The Importance of Retreats - Recap

Retreats, camps, meetings, lock-ins, advances... Call them what you want, but these times are highly important for community development.

This series outlines just some of the importance of retreats for student ministry.

• The Importance of Retreats
• Road Trip
• Shared Tribe Experiences
• A New/Different Voice
• Opportunities
• Testimonies
• Retreat Tips
• Coming Home

Retreats - Coming Home

Coming home

Here are a few things to avoid when coming home from the retreat or camp.  The first is with parents.  Give the parents a heads up on what to expect when kids come home.  Teenagers are already moody.  When kids are picked up or dropped off back home, well-meaning and loving parents are going to want to re-connect with their kids.  That is great!  However, these kids may have pushed themselves to the limits of what their bodies will handle when it comes to sleep. Staying up late and waking up early combined with caffeine and emotional experiences at the altar can yield really cranky teenagers.  Really cranky teenagers and a will-intentioned parent can end up in a car ride filled with fights.

 

The best advice I can give is to proactively cut this off.  Welcome them home, pray for them, and be warned that they may have a lot of energy to burn at the onset.  They're going to be excited to see you too, and may just start talking.  Parents should welcome, but not expect, immediate conversations about how great things were.  Don't dive right into all the things that the student needs to get accomplished when they get home.  Give them a chance for a nap if they want it.

 

After a week of camp, it's really easy for a student to rationalize (even some adult leaders will do this--guilty as charged) not going attending church on the subsequent Sunday.  "I was just at church for a week-- that's like ten weeks of regular church!"  Challenge them to not skip.  Show up and lead by examples of their faith and commitment.  Along with that, talk deliberately to a few students to see who are willing to share their testimony from camp.  Even better-- record it, and make a montage of testimony clips-- and share these with the larger congregation.

 

Despite the concept of "church night" being a dying concept, most youth gatherings meet on Wednesday nights.  Ours does not.  We meet on Sundays.  If you do meet on Sundays, and you are coming off of a weekend retreat, do not cancel your gathering.  Make it known that you are going to gather-- it is on, and it is time!  This gives the immediate opportunity for them to continue the worship and depth that they had while they were at camp, and to bring that energy and enthusiasm for God back.  This is a living testimony to those who did not or could not attend.  Furthermore, it shows that "camp experiences" -- those things that are done when away -- aren't limited to those places.  God is not bound by geography.

 

Conclusion

Retreats, lock-ins, camps, and conferences can be an experience, with students and leaders immersed in a culture of spiritual development and movements of God.  While they can be physically exhausting, they are simultaneously restorative as an experience.  While not revolving a student ministry around camps and retreats, these are excellent support to what you're already doing.

Retreat Tips

Retreat Tips

Don't avoid retreats.  It's very easy for a pastor or a church to become self-involved.  It is important to look up and out to meet with other believers and fellowship, worship God together, and pray for each other.  When at the retreat, contrive ways for your tribe to mix it up and mingle with other tribes in attendance.  Challenge them to sit in different spots for each chapel service.  Challenge them to sit with other groups during at least one meal.  Challenge the older students to "adopt" a younger student for the event, having them look out for the younger ones and encourage them.

Update Twitter/Facebook with blurbs and pictures of what's going on so that parents at home have some connection.  Use this ability to solicit prayers so that the greater congregation has a connection to the students.

As the leader, take advantage of the time with other leaders.  Ask about their gatherings.  Talk about books you are reading or podcasts you listen to.  Talk about fundraisers, outreaches, gathering formats.  What are your students studying?  You might learn a great idea of how to accomplish something that has been a challenge for you.  It's really easy to start spouting off all of your great ideas.  Instead, really work on your listening.  Let God pour into you through others.

As the leader, set the example for your tribe.  When something needs to be done (chairs moved, garbage picked up, etc.), be one of the first people to jump up and do it.  If you bring other leaders from your tribe, require them to do that same.  These are the examples of being servants that build credibility.  If there are option breakout sessions, make them required for your leaders and students.  If there are no breakout sessions scheduled, have your leaders put together something for a daily meeting with your students.


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The Importance of Retreats - Testimonies

Testimonies

This is key.  Do not forget this part.  Once back at your usual gathering, take the time for the students to share their testimonies with the tribe.  This time of sharing is scriptural (Revelation 12:11) and helpful.  Those who attended can share what they learned and what God is doing in them with everyone, including those who could not attend for one reason or another.  This can help solidify the experience as well.  As weeks go on, perhaps invite others to share again, now they have had time to implement what they have learned and committed to.


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The Importance of Retreats - A New/Different Voice

A New/Different Voice

It doesn't matter if you are one of the best preachers around, there is a good chance that at some point your students will desire (either consciously or sub-consciously) a break from your teaching.  And that's okay.  A retreat is a perfect opportunity for that (unless you're the preacher there too).  At some conferences the attendees are exposed to a dozen or more speakers.  Some there are just one or two.  Either way, that exposure is good.

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The Importance of Retreats - Shared Tribe Experiences

Shared Tribe Experiences

The community that is built in 48 hours of immersion as a community at a retreat is worth more than 12 weeks of 2-hour meetings.  The depth of community that happens as students worship together for hours and hours over the course of a weekend is unobtainable through the normal youth gathering structure, and it is not to be ignored.

New Friends

The friendships that are formed not just within the tribe but with other students from the area are great to see.  It's a subtle encouragement that says, This is not limited to you.  God is moving all over the place!  You are not alone.

Witness

At retreats and camps, students are able to witness several things.

1. Other people worshiping God
2. Other ways people worship
3. God moving in others
4. God moving in their friends

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The Importance of Retreats - Road Trip

Road Trip

A weekend retreat or a week-long camp are a different type of experience.  They may travel together, yielding great road trip stories.  I was at a retreat this weekend.  One carload told me how their GPS navigation setup had failed them in the backwoods, with them turning onto a snowmobile trail, and ending up with the nose of their car vertically in the air and puppy-chow spilled everywhere as they hoped they wouldn't tip over.  Nice.

In the comments section, tell us about your tribe's hilarious road trip stories!


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The Importance of Retreats

Retreats, camps, lock-ins, and conferences are a staple of student ministry.  While many of my articles up until this point have been toppling sacred cows (games, music, etc.), this is one with which I agree.  The benefits are myriad.

Depending on your geography, it's possible that the students in your tribe only meet once or twice a week for a couple of hours.  Your kids may be congregating and converging from many different schools, and the only shared experiences they have involve circling their chairs, playing an ice breaker, singing songs, sitting quietly and listening to a sermon, and praying.  Those are good, but they are incomplete.  It's a 90 minute or 2-hour stint, and then nothing for another 7 days.

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