New ministry in the works

Liberty to launch Celebrate Recovery to aid students with various struggles

The Campus Pastors Office plans to launch a Celebrate Recovery (CR) location on campus in the coming fall semester. CR is a program birthed from Saddleback Church 20 years ago, now active in more than 20,000 international churches. A CR group at Liberty is anticipated to begin weekly, two-hour, evening meetings Sept. 10.

“CR at its core is a Christ-centered, 12-step recovery program ministry that also uses eight recovery principles based on the Beatitudes that Jesus preached about in the Sermon on the Mount,” Michael Mullins, Liberty campus pastor, said. “It utilizes Christian community — a group of Christ followers who want to honor God and help one another. So the key is Jesus, the Word of God and Christian community.”

About 20 volunteers and a four-person lead team are currently learning the CR material and preparing for the inaugural group this fall.

“Recovery is really another word for spiritual growth in Christ,” Mullins said. “The goal is to point participants to their need for Jesus, to live out his word and to not do that alone.”

CR addresses a wide range of problems that attendees of the program may be facing. The three terms, “hurts, habits and hang-ups,” sum up the issues that CR aims to overcome, according to the CR website.

“The three key words — hurts, habits or hang-ups — can encompass all kinds of issues that keep us from being all that God wants us to be,” Mullins said. “For example, a hurt could be abuse in your past. A hang-up could be perfectionism or not processing anger. And then a habit could be an addiction of all sorts.”

Each CR meeting will begin with an hour of worship, teaching or testimony in a large co-ed group setting. During the second hour, participants have the option to join a same-gender small group called Open Share, each with a specific issue to discuss. Open Share group themes will reflect the needs of students, covering issues such as substance abuse, lust, eating disorders, codependency in relationships and any other issue a student may be dealing with that hinders their personal growth. The Open Share groups will operate within a confidentiality policy.

“We want to create different environments, a large group and a small group, and there will be some one-on-one relationships,” Mullins said. “The small group and the one-on-one (sessions are) supposed to be a safe environment where someone could open up about their personal hurts, hang-ups or habits that are keeping them from being all that God wants them to be.”

Mullins has served as a campus pastor at Liberty for more than two years. That time spent with students on campus allowed Mullins the opportunity to learn the issues that students struggle with regularly.

The initial CR this fall will meet in a two-hour large group or small group format. Eventually, the CR lead team aims to launch a more in-depth group for students who want to practice the CR 12-steps.

“There is another group that would be on a different night that we’re not ready to implement immediately, but it’s called Step Group,” Mullins said. “And that’s where you get to the real depth of the CR process.”

Mullins said the Step Group is similar to Open Share, but it is typically a larger time commitment of 9-12 months. Step Group also incorporates more accountability and discipleship than the initial CR group.

“You can start applying the steps and principles right away, and learn about that through the large group and the Open Share group,” Mullins said. “But to really take it to the mature level that CR is aiming for, we’re going to eventually want participants to get involved in the step group.”

Those interested in learning more information about Liberty CR group can email celebraterecovery@liberty.edu. The Liberty CR is partnering with leaders of the CR group at Blue Ridge Community Church (BRCC) in Forest, Virginia. The BRCC CR group currently meets Sundays 4:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m. Visit blue-ridge.org for more information.

HOOSIER is a news reporter.