Retreat Planning Steps for Local Churches

by Lisa Jean Hoefner  

Let's have a retreat! Sounds like a good idea.

Why?

• A retreat is a chance for encounter with self, with God, with other people, with creation, with issues.
• A retreat is, literally, a "strategic withdrawal." When we retreat, it is not for the purpose of just getting away and staying away. Everything involved in getting away, and all that is done while away, involves coming back. We go to the mountains not to see mountains, but to see the valleys in new perspective.
• On a retreat we hope to deepen our relationship with God, to look at our lives — deliberately focusing on issues and questions through reflection and meditation and discussion and dialogue with others — in order to come back with a renewed sense of direction for living.
• Jesus modeled this pattern of engagement and withdrawal, and it is instructive for contemporary disciples as well.
• Retreats deepen the fellowship of a community through shared experiences and can helpfully focus the energy of a group, whether your purpose is to do planning, problem solving, team building, or to tackle a topic of interest or concern.

Who is the retreat for?
Are you planning for

• Members of the church only?
• Members of your church and their invited guests?
• Members of several churches in your area?
• Any interested people in your community?

Remember, people attend what they help to plan, so if you're looking to reach a larger audience than just your established group, invite and involve others to assist in planning for the retreat as well. Don't just invite them once all the planning is done!

When can we go?
Make sure to check school calendars for concerts, big games, tests, and so on that would affect the attendance of your particular audience. Look also at times when in-service days or other days off might allow for a possible new pattern — like a Thursday evening through Saturday, for instance, or a Sunday afternoon through Monday night. Some adult groups have found that creating an alternative of interest to some people while others are involved in a major cultural event (the Super Bowl, Mother's Day, prom, a big tourist event in your town) is a worthwhile and much appreciated ministry.

As you plan for your retreat, there are many things to keep in mind. You'll find helpful input from your conference camp/retreat ministry leaders — don't hesitate to ask for ideas that work well or considerations that are especially helpful at the site you are using. Many people have asked us for a checklist to guide their planning. Here is a topical list, then a timeline, and finally some tips from experienced leaders — offered to assist you.

Retreat Planning Checklist
____ Reasons for having a retreat
____ Goals for this retreat
____ Theme
____ Dates
____ Location
____ Leaders
____ Activities and program components
____ Contingency plans
____ Meals
____ Finances
____ Schedule
____ Transportation
____ Snacks
____ Policies
____ Publicity
____ Registration
____ Evaluation
____ Other:
____ Other:

A retreat is an intentional time apart to experience a new awareness of the presence of God. It is an opportunity to get some distance and see things in perspective. It requires a pace that is unhurried and conducive to rest and relaxation in order to come back with a renewed sense of living as disciples of Christ.

Steps for Effective Retreats
6-12 months ahead

• Determine the reason for this retreat.
• Appoint a coordinator and form a retreat-planning team.
• Pray for guidance, direction, and purpose.
• Write down the objectives for the group sponsoring the retreat.
• Choose a theme based upon the purpose of the retreat.
• Write down the specific objectives for the actual retreat.
• Write down the major blocks of time and activities.
• Include food preparation, if needed.
• Check these against objectives.
• Look at your church calendar for when a retreat could best be held; choose the best time considering other schedules as well.
• Choose the best facility for your purpose; make sure deposit is paid; confirm reservations
• Choose leader(s) or resource person(s) for your theme.
  OR
• You can let a specific person choose topics, based on your objectives.
• Decide honorarium based on fees and expenses if a visiting leader is chosen.
• Begin promotion — communicate excitement about objectives, dates, schedule as known.

2-3 months ahead

• Saturate all aspects of planning with prayer!
• Keep promoting via bulletins, news, mailings, handouts, and word of mouth.
• You will need to communicate the following:
  • specific information, including objectives
  • registration fees and deadlines (consider collecting registration with a deposit so participants will commit to the time away and you'll have funds to pay facility deposit or program supplies ahead of time)
  • itinerary with the time schedule
• Visit the site, if possible, to familiarize yourself, particularly if you haven't been there before

1 month ahead

·         Keep praying.

·         Keep publicizing through bulletins, news, mailings, handouts, and word of mouth.

·         Assign specific tasks to teams.

·         Orient, train, and motivate leaders/teams.

·         Give clear job expectations to leaders.

·         Be clear with leaders about time commitments.

·         Follow-up with individuals regarding their progress on tasks assigned.

·         Familiarize your leaders with the facility use agreement and relevant policies.

2-3 weeks ahead

·         Continue to pray.

·         Keep publicizing, ESPECIALLY by word of mouth.

·         If cooking food, plan meals based on registrations.

·         Hand out itinerary and things to bring.

·         Check in with leaders about progress with their areas.

1 week ahead

·         Pray some more!

·         If you need to, meet with planning committee once more to finalize.

Retreat

·         Enjoy!

·         Have a time for reflection and feedback with participants.

·         Hand out evaluations before closing program.

Post-retreat

·         Meet with planning committee to go over evaluations.

·         Make note of what worked and what didn't for the next time.

·         Follow-up with individuals to continue meeting your objectives

Note: The Christian Camping International publication "Seven Steps for Effective Retreats" (part of their Focus series) is quite good. I recommend it highly. You can reach CCI at www.cciusa.org.

Tips Gathered From Experienced Retreat Leaders

·         Personal contact via word of mouth is the BEST promotion!

·         Choose at least three people to invite people individually.

·         When deciding price, give scholarships instead of lowering price.

·         Budget for a positive balance (i.e., charge $5 extra to cover unexpected expenses).

·         Usually 24-48 hours is typical for length of retreat — but it can be more or less.

·         Be sure to allow for flexibility, spontaneity. Be open to the Spirit!

·         Over-plan (plan for more than you'll actually include in any one event) so there are no lapses, but allow for flexibility.

·         Allow time for worship, unstructured time, input, reflection, and reaction.

·         Individual sessions should be 90 minutes maximum.

·         Always plan optional strategies in case of a change of circumstances (i.e., weather factors).

·         Choose a site that is not too far away and not too close — it's good to have a sense of being apart from your usual setting.

·         The site should match your objectives for gathering.

·         Be able to specify what kind of space you need (spaces for gathering the whole group together, as well as breakout spaces for small-group activities, for example).

·         Consider the number of people desirable for your particular objectives. Bigger is not necessarily better.

·         Touch base with your planning committee at least once during the retreat to review schedule and process and make any adjustments required.

·         If appropriate, offer classes or groups for follow-up after the retreat.

An ordained pastor, Lisa Jean Hoefner is the Executive Director of Camp and Retreat Ministries for the Oregon-Idaho Conference of The United Methodist Church.

Opening Hearts to the Spirit:
SUGGESTIONS FOR
SUCCESSFUL CHURCH-RELATED MEETINGS
AND PLANNING RETREATS

Incorporating spiritual practices into your meetings to take full advantage of the special camp/retreat environment.

By Miranda Lovegren

One of the important pieces of church-related planning and meeting retreats is providing and creating an environment where the Spirit of Christ can break in, enter hearts fully, and move us toward goals guided by God's agenda working through us. It is this environment that is the special gift of such times set aside for planning meetings/retreats/conferences.

Contrary to popular belief, great meetings aren't directed by a well-planned agenda, or a leader that simply keeps everyone "on task," but by the positive synergy of the Holy Spirit breaking in and being allowed to guide the group. Usually at church meetings, we open and close with prayer, asking that the Spirit will guide us, and hoping that It will. Sometimes it works, and we know the difference immediately of one of those "empowered" meetings where God broke in and synergy happened.

But as is often the case, sometimes we ask God to do things for us that God has already done or given us the tools to do, and we miss out on the full opportunity to realize God's blessing. The Spirit of God is freely given, always. We don't need to ask God to "be with us," or to "bless this meeting," because God always is and always does. It's just that sometimes we are too focused on other things to open our hearts to God's presence and guidance.

This paper outlines some conceptual "tools of the trade" that camp/retreat leaders use to lead good retreats, and we have found them to be extremely effective for church meetings held at our sites. There is an observable night and day difference between meetings that incorporate these spiritual practices and those that don't, in the success of what gets accomplished. But what is even more important is the practicing of spiritual disciplines that allow for deeper connections with God, and the building of relationships in Christ with one another.

In order to fully take advantage of being in a wonderful camp/retreat setting and the time you have carved out of your lives to focus on whatever task is before you at your meeting, we encourage you to incorporate these practices into your time together. This is "being the church" at its best. Please feel free to take them to your churches and use them there too!

Core Concepts:

1.      Building Christian Community -- Developing a sense of being part of the body of Christ (building Christian community) among participants is essential to productive retreats, laying the groundwork for the Spirit of Christ to be fully realized among you.  These activities help to "break the ice" that has formed on hearts from being in "un-kingdom-like" environments. "Ice-breakers" and "community builders" help people feel comfortable enough with each other to risk being open to sharing what "holy nudges" they may be feeling without fearing being ridiculed. Fear of ridicule, or of rejection by dismissal before even being listened to, are major barriers to Spirit-led synergy in any group.

2.      Good Bible Study has all kinds of potential to build groups, open hearts, lead to discernment, provide assurance that your work is scripturally grounded, and, as an added benefit, to help people deepen their appreciation of this living Word.  Take time to prayerfully contemplate, and/or thoughtfully discuss, scripture stories, passages or concepts that may give direction to your group. The strategy I prefer with such bible study is not to pick something that gives "obvious" answers, but pick something that makes people wrestle with the text and discover answers for themselves, sometimes surprising ones!

3.      Engage the group in discussion that models how you want to work together during the meeting. (Prayerful discernment, no dumb questions or ideas, good listening to one another, encouraging everyone to participate.)  Effective strategy to maximize participation and impact: divide the group into groups of 3-5 to discuss the scripture together and then have each group share with the whole body any special insights that came up. You may also give each group a different assignment (a different angle to look for in the same text, or different texts related to a theme) to report back to the whole group.  If you don't have time for the bible study, incorporate a shorter version of it into a worship service.

4.      Worship Taking the time to enter into worship together is essential in creating an environment of sacred possibility where hearts are opened to God's Spirit.
Incorporate different kinds of prayer into your worship, music, and the lessons from the scripture studies, or add additional related scriptures to share. A short lesson, homily, or guiding words to set the tone for the meeting by the leader can be added. These spiritual disciplines help to open our ears to hear God's sometimes gentle Word. 

Worship services need only be 5-20 minutes for the purposes outlined here, but can be longer if you wish. For an opening worship experience, include moments of quiet prayer and meditation on 1) becoming aware of God's presence, and 2) discerning God's will for your group. For a community-building worship service (usually in the middle of your time together) uphold one another with an affirmation activity. Communion can be incorporated powerfully here to bring people together in Christ. Emphasize the concept of the body of Christ, everyone doing their part to make the whole group the best it can be.

For a closing worship service, celebrate the work you have accomplished, the community you have built, and the ministry ahead of you. The mood should be celebratory and high-energy. A commissioning of persons assigned to specific tasks, or the whole group as it goes forth to do the work of the church, helps to validate and empower people to go forth with holy boldness into the world.

5.      "Break-in Break" & Creative Expression - taking a special break to do something that allows God's Spirit to "break-in" to your mind, your heart, your body, and then taking some time to express creatively the Spirit that touched you during this exercise.

"Break-in Break" - Perhaps a walk in the forest, sitting by the stream, quiet time in your room looking out at the forest, contemplate scripture, meditate, exercise, go fishing, have a conversation with Jesus, whatever works to help you let go of time and work, and allows God to enter in.

Creative Expression - Then do something to express and share the Spirit of God that broke into your life today. Create something with your hands, write a poem, write whatever insights or inspirations may have come to you, share a special moment with another person, write a letter to a friend or spouse or child, allow God's love to flow through you to another, be it a person or another part of God's creation.
Some people will spend most of their time doing the "Break-in" activity; others will spend more time with the expression part. It doesn't matter. This is your Kairos time with God. I would suggest allowing 90 minutes or more for this special time, and gathering back for a worship of sharing and celebrating God's immanence in our lives before starting into the next segment of your meeting.

6.      Energy Modifiers These are quick activities that help to bring up, mellow-out, or refocus the energy of your group. They are good ways to gather after breaks, or good ways to do a quick break without letting people leave the meeting. Here are a few of the ones I've seen used the most:

v     Music, even if it is singing familiar hymns/songs a cappella, is a great energy modifier. Just pick a song that matches the mood you want to create.

v     During the meeting, remind the group to keep in mind "how is God speaking to us right now?"

v     Stretching exercises, body movement. Slow if you want to calm or refresh a group, active if you want to energize a group.

7.      Quick group-builder games

v     During the meeting, use the strategy of dividing up into small groups of people interested in particular action items, to explore in more depth and then share back with the whole group.

v     Stand up, turn to your right (or left) and scratch (rub) the person's back in front of you (only use with groups who are comfortable with personal touch).

v     Turn to your neighbor and share about… (leader chooses a topic). Can be a personal question to help your group know each other better, or it can be related to your agenda item at the moment as a way to shift energy if you get stuck on something. (This is a good way to get people started talking about something they may be shy about sharing with the whole group at first.)

v     Prayer concerns, joys (very effective to do these 1 on 1 by turning to neighbor rather than with whole group sometimes).

v     Have someone tell a joke.

v     There are all kinds of other ideas available in resource books located at the camp/retreat sites.

8.      Implementation: Invite different members of your group ahead of time to lead the different components of this program. Just one person should not lead them all if at all possible. Let people practice being spiritual leaders!

If you need help with specific programs, games, music, worship materials, etc., your camp Directors and staff will be happy to assist you!  May God bless your meeting with great joy and spirit-filled guidance!