Celebrate Recovery UK Local News
Welcome to the Celebrate Recovery UK Local Group News Hub. Here you’ll find the latest updates from CR groups across the country—milestones, events, testimonies, new resources, and inspiring snapshots of life‑change.
If something encouraging is happening in a local group, you’ll see it here.
15 Years of Celebrate Recovery in Lancaster
At the end of 2025, Hope Church, Lancaster celebrated 15 years of Celebrate Recovery.
It’s fair to say that when we first started out this was a new concept to the majority of the church and took some time for us to understand that Celebrate Recovery was for any hurt, hangup or habit – not just addiction, or for ‘those people’.
Over time, Celebrate Recovery certainly has changed the culture of the church – having much more of a compassionate care for those who are hurting, and it has become a key ministry in offering hope for people who find themselves struggling with life.
We are very blessed that in this 15 years – we have seen around 400 people come through Celebrate Recovery. While many of these have come from within our church, or other local churches, the statistics that excite us the most are that:
- 50% of these participants have been from a non-church background. Some have visited just the once but we know the seeds have been sown…. while several have come to faith and baptism. All glory be to God!
- Many have stayed the course and gone on to serve through sharing testimony, stepping up as Open Share Group leaders, Sponsors, Greeters, Tech or serving the all important refreshments. Others have gone on to take up leadership roles in other churches, training in mental health nursing, or serving in the community to bring the hope of Jesus.
- But most importantly, we have seen deep hurts healed, people set free from addictions, eating disorders, faulty belief systems that have caused harm, we’ve seen marriages restored, families reunited; so many lives transformed as they surrender to the healing work God wants to do in them.
While the facts above are wonderful, one thing we do know is that we would do it all again – and will keep doing it even if it is just to see one person find a fresh start and freedom in Jesus.
Of course none this would happen if it wasn’t for teamwork and I stand humbled and honoured by the commitment of a wonderful team of leaders who faithfully turn out week after week throughout the year to be there to support and encourage all our participants. My enormous gratitude, which is beyond words, goes to each of them for all they do in bringing God’s love to Lancaster.
Kath Leigh (February 2026)
Celebrate Recovery at Adullam: A Community-based Approach
Celebrate Recovery began at Hope Church in Lancaster in 2011. Seeing the impact of this ministry in the lives of those attending, and looking at what resources we had in our hands to expand that reach more widely in the city, Hope Church started the Adullam Programme; a charity designed to support people struggling with life, be that mental health, isolation, relationship breakdown, addiction and much more.
We began by repurposing the church house into a residential ‘halfway’ house for people leaving rehab, but quickly saw the need to expand this work into an offering of various courses for people in the local community. This includes social groups such as Ladies Coffee Time, Men’s Breakfast and a Walk with a Doc; developmental groups such as Cooking on a Budget, CAP Money Coaching, Job Preparation and support groups such as Living Life to the Full (CBT) course, Men’s Talk Club and Celebrate Recovery.
Listening to the participants on these support groups we recognised the need (indeed our participants asked!) to offer an additional daytime meeting of Celebrate Recovery alongside the evening course. Participants stated that short courses which run for 8 weeks, whilst beneficial, were only ‘scratching the surface’ of their issues and they wanted something else to help them go deeper. And so Adullam now offers Celebrate Recovery to its participants every week, and we are increasingly encouraged by how God is using this to reach more people outside the church..
Not only has Celebrate Recovery benefited our community as we have seen many people find help, hope, community and freedom as a result, but it has also helped us to raise awareness of Celebrate Recovery within our statutory and third sector services as healthcare professionals now see this as part of Adullam’s unique place in the city.
Visit the Adullam’s website page further information.
Kath Leigh (January 2026)
Celebrating Two Decades of Recovery
As we prepared for our 20-year anniversary celebration, I was invited to be interviewed by my church’s podcast team to share how I first got involved in Celebrate Recovery.
It was a wonderful opportunity to talk about the hope I’ve found in Jesus and to share how God has used Celebrate Recovery to help so many others experience real change as they look to Him.
Catherine Robinson (November 2025)
We Celebrated 20 Years of God’s Transforming Work
Twenty years of Celebrate Recovery at Jesmond Parish Church in Newcastle means hundreds of lives touched and changed by Jesus Christ! That’s why my Celebrate Recovery group in Newcastle held a Celebration to praise God for all that He has been doing in our lives over the past two decades.
The evening featured testimonies, news, and great worship. It was recorded and you and watch the full celebration here:
It was a joyful celebration as we shared with others that our hope is in Jesus!
Catherine Robinson (November 2025)
Making a CR Relaunch Widely Known
St John’s Church, Harborne, Birmingham has been running Celebrate Recovery since 2022. To mark the start of its 4th year, the ministry is going to be relaunched during the 6pm evening service on the 5th January 2025. A new ministry lead is going to be commissioned and will be speaking during the service about her journey of recovery. The service is going to be live-streamed in order to reach more people.
All are welcome to hear more about what God has already been doing through Celebrate Recovery and to find out more to see if this ministry might be for them.
Alison Boughey (December 2024)
A Celebrate Recovery’s Celebration Evening!
Our Newcastle Celebrate Recovery group livestreamed their annual Celebration Evening — an inspiring event celebrating the transforming power of Jesus in people’s lives. Live streaming the occasion provided a wonderful opportunity to reach more people with the message of hope and healing that comes through the Celebrate Recovery programme.
We encouraged people to attend in person if possible, in order to support those sharing their testimonies and contributing in various ways. However, not everyone was able to make it, and so we offered the online option too. You can still experience this uplifting evening from wherever you are! Simply tune in to our Celebration on YouTube.
Catherine, the group’s Ministry Leader, shared her excitement about this year’s celebration:
This powerful evening of testimonies, worship, and celebration, was a great encouragement to those who attended the event. I hope you enjoyed it too and can praise God for the freedom and healing that He offers through this life-changing programme!
Catherine Robinson (November 2024)
Talking about Recovery and Jesus at a Local Festival
Elspeth Clayson (July 2024)
Highlighting Faith at a Recovery Festival
On the 20th June, I took Celebrate Recovery to the Recovery Festival in Bristol, an event I attend every year. The festival featured 40 stalls focused on various aspects of recovery, but our stall stood out because we were the only one that recognised Jesus Christ as Higher Power. This unique aspect sparked a lot of interest and comments from attendees. It was also a fantastic opportunity to distribute our flyers, and many people showed great interest in our message and programme.
Christy McMullen (June 2024)
A Celebration Evening
How do you celebrate with your church family and community the changes God is making in people’s lives through your Celebrate Recovery ministry?
Our Newcastle Celebrate Recovery group holds an annual Celebration Evening and invites the whole church family and friends. It’s free, and is always an encouraging evening as we praise God, hear testimonies, and celebrate Christ-centred recovery in creative ways. We hope it blesses the church family as it blesses the Celebrate Recovery group to have their presence and support. The next event is due to take place on the 11th November 2024, make a note in your diary, further details will be posted here nearer the time.
The 2023 Celebration Evening was held in November. It was a great evening of hope and praise. We live streamed the event for those unable to join us. You can still watch it here.
We’d love to hear what other Celebrate Recovery groups in the UK are doing to spread the good news that Jesus Christ is changing lives. Please send in pictures and information!
Catherine Robinson (November 2023)
The UK Recovery Walk
September is ‘recovery month’ and the UK Recovery Walk – an initiative headed up by ‘Faces and Voices of Recovery’ or F.A.V.O.R – has become an ever-growing and popular event. Click for more information on their website.
The 2022 Recovery Walk and Festival was held in Newcastle, in North East England. The Celebrate Recovery group at Jesmond Parish Church were invited to take part in the walk through the city centre and to be part of the Community Village at the festival which followed.
The event provided many opportunities to share with people from other recovery groups and organisations that our Higher Power is Jesus Christ. Here are a few comments about the day from the Celebrate Recovery team who attended:
“It was great to get to know each other better as we served!”
“Jesus has changed my life through Celebrate Recovery; it’s only right I fly the flag for Him when I can so that other people hear that He can help them too.”
“What a great day and a great atmosphere!”
“People need to know there is support out there and that recovery is possible. Today was about giving hope to people who are struggling with addiction.”
The 2023 Recovery Walk
The 2023 Recovery Walk will be held in Hull on Saturday 23rd September. We are hoping we’ll have a Celebrate Recovery presence again to fly the flag for Christ-centred recovery. Maybe you can join in too?
Catherine Robinson (September 2023)
The Recovery Album
Principle 8 of Celebrate Recovery encourages us to
“Yield ourselves to God to bring this Good News to others, both by my example and by my words.”
Since faith in Jesus Christ was pivotal to my own recovery from eating disorders, I love telling others that there is hope for change for them too. It is the desire to share this good news that prompted me to launch a website, The Recovery Album, offering Christ-centred encouragement for the recovery journey.
Four growing recovery-themed albums – Bible verses, blogs, social media posts, and songs – aim to bring hope to others. I also share my testimony of how God freed me from eating disorders, and of course, take the opportunity to encourage visitors to the The Recovery Album to seek support for their hurts, hang-ups and habits at a Celebrate Recovery group.
Please take a look and share what’s useful with those you know who need some hope in their life.
Catherine Robinson