therapy questions covering all areas of life. Those might take specific gifts to develop, they'll need many of them, and they'd have to develop them from scratch. So, they will try to reuse anything helpful that's already out there.

So, they can start with therapy worksheets. Preferably free and open source. Divide them up by topic or category. Pick topic/question sets that will help the most people. That's what's in group lessons. The rest are still available online, as printouts, and/or booklets. After doing a few in-lesson, maybe give out the rest on that topic as a printout for group members to do for homework.

Ideally, they'd derive all the questions they need from Bible passages. Since questions are the rare resource, they'll look for passages that teach the same points as their exemplary questions. If they can't, then they teach passages on the same topics with their applications. Then, say something like: "Let's look at this topic some more. We have some questions about it from (sources)." Then, go to the questions. Each topic might use one or several passages with amount of exposition tied to timing requirements.

People are also naturally attracted to both stories and anything that gets them asking questions. God hardwired us for it. Then, He wrote most of His Word that way. Follow His lead! Use Biblical narratives and loaded passages (eg Beatitudes). For confirmation, missionaries in many countries said narrative evangelism worked well even with non-believers. An evangelist also pointed out that loaded passages let you squeeze lots of God's truth into limited time. And they're likely to ask follow-up questions that extend the discussion.

Option 4

(This is most like doing a "Foundations" program in BiblicalTraining or No Place Left.)

This one is more of a theological class. The idea is that a church wants theological lessons, counseling lessons, or a mix of both. Also, that they're more likely to do theology. So, you mix in practical lessons from counseling materials. You tell people how the theology applies to their lives.

Extra Considerations

The church hosting this might consider having Biblical counselors or other professionals there. They might be volunteers or paid for blocks of time. They should have a list of Christian counselors people can see for one-on-one advice. There might also be people in the church who specialize in specific kinds of struggles. I've seen "grief" and "DivorceCare" ministries. Make sure people in the support group know who they can talk to.

In church, we should have brothers and sisters we regularly talk to about our issues. Preferably, people we can call at any time if something gets too much. That conversation might prevent the sin we were about to commit. In A.A. and C.R., they have "sponsors" and "accountability partners" for this. We should already just be doing this with Biblical terms like "brother," "sister," and "church family." Support it with passages that emphasize what loving each other means. Paul, James, and John all have good ones.

Celebrate Recovery opened with food and fellowship. The local church that hosts ours had volunteers who supplied a meal. The charge was $2 but free if you needed it. Some people there thought the fellowship time was too short at 30-minutes. Standing in line took quite a bit of it. Consider this if you implement it. Also, if your church already does fellowship, that night might be a good one to implement this program. Our own church already has up to an hour and a half of eating and fellowship if you show up on Wednesdays. Then, there's classes of many types. The support group could happen that night to build on the food and fellowship experience.

The "Celebration Station" is a table with their booklets, Recovery Bibles, daily devotionals, and prayer requests. Saddleback is good at marketing. Some churches likewise have helpful materials at their "welcome booths." I suggest having on-hand materials from solid, Bible-based sources. For study Bible, maybe the ESV Study Bible saying it will just teach you the Bible. Although NIV, the Life Application Bibles are quite popular with this crowd. Maybe have a few devotionals to choose from. In the long run, someone should consider making an alternative to the Celebrate Recovery Bible with a solid translation, sound teaching, and money going to a trustworthy organization.

Include training on how to lead small groups and do the services. How to train leaders. Again, all based on good, discipleship materials. My Serving page has small groups guides in it.

If there's music, I'd include a warning about churches that push a false gospel with music that sounds great as bait. C.R. had many songs with these problems. List the churches, their false teachings, and the band labels. Instead, use songs from safe sources that worship Christ using Biblical concepts.

Host church should have cards or web sites with their own service times. If church-neutral, maybe a list of good churches in nearby areas. Plus, online sources where they can get good articles, sermons, and Youtube content. Get people plugged into Biblical churches!

(Read the Gospel with proof it's true and my story. Learn how to live and share it. Go back to main page.)