FREEDOM GROUPS

What are Freedom Groups?

Freedom Groups are Christ based support groups for people wanting freedom from being sexually driven.

How do they work?

One man impressed by the Holy Spirit to assist in helping others get freedom from being sexually driven asks his pastor to sponsor this ministry.

This point person will be the contact person for the church. The church will refer people to the point person who feel sexually driven.

This point person will meet with those desiring help and will cover the Freedom Principles and Freedom Covenant. Once a person agrees to the principles and covenant, he is given the group location and time.

Freedom Group Roles

1. Point man serves as contact person for anyone to be brought into the group. This is to protect the group from someone just dropping in on the group. The point man can serve for an indefinite amount of time but should be reconsidered after one year of service.
2. The chair person of the meeting is responsible to start the meeting by asking if any new people need to make a Freedom Covenant. If not the chair is responsible to start the introductions and to choose the topic for the group discussion. The chair person serves the group for a maximum of 8 weeks. At that time someone else volunteers to chair the meeting.

Freedom Principles

For the First 100 Days of Recovery

1. Pray: Pray in the morning asking Jesus to keep you free today.
2. Read: Read the Bible and read freedom related material.
3. Call: Call someone in your group to check in with during the day.
4. Meetings: Attend every meeting possible.
5. Pray: Pray in the evening thanking God for keeping you free today.

The One Year Freedom Covenant

1. The members of the Freedom Group covenant to total confidentiality of all group members and discussions held during group meetings.
2. Members covenant to attend the Freedom Group for one year and to work through the Freedom Materials and report progress to the group.
3. Members covenant to keep the Freedom principles for the first 100 days of their journey toward freedom.

The Freedom Meetings

1. Any new members are introduced by the "point man" and are asked to verbalize the Freedom Covenant to the group in the first person. (Example: I covenant to...)
2. Introductions: Starting with the "chair person" of the meeting, introductions are done as follows: he introduces himself, shares his feelings, shares his boundaries and length of time free from those behaviors. (Example: My name is John. I feel frustrated and alone. My boundaries to stay free are no pornography, bookstores and no sex outside of marriage. I worked on Exercises #5 - #7 and made four pages of progress on my Freedom Step work since our last meeting. I have been free for 3 weeks.
3. The "chair person" chooses a topic related to staying free from being sexually driven that the group discusses. Each member can share without feedback from the group unless feedback is specifically asked for by the sharing member.
4. Honest Time: Group members pair off into 2-3 members and discuss thoughts, behaviors, struggles and successes since last meeting. (James 5:16)
5. Closing Prayer: Group members get back together and repeat the Lord's Prayer.

Freedom Group Materials