History of Celebrate Recovery

(click here for a printable version)

Celebrate Recovery started in 1991 at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest,

California. At that time, the church was meeting at a high school gymnasium.

John Baker wrote Pastor Rick the “now famous concise 13-page single-spaced”

letter outlining the vision God had given him for Celebrate Recovery. After

reading John’s letter, Pastor Rick said, “Great John, go do it!”

The first night 45 people attended, and Celebrate Recovery was born.

Beginning with only four Open Share Groups—Men’s and Women’s Chemical

Dependency, and Men’s and Women’s Co-Dependency—the ministry has

grown to over fourteen groups today. Over 8,500 people have gone through

the program at Saddleback Church, and many of them are now serving in

Celebrate Recovery and the church. Celebrate Recovery has become the

number one outreach ministry at Saddleback Church, with over 70 percent

of its members now coming from outside the church.

The first ten years were the birth stage of Celebrate Recovery, and now

God is calling us to take it to the world. There are now thousands of Celebrate

Recovery ministries around the world and it is growing. We are part of a

movement that is bringing the hurting and broken to the healing power of

Jesus Christ.

In addition, Celebrate Recovery is not just growing in churches, but in

recovery houses, rescue missions, and prisons around the world. New Mexico

was the first state to adopt Celebrate Recovery into their state prison system.

Now, New Mexico has Celebrate Recovery pods in all their state prisons. In

August of 2004, Celebrate Recovery was announced as California’s state

approved substance abuse program for prisons. This is an exciting and growing

outreach opportunity for every Celebrate Recovery.

Celebrate Recovery®