Leadership FAQ

In a nutshell, Freedom Session is for everyone and a critical part of one’s discipleship journey. It’s equally relevant for those who grew up in the church as it is for those without previous Christian experience.

First and foremost, Freedom Session is not a recovery program; it is a healing-discipleship program that ministers mental, emotional and relational healing versus recovery. Therefore, our goals and processes are significantly different. While we respect and appreciate the numerous Christian and traditional 12-Step recovery programs, we offer the following explanation where Freedom Session is unique.

Traditional 12 Step recovery programs ask participants to turn their life and will over to a god of their own understanding, often referred to as a higher power. In contrast, Freedom Session is based on the firm conviction that Jesus Christ is God, the Highest Power, and the only one who can heal our hearts, transform our lives, and set us free from our unhealthy behaviors, bitterness, or addictions.

Unlike 12-step programs, Freedom Session does not ask participants to identify themselves by their own sin, flaws, or struggles (e.g., “My name is Jim, and I am an alcoholic”) or past negative experiences involving another person (for example, “My name is Alexis, and I am a survivor of sexual abuse”). Instead, Freedom Session works at a much deeper level than most 12-step programs because it’s focus is on healing the heart rather than managing behaviours.

Twelve-step programs are most primarily attended by individuals with addictions or compulsive behaviors. Freedom Session is for everyone – including church leaders! Visionary pastors have taken their entire leadership teams and staff through Freedom Session, transforming the culture and DNA of their local churches.

Three other key differences between Freedom Session and traditional recovery programs: 

• We believe Jesus can and will heal the heart from past wounds and trauma reducing the need for various unhealthy coping mechanisms or means by which we escape pain such as withdrawal, alcohol, sex, fantasy, work, or blaming.
• We define “success” in Freedom Session to include graduation rather than lifelong participation in a recovery mindset or program. We want our FS graduates to take the authenticity and tools they’ve gained in FS into other areas of life, such as ministry, family, business, and community.
• While you can find some similarities in the FS steps 1-9 process to Christian recovery (though they are still different), Steps 10-12 are entirely different and go much deeper into a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit rather than a recovery community.  We call this portion of the course, “Authentic Living”  where we get real with God, ourselves and others…and in that order.

While we are familiar with many Christian recovery programs we aren’t aware of all of them so this is not an exhaustive answer.

We work alongside other Christian ministries and are grateful for and encouraged by the many Christian recovery programs that God is using to strengthen His church. That said, there are a number of differences between Freedom Session and other Christian recovery programs.

At its core, Freedom Session is a healing-discipleship ministry, not a recovery ministry. With healing as the ultimate goal, we see Freedom Session as a healthy and normative aspect of discipleship.

Celebrate Recovery is one of the better Christian recovery programs available and has proven to be an effective bridge into the recovery community. However, Freedom Session and CR have significantly different goals and are best seen as complementary rather than in competition.

For churches already offering Celebrate Recovery, Freedom Session is an excellent next step for those ready for the next stage of their discipleship journey.

There are the three elements that typically occur in a Freedom Session experience.

• Large group teaching where participants gather together to absorb teaching from the Freedom Session author via video.
• The small group experience, which is strategically designed for participants to interact with the teaching and explore how it applies to their lives.
• Taking steps towards freedom through the weekly homework assignment, which is an essential part of Freedom Session and that takes one or two hours each week.

Yes. However, to have the best possible Freedom Session experience, we still recommend that participants take the journey with others. Most of our wounds and painful experiences have occurred with others involved. God has orchestrated our healing to likewise and most often occur in community. A common expression we repeatedly hear at FS graduations is the meaningful role the small group played in the healing journey.

Freedom Session is a 20-week healing-discipleship journey with an optional eight-week follow-up course called Authentic Living. The leadership team is expected to attend each session and actively participate in or lead the small group experience.

Here is what we typically find, assuming a launch of 40 participants.

During the first two weeks, participants grow by 20%
Once participants realize there is a homework commitment, there is a 5-10% drop
Around Participant Guide 2—Finding Freedom, there may be more attrition (5-10%), primarily from those who are behind in their homework

The greatest factor in participant retention is the love, authenticity and commitment of the Freedom Session facilitator. Some sow the seed, some water and some harvest. God causes the growth and the healing.

There is no ideal size.

The smallest “official” Freedom Session ministry we’ve registered was a group of three women (they all graduated, by the way). The largest we know of started out with just over 250 people. One advantage of a large Freedom Session ministry is a momentum that confirms Freedom Session as a normative part of the discipleship journey. One advantage of a smaller Freedom Session ministry is intimacy.

Think of Freedom Session as the tool rather than the rule. Allow God to guide the process and adapt Freedom Session as needed.

Yes. In these situations we recommend running a Pilot Group for churches to experience Freedom Session and discern the next steps. Over 95% of the churches that run pilot groups launch a full version of Freedom Session within a year.

Over the years, we have tried different approaches to grouping participants. With a low number of participants, focus on gender splitting. With more participants, sub-divide men’s and women’s groups according to life stage or by the issues they’ve come to deal with.

We have found that the ideal number is eight: six participants, led by a lead facilitator and an assistant facilitator.

Allow participants to drop out of Freedom Session but also encourage anyone considering leaving to continue in the large group sessions.

Leading a healing-discipleship ministry like Freedom Session is one of the most necessary, challenging, and most rewarding ministries in the church. As a result of leading a Freedom Session ministry or small group, captives are being set free, the blind are receiving sight and the broken-hearted are being healed.

Every situation is unique. People get sick, have a vacation planned, or emergencies arise. Here are some things to consider.

• Did they inform you in advance that they would be away?
• Have they watched the missed videos and completed the accompanying homework?

If they have not kept up, ask them what they made more important, and refer them back to the participation agreement. Let them know that you will discuss the situation with the rest of the group and will be in touch on whether they can continue.

It’s important that for the first few weeks of FS you stress the importance of attendance and homework as outlined in the participation agreement. 

At a leadership level, we must recognize that relapse is often part of the healing-discipleship process. When relapse happens, there are natural consequences we cannot shield the participant from. However, we can provide a safe and welcoming community where they can return to when they’re ready.

When a participant may not be welcomed back to the community:

• If their behaviour or attitudes are threatening towards other participants.
• If they continue indulging in unhealthy behaviours without making a reasonable effort to change.

In such cases, we may ask another group to consider welcoming the participant after they explain to them why they were asked to leave. This approach fosters accountability and taking responsibility while reinforcing that failure does disqualify someone from continuing their journey. Each situation should be assessed individually with discernment.

Once participants complete Freedom Session they are encouraged to take Authentic Living.

After completing Authentic Living, we suggest interested small groups or triads continue to meet for an additional three months for support and accountability using the Authentic Life Journal as a guide.

Freedom Session and Authentic Living materials can be purchased online in the United States and Canada.

Please visit our online store for current prices.

• Canada
• USA

Yes. We offer bundle pricing for Participant Guides in quantities of 10, 25 and 50.

Freedom Session is designed and intended to be taken by adults, meaning those who have completed high school. The youngest Freedom Session grad we have personally seen is 17 and the oldest is 84.

Yes and no. Here is our belief and experience:

• If one’s depression is caused by a chemical imbalance, then divine healing is the only cure and prescription medication is the only treatment. We fully support medical intervention when necessary.
• If one’s depression is primarily caused by trauma, relational breakdown, low self-esteem, poor life choices or some other psychological factors, Freedom Session can be very helpful.

In fact, many medical doctors and psychologists recommend Freedom Session as part of a balanced therapy approach.

Regarding mental illness, we acknowledge that  authentic mental illness exists and are grateful for advancements in education that have helped reduce some of the stigma surrounding it.

We recommend that individuals diagnosed with a mental illness receive permission from their psychologist or psychiatrist before registering for Freedom Session. Those with authentic mental health challenges may not be able to engage fully in the material or homework and may benefit more from individual counselling.

The same recommendations apply to individuals who have experienced brain injuries or other trauma affecting their cognitive abilities.