“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” – Mark 2:17
The Christian life begins with admitting, well, we’re sick. We’re sinners, we’re broken, we need mending, and left to ourselves, we’ll never get out of it. That’s why Christ came, to mend our sin-sickness. Even if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you’re still healing. That’s ok.
We want to be a church that reflects Christ’s desire for the spiritually sick to journey with God and each other to find healing. We want to be a place where anyone can be accepted and find community, regardless of where they come from or what they’ve done. I’m pleased to share that we, as a church, are making strides in that direction.
You might remember that earlier this year, we invited the Regional Celebrate Recovery Representative to present to Richview. At that time, we were beginning the planning process for launching Celebrate Recovery. A dedicated team has been working hard ever since to get the program off the ground, and soon, in the new year, we will see the fruit of that labour! I interviewed Jonathan Clarke, one of our elders and leaders of Celebrate Recovery, so that we can get a glimpse into the heart of the program.
I hope this will inspire you to be part of the Celebrate Recovery journey!
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1. Jonathan, can you tell us what Celebrate Recovery is and who it is for?
Celebrate Recovery is a recovery program based on eight principles from the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12). It is for people who are seeking healing from their hurts, habits and hang-ups. It is a Christ-centred program with the ‘Healer” being Jesus. He is the Higher Power.
2. What kind of an effect do you think Celebrate Recovery could have on our church?
We hope to create a grace-filled atmosphere where people can confess their sins. Church should be a place of “grace,” where there is restoration in community and people can be open and honest.
We pray that people who are dealing with life issues, who feel overwhelmed, can come and find restoration and healing from Jesus. When they have done this, they will have a desire to help others. They will feel the prompting to become leaders who wish to reach out to others with the hope in Jesus that they have found.
3. What is the plan for launching Celebrate Recovery at Richview?
We currently have a small team who have been meeting together, praying, and going through and completing a program called Stepping out of Denial and into God’s grace. We have been planning and discussing the different aspects of a Celebrate Recovery evening and doing training around these elements.
In January, the Sunday morning sermon series at Richview will support the Celebrate Recovery launch. We will plan to do a “soft launch” of Celebrate Recovery on Friday, February 11th at 7pm. This will mean only volunteers, leaders, and people from Richview Church will be invited to attend for now. We will go through the program with worship, teaching, testimony, and open share groups for men and women. We will keep doing this until we feel we are ready to invite the community at large. Celebrate Recovery will run every Friday night at 7pm.
4. How can we help you and the Celebrate Recovery team?
You can pray for us that God would guide us and we would listen to his prompting, We pray for unity for the leadership team. We also pray for more volunteers to come forward, especially men, to join the leadership team. John 15:5 says that Jesus is the vine and we should remain connected to him, because apart from him we can do nothing. We want to be firmly rooted in the vine.
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This is exciting! Imagine how God might use Richview to reach the lost, the hurting, and the broken in our community. Imagine the changed lives!
Have you been looking for a way to serve the ministry of the church, to reach the lost, and to help those who are struggling? This may be what God has in store for you. We want this to be a powerful outreach to our community and an important part of our ministry. And for that, we need your involvement.
You can e-mail our Celebrate Recovery team at [email protected] and they will get you headed in the right direction. For more info on the program, go to https://www.celebraterecovery.ca/
Bless ya,
Tyler S.