Freedom Ascent is a long-term Scripture-centric experience for recovery support groups large and small in which the participants want to intentionally address their addictions, dysfunctional habits and vulnerabilities in a safe mini-community of recovery. The goal is that collectively and individually the participants engage with God through Scripture to build strength to replace their dysfunctional beliefs and behaviors with biblical beliefs and behaviors. This experience utilizes a series of 50 Scripture passages and 50 Bible memory verses, all of which revolve around 10 biblical principles. Freedom Ascent is designed primarily to be an oral learner experience that is culturally portable through adaptability of the framework. A variety of orientation and leadership training events are available.
Website: FreedomAscent.org
Finer Details
Financial cost: Materials are provided in electronic form for free but only available to those who go through the full training.
What personnel are needed to bring this resource to fruition, (make the resource available in another language)?
Practitioners can utilize this with small groups, but large groups require a leadership team.
What kind of technical expertise is needed to adapt this resource to your situation?
Translators need to supply the Scriptures utilized in Freedom Ascent, and song writers and musicians need to supply recovery songs in the local language.
How much time is required to do all the work required to bring the resource to completion?
If the Scriptures and recovery songs are already available, then the preparation time is simply leadership training. Leaders need to have worked, and to be continuing to work, their own recovery, and should have a year or two of successfully living free of their addictive and dysfunctional behaviors.
What sort of logistical setting is needed? (e.g. quiet space for recording, good Internet access)
A weekly meeting place that is “safe” in that it provides the privacy needed for conversations about personal struggles.
What challenges or difficulties are there using this resource?
- Facilitators need to be practitioners who are personally involved, and who are willing to be part of this long-term group that is utilizing a Scripture engagement approach rather than an AA or CR approach.
- Overcoming misunderstandings and lack of concern in the Church about addictions, recovery, and Scripture engagement that involves personal application.
- Overcoming misunderstandings of those who think that trauma healing recovery and addiction recovery are the same thing and can simply use the same approaches, as well as the misunderstanding that Scripture access and Scripture engagement are synonymous.
- Addiction recovery support that leads to true transformation is a long-term ministry. This is not merely about a workshop or class, but rather is about facilitating a mini-community in which facilitators and sponsors provide steady, supportive relationships and activities while participants remake their lives with new habits and relationships. Think in terms of months and years, not hours or days.
What level of help is available?
Advanced – a ministry could be there to support you with workers and partnership.
Unique Characteristics
- Freedom Ascent is an abundantly Bible-focused approach to addiction recovery support which involves participants in Scripture engagement. We know of no other approach that is this Bible-focused. As such, Freedom Ascent can function very well either on its own or in a complementary manner alongside of other approaches.
- Implementation of Freedom Ascent is designed from the ground up as a participatory activity by oral-learners. There are no workbooks or other print-material dependencies for participants. However, leader-facilitators are expected to be able to read Scripture well, in addition to being able to read various training materials for facilitators.
- Freedom Ascent is not based on the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, but rather is organized around ten biblical principles (some of which overlap with AA’s 12 Steps).
- Freedom Ascent is uniquely Christian in that choosing to follow Christ as Savior and Lord is unashamedly put forth as an element of reconciling control of our lives to God rather than a humanistic approach. (We recognize that addiction recovery can be achieved on purely secular terms without relationship to God, but Freedom Ascent’s goal is greater than merely being free of addictions.)
- Facilitating Freedom Ascent is locally sustainable without ongoing dependencies on foreign assistance.
- Freedom Ascent leadership orientation training can be done without having to travel internationally for expensive certification.
- Freedom Ascent is a minority language-friendly approach. We can provide consulting help without cost for translations into minority or majority languages.