So how do I find Sponsor's anyway?

As a new Celebrate Recovery Ministry you may have a limited number of CR participants available to sponsor your newcomers. As new leaders you certainly can not sponsor everyone!

My first year attending CR I relied solely on my accountability partners; I chose only those who were as serious and committed about their recovery as I was. I chose people who attended Large Group, Open Share group and step study group every single week and who attended church services. I also relied on the Life Recovery Bible; The 12 Step Devotionals readings and stories to help fill my void of not having a sponsor. It was not until a year later that I was able to secure a sponsor. Looking back, what was extraordinary about this group of accountability partners is that every one of them became CR Leaders and 12 years later not only are they still CR leaders but some are running CR Ministries of their own.

The key was to choose the right accountability partners. The good news is that more and more people will become available to sponsor others after they have completed a step study group. So be encouraged!

Now it has been suggested that as a ministry we should provide a list of available sponsors and accountability partners. This goes against one of the most important steps for a newcomer; initiating their recoveries and seeking new relationships. A newcomer must take responsibility for their own recoveries. What a group leader may do is provide a weekly phone list. In essence you have given the newcomer a list of potential sponsor’s and accountability partners! It’s up to the newcomer to use the list!

Moreover; as a CR Ministry, I do not recommend governing these relationships by only allowing your CR leaders to sponsor the newcomer. This will only lead to leader burnout! What happens when your CR Ministry grows from 10 people to 50, 100 or even 500! The probability of the number of CR participants coming from other churches or secular recovery programs will outweigh the number of CR participants coming from inside your church. Does this mean you don’t allow those who do not serve as a CR leader to sponsor someone? How do you keep that from happening, not allow someone to come back! The worst thing you can do is try to control these relationships. By the way, we have a group for that! : )

In summary, our role as a CR Ministry is to teach individual’s ways of finding a sponsor, what to look for in a sponsor and educate what is a sponsor role. You will find every thing you need to accomplish this in the Advanced Leadership Training Kit, Module 9.