The new Knoxville Celebrate Recovery group held at Riverside Church aims to help individuals struggling with issues in any area of life.

Riverside Church previously had a Celebrate Recovery group that was helping many people in the community before it fizzled out due to the Covid-19 Pandemic in 2020. Pastor Bruce Rietveld at Riverside knew it was time to get the group going again, as the program has played a crucial role in over seven million people’s recovery journey across the globe. The program is a 12-Step recovery program based on biblical principles, and caters to those experiencing issues that aren’t just related to addiction. Rietveld explained that one of the misconceptions of the program is that it is only for people who are struggling with substance abuse, when in reality he says that only one out of every three people who come to Celebrate Recovery are there for that reason. 

“Celebrate Recovery is a recovery group for basically about anything. It’s for everyone’s life hurts, hang-ups, addictions, struggles, and all the stuff we deal with. It covers everything. It’s an exciting program that is based on the beatitudes, the gospel, and principles that come from those, and the 12-steps that come from those. It’s a very good group to have.”

The program is every Monday night and starts with a meal at 6:00 pm, and then is followed by large group and small group breakout sessions. There is also a program called Celebration Place available for kids to attend while parents are participating in Celebrate Recovery. The Celebrate Recovery program covers issues such as addiction, codependency, depression, finances, anxiety, divorce, grief, eating disorders, family problems, and anger.

There is also Celebrate Recovery available on Thursday nights at The Well in Pella. Hear more from Rietveld on an upcoming Let’s Talk Knoxville.