In general, retreats aren't exactly cheap or easy to plan. Whether you go to a retreat center with a huge hot tub or a cabin in the woods where you do your own cooking, there's a cost associated with a retreat and a lot of planning and preparation. Here's how and why we do youth retreats at our church:
WHY
It allows students to consider who God is in an environment with fewer distractions. Teenagers' lives are hard. They are full of many things that distract them from seeing God, such as family issues, pain, school, technology, and many other things. Getting away helps them to perhaps see God in a new way.
It puts Jesus right in front of them for a prolonged period of time. On Sunday mornings (when we have our large group gathering for high schoolers), They might be in the youth wing for an hour, in church for another hour, and then they are off to their homes to forget about most of what they heard and experienced. Over the course of a few days, teenagers are invited to simply sit with Jesus for more than a few minutes.
It helps build great relationships in our group. Over the course of a few days, new friendships are formed, relationships grow deeper, and teenagers become connected with adult leaders who desire to pour into their lives. Relationships are built in a weekend in a way that might take months of Sunday mornings and small groups to forge.
HOW
We make much of Jesus. Yes, it's possible to cover a lot of theological ground in the course of a weekend, but we try to resist the temptation to pack in too much content and simply point to Jesus during every session. Even when there is a theme, the goal is to point students to Jesus and help them make much of him in their lives.
We make it fun. There's something about play and laughter that help teenagers come out of their shells and let their guard down. We leave plenty of time for games, free time, and fun around a camp fire. Included in this is making sure the accommodations are comfortable and the food tasty. There's nothing that will sour a teenager's weekend like no sleep and an empty tummy.
We don't over-schedule the weekend. This is a tip I learned from Chad, our junior high pastor. It's easy to schedule an activity for every minute of the weekend, because there is so much great, fun, super-spiritual stuff you could be doing. But allowing for some unstructured time allows teenagers to be kids (they are still kids, after all). Plus, you might be surprised at how God uses the unplanned parts of the weekend to make the biggest impact through impromptu conversations.
Do you do retreats in your ministry on a regular basis? If so, why and how do you do them?
