Jon Jarvis Youth Pastor One Church Gloucester
Residential weekends are genius. They stretch your leaders, create powerful God-encounters for your young people and create memories nobody will ever forget.
A weekend away balances excellent youth events with quality time for your young people. At my last church it was the only time we could really crank up the amps and make as much noise as we could, and spend as long as we wanted for our evening sessions as we relished in the presence of God. Then just playing football/death sliding/abseiling/eating/chilling with them throughout the day adds so much more depth. It’s the ultimate youth pastor’s balanced ministry diet!
So if you’re planning on planning one – here’s some things to think about:
Venue
Choosing the right venue is key. Some will offer catering, some have outdoor activity packages. Both come at a price. I’d always avoid camping sites… The better sleep you, your team and your young people get the better life will be. My main difficulty has been finding a venue that not only has enough beds for everyone but a meeting hall big enough too.
There are plenty of Christian organisations that offer a discounted rate for church groups. That’s a good place to start – and a recommendation from a friend goes a long way.
I’ve booked a few weekends away via this website: http://www.cci.org.uk/ – it’s a search engine for Christian residential centres.
Cost
Like any other event you’re running, you don’t want to price people out of coming, particularly if this is your first one as people won’t be booking on reputation.
Running your own activities and self catering is a massive cost saver. Paying for two or three people from your church to come and cater for you will save you a stack of money in the long run. Tesco have delivered a van full of food to some very random places for us!
Some things to take into account:
1. Price per head the venue is charging you
2. Food – work with your caterers to agree a price per head
3. Transport
4. Entertainment & activities
5. Freebies – who goes for free?
6. Hiring/transporting PA
7. Ministry gift and expenses for guest speaker
Nationally, the government and other organisations are cutting back on their youth services. This means they don’t have the funding to run all they previously were. As a result there are often small grants of £1-2k you can apply for to take young people on residential trips. That’s a pretty handy subsidy.
Meetings
Take a band if you have one; make worship a feature of your weekend. Let them be creative with it. I’ve been to weekends away where they don’t have a band so I’ve seen everything from one guy and a guitar to singing along to Hillsong DVDs. They all worked because it’s about the presence of God not the quality of your musicianship.
If you’re the point youth leader or youth pastor then use this opportunity to speak vision into your youth ministry. Be deliberate about making opportunities for response and prayer.
Entertainment
I mentioned earlier about activities that the centres provide – often outdoor pursuit stuff like climbing and abseiling. But planning your own is a good idea too – is there a local town to take an afternoon trip to? Bonfires, sports tournaments, films, cards, team building activities are all doable.
Guest speaker
I can preach the same thing a hundred times but it’s been the guest speaker that broke through. Sometimes it just works like that so be comfortable getting someone in to add that extra edge. If you don’t know another leader to invite then contact !Audacious and we’ll put you in touch with someone.
Remember to be an example setter in honouring your guest both publicly with words and privately with a ministry gift.
Rules
There are some basics that have saved me a tonne of headaches:
1. Keep opposite sexes dorms out of bounds
2. Zero tolerance on drugs and alcohol
3. Have a lights out time. Nobody will love you for this except your team.
4. Make meals and meetings compulsory
5. Keep everyone on site
When you send out consent forms, list the rules there so the parents and young people know what they are committing to.
Setup
Get there early. Take banners, print programs, have a welcome desk, put names on dorms, have the meeting room set up etc, so when your guys arrive the place has your stamp on it. There are always last minute changes to be made, and lots of hunting down the centre manager to borrow stuff you left behind!
That’s it!
Surely not all you need to know but that will give you a head start.
I went on a residential once as a 16 year old, on the fringes of the ‘older youth’. I clearly remember playing football with everyone on really long grass on a slopey pitch that made the goals look more like a maths test. I remember cheekily staying up late with some guys trying to use a coat hanger to tune into Match of the Day on an old VCR after lights out. I remember hot chocolate with new friends. I remember one guy and his guitar leading worship, thinking it was lame, then having what was probably my first ever personal breakthrough in worship.
