Celebrate Recovery, France

Hurts, habits, hang-ups...we all have to deal with them. But when they are out of control -- or should I say when they are controlling our lives -- that's when we need help. Celebrate Recovery, which uses the same twelve steps as AA, invites people to give their problems over to God. It can be applied to every kind of out-of-control issue, things like gaming, gambling, drug abuse, alcoholism, sexual addictions, co-dependency, adult children of dysfunctional families, compulsive behaviors, grief, and anger.

It's in submitting oneself to Christ and allowing Him to address the issues that real transformation takes place. People have attended Celebrate Recovery, thinking that it would help them deal with their unwanted behaviors, only to find that it actually removes those behaviors and changes the whole person!

Marvin and Lisa Klein

Marvin and Lisa Klein have been missionaries in France for 14 years. Throughout that time they have seen the church as it struggles to reach people for Christ. They believe Celebrate Recovery, which will be starting soon in France, will provide an introduction to the church and to the transforming power of Christ that is so needed there.

When Marvin first began considering CR for use in France he asked around and learned that there was no existing Christian program like it in the country. As he talked to pastors and missionaries he was encouraged to bring Celebrate Recovery to France. Responses such as, "Don't give up!" and "You have to do that!" were confirmation for him to pursue this dream.

Marvin attended an advanced leadership training program at Saddleback Church in Lake Forrest, California, to prepare for translating the CR material into French. It took four months of 20 hours a week to translate, but in August of 2010 the curriculum for A Life Renewed was completed.

The Kleins have spent a year back home in the Pacific Northwest, where they have been connecting with family and friends and pursuing their work with Celebrate Recovery. While here they developed a leadership team at their Redmond, WA church and launched the program on February 29. As they return to France today they leave a strong team and a number of people whose lives are being changed as they face their problems and allow the Lord to work in them.

I asked Marvin what he learned this year that he can take back to France. His immediate answer was "Team dynamics!" You need to be able to work together, and it takes time to build a team. The leadership team in France is not yet established so they will be working with the churches in the Grenoble area to identify leaders. They'll spend the first year working through the materials before they actually launch the program.

"We are ministering out of our brokenness, not out of our strength," he said. God takes broken people and He restores them and gives them a ministry more effective than they ever could have dreamed.

Celebrate Recovery is not intended to replace counseling or rehab, but it is a way to help keep people accountable. In CR they must admit they have a problem; they have to want to change.

"This is about redemption. It's not just that our sins are blotted out (though, of course, they are); it's not just making us equal; it's Christ transforming us and making us a blessing to others. It's not just the bad stuff being erased. It's about our being transformed, receiving new uses for our lives!"

As Marvin and Lisa return to their lives in France, leaving behind loved ones and the work begun with Celebrate Recovery in their home church, our prayers go with them. May God do a deep and lasting work in the lives of men and women through the French CR, A Life Renewed!