TLDR (Too Long, Didn't Read)

The Landing creates an environment where students can learn to make wise choices and develop healthy patterns for living. It's a safe haven to help overcome life-controlling hurts, hang-ups and habits by providing insights on following God's path to greater freedom in life.

The ministry uses interactive and age appropriate versions of the Celebrate Recovery lessons being explored in the corresponding adult meeting on Thursday nights, giving families the opportunity to discuss what they’re learning as they grow closer to God together.

Vision of Celebrate Recovery:

“The vision for Celebrate Recovery is for the church to provide a safe place where families can find healing and restoration.  A safe place where moms, dads and kids of all ages can find freedom from their hurts, habits and hang-ups.”

-John Baker, Co-Founder of Celebrate Recovery                              

What is the Landing?:

Simply put, the Landing is the student ministry for Celebrate Recovery.  It is a program designed to walk Jr. High and High School students through the same process outlined by Celebrate Recovery’s 8 Principles and the Christ-Centered 12 Steps.  This ministry is open to any student that struggles with any sort of hurt, hang-up, or habit and helps provide tools for students to process emotions, deal with past and current hurts, and find freedom from struggles within their lives.  By focusing on the biblical principles of conviction, conversion, surrender, confession, amends, forgiveness, prayer, evangelism, and service, students will deepen their relationship with God and experience emotional and spiritual healing.

Purpose of the Landing:

“The aim of the Landing is to help hurting teenagers get closer to Jesus as they learn key principles during a journey toward a better life – to move their focus on Jesus from the fringes of daily life to the bull’s-eye of everyday life.”

-Landing Leader Guide

The Landing seeks to provide a safe place for all students to find hope, healing, and purpose as they grow closer to Jesus.  Through utilizing the Landing curriculum and by incorporating Small Groups that employ the 5 Small Group Guidelines, students will gain the tools they need to process through their hurts, habits, and hang-ups.  Ultimately, the Landing is a safe place where students can openly talk about their struggles free of judgement, find the incredible hope and power of Jesus Christ as they watch God change them from the inside out.

Value of the Landing:

The Landing provides an opportunity for us leaders to speak into the lives of students as they process through pain and hurt during the most formative years of their lives.  Many of the addictions and dysfunctions that affect adults later in life start forming during the pain and challenges of childhood and adolescence, and our students need a place where they can process their pain before they become bigger issues later on in life.  There are also students that have already began acting out in addictive and dysfunctional behaviors, and the Landing provides them a safe place to process and work through their issues among their peers.  Through the Landing, we can see cycles of dysfunction healed and in some cases stopped before they ever even start, saving our students years of pain and setting them up to live happier, freer lives.

Structure of the Landing:

One of the key strengths about Celebrate Recovery is that it is an ongoing, 52-week program. All year long, participants have a safe place to work on their hurts, hang-ups, and habits. We’ve brought that same strength to The Landing. This curriculum is designed to run every week, year after year. 

The Landing is not a lecture-style resource. It’s designed to get teenagers talking about and exploring new ways of thinking. They won’t just be listening to someone speak – instead, they will be experiencing recovery with each other and the leaders. This will take place in 2 different Groups: the Large Group Meeting and the Small Group, which take place on the General Meeting Night. 

The Landing is structured as an ongoing, 52-week program that walks through the same content as the Adult CR Curriculum, yet packaged for students.

The Landing Core DNA:

“Core DNA” refers to the key aspects of the Landing that must be adhered to in order to be considered an official Landing group.

The core DNA for the Landing mirrors that of Celebrate Recovery (CR):

1. Jesus Christ is the one and only True Higher Power.  This program is 100% Christ-centered.

2. The Bible and the Landing curriculum are used exclusively. The Large Group lessons are found in the Landing Leader Guides and teachers have creativity to adapt Landing lessons to their local groups so long as they follow the order of lessons, teach over the corresponding Recovery Principle & Step, and keep the heart of the Landing lessons, pulling from the Landing and Celebrate Recovery materials. See our lessons page for more information on this.

3. The Landing is Group-Based.  Small Groups are an essential part of the Landing and are part of our ministry.  Small Groups are gender specific and are led by a leader of the corresponding gender.  The 5 Celebrate Recovery Small Group Guidelines are read, implemented, and followed every week, in every small group, no exceptions.  See our small groups page for more information on this.

4. Our Landing group is held accountable to and falls under the authority of: Christ, a DNA-compatible Celebrate Recovery (Adult CR @ Northfield [NF]), and the local church that is over that Celebrate Recovery (NF). Our Landing leaders are accountable to the training and direction of the Celebrate Recovery Global Team.

5. The Landing is the student ministry of Celebrate Recovery, and Celebrate Recovery is a ministry of the local church.  Therefore, Celebrate Recovery will not attempt to dictate any doctrine or policy to a local church.  A local Celebrate Recovery and the Landing that falls under it should follow the policies of their local church and continue to be grateful for their continued support. 

Best Practices:

How many leaders do we have?

We typically have a minimum of 4 leaders: 2 men and 2 women. This can vary from week-to-week, but we always have at least 1 male and 1 female leader every Thursday night.

Are the Landing leaders background checked?

Yes. This is Northfield's policy that we strictly adhere to.

Leader requirements

• Do the leaders have to have gone through Celebrate Recovery?

  • Yes, all leaders are required to be a part of Adult CR before leading in The Landing.

    • Leaders are also required to have completed at least one 26-week Step Study (for adults) that goes through all 12 Steps and all 8 Principles.

  • Leaders MUST understand, enforce, and follow the guidelines.

  • Leaders MUST fall under the oversight of the CR Ministry Leader and submit to the authority of the CR’s local church.

• How old do the leaders need to be?

  • At least 18, but typically realistically they will have to be at least 19 or 20 since they are required to be a part of adult CR & do the 26-week Step Study before becoming an adult leader in The Landing.

What differentiates Landing Small Groups from Adult Open Share?

In the Landing, students share over a list of focus questions that relate to the night’s lesson and will have the opportunity to share separately for each question (we also allow and encourage students to share a victory or struggle during the week in addition to the questions).  This differs from Adult Open Share in that adult participants share only one time during the course of open share.  Other than that, the groups are run almost identically to Adult Open Share.  Landing Small Groups will always be gender-specific and the 5 Small Group Guidelines will be read and followed every week.