The Celebrate Recovery program at Peace Portal Alliance Church marked an important milestone on Monday (Jan. 11).
The fifth anniversary of the Semiahmoo Peninsula group, founded by Meri Dai Edwards and her husband Ed at the end of 2010, was celebrated with song (courtesy of the Barnson Band), prayer and personal testimony – and cake – by some 100 people in an upstairs meeting room at the church.
The program offers a "Christ-centered" alternative for those seeking to overcome addictive, compulsive and dysfunctional behaviours.
As speakers at the meeting indicated, these can include alcohol and substance abuse, but are just as likely to include vicious cycles of anger, co-dependency, control issues and addictions of all kinds.
Inspired by the Beatitudes (eight 'blessings' in the account of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew), Celebrate Recovery's approach recognizes that every human being can be subject to "hurts, habits and hang-ups" and in need of the nurturing that mercy, love and humility can provide.
In regular Monday night meetings – which now include introductory meetings as well as mens and womens groups – participants are free to share their ongoing struggles in a non-judgmental, confidential setting following 12-step recovery principles that draw added reinforcement from scriptural equivalents.
The anniversary also marked the 25th anniversary of the global Celebrate Recovery movement, which started at Pastor Rick Warren's Saddleback Church in Orange County, Calif. and has since grown to 27,000 groups around the world (and 70 in Canada alone).
Metro Vancouver Celebrate Recovery representative Pastor Bruce Olson told the group that it is increasingly recognized that helping people repair "brokenness" is crucial work for churches like Peace Portal Alliance across Canada.
"Some 70 per cent of people coming into church are coming through Celebrate Recovery," he said. "We take the fall of man serious(ly). We do not want to be a backseat ministry…this is a great ministry for leadership."
Peace Portal Alliance senior pastor Scott Dickie, in congratulating the Edwards on their program, also emphasized that the program represented an important part of what the church can provide.
"The key truth of the gospels is that if you're a human being, you're of immeasurable worth," he said. "The reality is we are all broken."
Ed Edwards told Peace Arch News at the conclusion of the meeting that there are many different roads to recovery, and Celebrate Recovery also encourages participants to take full advantage of outside counselling and therapy.
But it's clear that the program's blend of faith and 12-step recovery principles resonates with many.
"Sometimes we all need a kick," said Ed Edwards. "But what people find here is a lot of love and support."