Curriculum plays a crucial role in shaping the journey through Celebrate Recovery and John Baker knew that the foundation of an effective recovery ministry needed to be firmly rooted in the Bible.

Romans 5:4 tells us:

“For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us.”

Over the years that I have been running and doing Celebrate Recovery the one important thing that I have learnt is that no matter what the issue  we  struggle with the road to recovery stays the same.  The Bible is the greatest recovery manual that we have and the Celebrate Recovery curriculum brings God’s word into the centre of our recoveries and introduces us to the only true higher power, Jesus Christ.

The curriculum gives us structure through the Celebrate Recovery journey and is designed to give us:

• Consistency:  Anyone with any life controlling hurt, hang-up and habit needs consistency. Wherever we are in the world if you need the help and support of a Celebrate Recovery group, then the teachings and journey through the 12 steps and 8 principles are the same.

Many years ago, we had a participant in our Celebrate Recovery group who, due to his work, spent 3 months in the US. The first thing he asked me was is there a Celebrate Recovery group that he could attend.  We managed to locate one for him, and on his return to the UK the first thing he said to me was the Celebrate Recovery group he attended whilst away was the same, right down to the teachings, small groups. This was a great encouragement to him and enabled him to feel safe.

The curriculum is also designed to do encourage:

• Progression: The curriculum creates forward movement through each step and principle.  

• Preparation: As we journey through the process of recovery, each step of our journey is preparing us for the next and, as each step is completed, ultimately it is preparing us for a new way of living, free from our addictions and compulsive behaviours and firmly rooted in a relationship with our higher power, Jesus Christ.

Celebrate Recovery is a well-designed curriculum and is the backbone of this incredible recovery process, that is why we don’t introduce any other material as in doing so weakens the effectiveness of Celebrate Recovery.  Celebrate Recovery over the last 30 years has changed people’s lives all over the world and long may it continue.