Dear all,
Once again, Christmas celebrations are here and as 2023 ends it’s good to look back to see all that we have achieved this year. As I have said many times, Christmas is one of my favourite times as it brings me back to the realisation of what Jesus did for me and the sacrifice that He made, not only for me but for the whole of mankind.
Jesus came to set captives free, to transform our lives, to change things for the better. He never wavered from his mission here on earth, a mission that changed my life and billions of lives World over.
It’s hard to believe that in February 2024, it will be two years since Pastor John Baker went to be with the Lord and during this time of Celebration let us remember Pastor John’s family. Especially Johnny Baker who has continued to grow and develop this incredible ministry of Celebrate Recovery.
The last two years have been about rebuilding, and I am glad to say that we are still in that process. Over the last 12 months, we have sent out over 50 Introducing Celebrate Recovery USBs. This has proved to be one of the best tools that we have put together to help churches understand the process of starting a Celebrate Recovery group that lines up with the DNA. We have had many new groups start and many who are in the process of starting. We trust that in 2024, this will continue.
The main highlight for me this year, was our conference in October. After a 4-year gap, we were finally able to come together to Celebrate and to learn from each other. For me, this was another building block that was finally back in place. I would like to thank you all for coming and sharing in this great time of fun and learning that we had.
Out of the conference, we have also been able to produce three new videos, two of which are already on the Home page of our website and the third one on the Celebrate Recovery UK Conference page. They are such a valuable tool in promoting Celebrate Recovery. Last Sunday, at my own church, we showed the video ‘How Celebrate Recovery helped me‘. Reflecting on the feedback that we had after the service, it proved to be the best thing that we have done in promoting Celebrate Recovery for a long time. Can I encourage you all to consider showing it in your churches. It is important to say that none of these videos could have been produced without all of your help, so can I thank you on behalf of the National Team.
At the conference, we also launched our long-awaited testimonies to go volume 2 they are now available from the Resources Page on our website. We now need to think about Volume 3, so if any of you are willing to do your testimony, just get in touch with your local rep.
As a national team, we are very conscious that we live in a time that is very challenging for us all. We have been talking about our desire to be able to subsidise future conferences so that more people would be able to attend. In order to be able to do this we will need to raise our financial base; please let your teams know that we now have a ‘DONATE‘ button on the Celebrate Recovery UK website for people to give to the work of Celebrate Recovery.
In 2023, we continued with our Introducing Celebrate Recovery online meeting as this has been very successful. It covers the basics of what CR is, what meetings should look like, and setting up the group in your church. We will continue these in 2024, our next one will be Thursday 18th January, 7pm.
Also, our Ministry Leaders Zoom meetings have proved very successful especially if you are new in the role of a Ministry Leader. This will be a good meeting to attend. Can I encourage you to put the next one in your diary, 3rd February 2024 10.00am – 12pm. There will be a discussion around managing the 5 small group guidelines during our small group time. We’ll be sending a reminder of the Zoom details nearer the time
May you all enjoy this Christmas break with your families and a happy new year to you all.
Love Tony & Val
Celebrate Recovery UK Regional Director
