Time to Retreat

“Camps and Retreats for young people are just spiritual highs. They create little to no lasting change in the day to day lives of kids.” Ever heard or said anything like that? I know I have thought about it. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve always believed they were important. But I used to be almost apologetic about camp and retreat experiences because of the emotional hype that sometimes surrounds them. Recently, I attended a luncheon hosted by Rick Lawrence, editor of Group Magazine, and he discussed some of the more successful ways churches cultivate spiritual formation in students. In a Group survey, the majority of believers polled told stories of dynamic life change in their journey with Jesus happening at a Camp or Retreat. It’s true for me. Most of the top transformational moments in my life happened at a camp or retreat. I bet you have similar stories. If you’ve been tempted to write off camps or retreats as simple spiritual highs, perhaps it’s time to re-consider.

In Scripture, we often read that Jesus would get away to a solitary place to connect with His Father. I know what you’re thinking. There’s nothing “solitary” about retreating to the mountains with a bunch of teenagers for a weekend. In fact, we usually need our own solitary experience after those weekends. But the vision for these events is to get away from the distractions and busyness of life to allow Jesus to speak to us. I believe when we set that time aside for Him, He sets some “time” aside for us and our students.

A few weekends ago I spoke at a great youth retreat with an incredible and passionate church led by a fantastic friend and youth pastor. It got me thinking about all the retreat and camp experiences I have created throughout the years and some of the things we have done to, hopefully, make them so powerful and effective. Since now is the time for Summer Camp planning, maybe a couple of them will be helpful to you.

1. Start with the vision, theme, and goal for the weekend.

This should be the obvious starting point, but it often
isn’t. What is God saying to you, your team, your students, and your church?
What do you sense He wants to accomplish? We always pray for the direction that
we believe Jesus desires to take us. That provides us our theme and the
direction for all of our meetings and that’s where we go. Most of the time our
meetings spend more time in experiencing the Presence of God than the passing of
information. Face it, we preach plenty every week. We don’t always have
extended time to sit and soak. Pray. Ask God for direction. Go there.

2. Go all out with games and activities.

After you receive your theme and direction, plan some insane
games and activities. This is one of the things that sometimes falls to the
bottom of the “TO DO” list. But the time you spend having fun together is
second only to the spiritual direction of the camp. If you have powerful,
experiential meetings with Jesus and incredible, engaging activities, you will
have a transformational weekend. You must have both. As you plan, do things
that students can’t or won’t do somewhere else. Don’t think in terms of typical
sports or your basic dodge ball game. Think in terms of insane memory makers.
You want students and leaders walking away saying, “I can’t believe we just did
that.” (Keeping injuries to a minimum, of course). And don’t think you can’t do
something because of your numbers. With a little creativity, you can make games
work at any number.

3. Build teams for connection, community, and communication.

One of the main reasons we hold these events is so our students and leaders can connect with one another and develop stronger community that will lead to discipleship. If you are going to create community, you have to plan for it. The best way to do this is to create teams of around 16 to 24 students led by 3 or 4 leaders.  Let each team create a name, color, mascot, cheer, song, etc. to provide incredible buy-in for their students. Utilize these teams for discussions on the theme of the retreat. Encourage leaders to look for their team members at altar calls, meal times, and free times. Have teams compete with one another to solidify every student’s sense of belonging. And don’t underestimate the importance of using teams for security. Teams are the primary way we keep track of students. Teams will take the long lasting effect of your retreat to the next level.

Fall Retreat Sample Team Suggestions

4. Train your leaders well at least one week out.

I take 2 to 3 hours or so to train our leaders at least one week before the actual event. I want them to understand what I expect of them and ensure they don’t have any doubts or questions. We go over all the leadership expectations as well as what we require of students. We give them lists of the students on their team so they can connect with and pray for them before we go. I also give them time to brainstorm the creative ideas for their team identity. I always leave some time for them to pray together. I have been to too many camps where leaders stand around in the back disconnected. Get them up front and engaged all weekend by giving them responsibilities and telling them what you expect them to do. They can do it.

Fall Retreat Sample Leader Expectations

Fall Retreat Sample Rules Meeting

5. Schedule a full weekend and be ready to change.

I know when we think of a retreat we often think of some chill time in the mountains with Jesus. I like to run students ragged. Pack out the schedule with a healthy balance of meetings, activities, discussion, fun, and free time. Things can get “interesting” when you allow too much free time. Don’t be afraid to run them hard for the weekend. But always allow flexibility in your schedule. If you want to shift an hour or a half hour here or there, go for it. Take your meetings longer as Jesus leads. Ditch a game that isn’t working and replace it with something else. Most importantly, listen to the voice of the Holy Spriit and go where he wants to go for the weekend. If you run a full and balanced schedule, students will leave with a fulfilling and transforming experience (and they’ll sleep better at night which means fewer shenanigans).

Fall Retreat Sample Schedule

Jesus changed my life forever at camps. If you implement some of these ideas at your next camp, He will change the lives of your students and maybe transform you a little too.

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