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ok i know i am late and i am sorry to anyone that was ready to post...please forgive me!
ReplyDeleteAnyway retreats and camps are so important because this is where most teens/children have their so called "mountain top" experiences. A lot of soul searching is done at these events and so this is where students tend to have very intimate times with God. Often this is also where students will make a commitment to God or rededicate their lives to Him.
Also I feel like a lot of crucial friendships are made and built up during camps and retreats. I know that some of my best friends are people that i either met or were close to when I went to camp. I think what is so important about these friendships is that it isn't just that you enjoy the same things as these people but you have your spirituality in common. This is what can make these friendships so strong, they are based on God and not on not God (for lack of a better phrase).
Also a big thing about camps/retreats is just that it gives teens/children time away from the world. I mean I know they have to go back out into it but these events are just nice refreshers for them, and they help prepare them to go back out into the world. I mean honestly a little R&R never hurt anyone!
So I haven't read the chapter yet but here goes...
ReplyDeleteI can certainly testify to the fact that camps are a great place for mountaintop experiences. And while I don't want to dismiss that, I do know that those repeated mountaintop experiences with no lasting change wears on teens (or at least it wore on me). I think that this is a fairly widespread problem that also relates to mission trips, lock-ins, and even simple altar calls. Emotionally charged activities always wear off eventually.
Therefore the committments made at camps, retreats, whatever MUST be nurtured after the fact.
I must say good job Liz at not reading and answering the question... b/c the book does talk about that!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I have to agree that these experineces are sometimes "mountian top" ones for teens, but Liz is right, they can only be short lived and that is not good. The book suggests that your prepare them for the "honeymoon's over" part of the camp/retreat so that they know that it is coming and how they can deal with it. However, I do not think that this means that you just tell them... I think that there needs to be true preparation for them so that they can handel it when the time comes.
I also think that retreats and camps do give teens more than children, a time relax from their busy worlds. This would hopefully help them to see the need for silence and time to stop in thier lives for themselves and God.
A Camp is where a teen has time to hear God and connect back with our selves.A time where we might find out our direction in life.Many teens my find them selves chooosing to accept God as their Lord and Savior.Camps are a great time to reflect on what is going on in life. As teen we tend to get lost in life its self when we are at school.Our minds get focused on what is the next thing that we have to do which plugges our ears for hearing the still small voice.Sometimes things become clear to use at least until we get caught up in life agian .Come to a point that God is realy there and is willing to talk with us .
ReplyDeleteso i really love camps! everything about them and what they have to offer! children, teens, and even adults learn so much at camps that it gives a great environment for everyone. now i know that there are those horror stories about camps and all that but there is something about a camp that takes everyone out of their comfort zone and puts them in a place where they all feel this sense of wonder and can be apart of a great happening. everyone learns alot and has a great time! its a time where you can get away from the mundaneness of everyday life and truly be yourself!
ReplyDeleteAt camps kids and teens lives are changed. This is where I realized my love for working with the younger teens and kids. This is where decisions to live a life in service are made. Camps have the craziest things that happen at them, we all know that. But God is there and He is shaping the lives of young people, isn't that a important?
ReplyDeleteI love Liz's comment about the emotionally charged events, or mountain top experiences. I can completely relate. I have been one to have a somewhat critical attitude about things like this. People going up to the altar for whatever reasons and usually they end up being emotional experiences and don't get nurtured but need to be as liz said. BUT BUT BUT. I would say that without these things people would not have as many opportunities to get saved, people would have less chances to grow in Christ. So while these retreats can sometimes cause us to criticize and look down on these mountaintop experiences we also have to realize that there is soo much good that can come from them too. Especially in the sense of building relationships with eachother.
ReplyDeleteI know that at camp is where my life has been impacted the most. Most of my major decisions about Christian living have been made at camp.
ReplyDeleteI do, however, agree with Ryan. I have been critical especially lately as I have worked at the camps. I think being on the other side of the ministry you see exactly how emotionally driven the decisions are the kids make. I think it is important for us to remember that even though those decisions are primarily emotional, the campers are experiencing Christ in a different way than they probably ever do in their home church. Even if those decisions do not stick with them, they are actually gaining an experience that they won't forget.
I completely agree with everyone. After I read Carolyn's, I had quite a bit to say, but then you all stole it :-P So I guess I'll just talk about my own experience.
ReplyDeleteUnlike Brieanna, I don't think I made very many decisions at camp. It was more like I listened to God at camp. All of the camps I've been to have required that I don't bring a cell phone, or anything that might distract me from God or the people around me. This is the beauty of camps and retreats. You get to hush everything around you for a few days and focus ALL of your attention on listening to the still small voice of God. I'm not saying we shouldn't do that more often - we SHOULD! But camps and retreats I think can be really good for people because of their ability to aid in hearing God.
There have been a couple of things that I've heard from God during a camp or retreat that have been pretty big. Like, He told me that He wanted me to go to Germany and minister to youth one year. I actually ended up going on the mission trip with this school to Germany my freshman year and we ministered to youth the whole time and then I ended up going back again by myself for 3 weeks that summer. It was amazing.
However, most of the things I hear from God at camp aren't quite as radical. Just the little things I need to tune my heart to God more. So, I wouldn't say that camps and retreats are about the "mountaintop experiences". I had a couple of those, but the most camps and retreats ever did for me was to help me listen to the voice of God, free from the craziness at home.
I really love hearing everyone's passion for camps and retreats.
ReplyDeleteI'm a pretty big believer in the way that God can speak to us when we're silent and we allow him to. I don't think that there is anything special about a camp or retreat that allows God to work in a way he couldn't during the course of our everyday lives, but I think that when we consciously set aside a weekend or a week for him to move - he'll move. God wants to change us for the better ALL THE TIME anyhow, so all a camp or retreat really does is help us to be mindful of him, and it puts us in a place to allow him to do what he wants to anyhow.
I'm sorry if that thought was really difficult to understand. I'm pretty tired, so it may not have come out well...
:/
Camps and retreats pull us away from our daily lives so that we have a chance to find God without so many distractions. They establish a sense of community among the group, which leads to a deeper commitment (in most cases) of those in attendance to the youth program.
ReplyDeleteCamps and retreats are a great way to get friends to a place where they can experience God without being overwhelmed by the church. Probably the best example of this that I am aware of happens in Israel. When I was there during J-Term, we had the opportunity to listen to a man who runs an extraordinary ministry. He builds relationships between Messianic Jews and Palestinian Christians by taking them on desert retreats. In their communities, these groups have a known hatred for each other and their church lives are definitely separate. However, when removed from that situation, this man can get people from these two groups to have a dependence on each other for survival. They build relationships through trial and ultimately break down barriers between their cultures.
I agree with all said above about mountaintop experiences and the effects of the fall that inevitably occurs afterward. That fall can be devastating, and can ruin all the good that happened during the event if the student is not nurtured by the youth pastor or other leaders in a genuine way. It's easy for teens to make decisions during all the hype of an exciting event, but as youth leaders, we need to curb our excitement (there will be plenty of time to celebrate later) and focus on helping that student understand that there is a downside to the mountain, but coming down doesn't have to hurt.
Camps and retreats are necessary parts of ministry, and can be extremely beneficial when they are done right and God's will is found in them.
Camps have made HUGE impacts in my life. I believe they have helped me discover my calling. One thing that I have realized about camps is the curriculum that they have not planned to teach has made the most impact. Through camps I have established great relationships. I have met amazing christian leaders and heard heart breaking stories from fellow campers. I think at camp is where people are more vulnerable because they are out of their comfort zones, like the book said, but also vulnerable because they are with people and not distracted. When you spend time with people in such a tight community, you get to know them even better and get to know yourself better. Through building relationships and learning about yourself, you open up to things much easier.
ReplyDeleteI would agree that a camp or retreat is a "mountaintop" experience. Some above me have argued that this is good, some have said it is bad, and most would agree it is both.
ReplyDeleteI think that the Bible provides us with examples of times when it has been necessary to just escape from the world and spend time with nobody but God, times when the people of God have needed to get together just to celebrate each other's company, and times when we have needed to get to work and come off the mountain.
I think the bottom line is that we need times of spiritual and emotional highs as human beings and there is nothing wrong with that, but we must not allow our emotions or spiritual highs to rule our lives either. We need to find the Via Media when it comes to the way we treat emotional highs including but not limited to camps and retreats.
Camps and retreats are great mountain top experiences as liz said. they are also great times for the leaders to conect and become closer to their students.
ReplyDeleteI think that one thing that hindders the experience is that after the week there is no real follow up through out the year and we slide back because we know that next year we can change that. that is a little off topic though.
I do agree with the above post that these highs not just emotional but spiritual highs are not limited to the camp and retreat which is why what i said earlier may happen.
Going to camps and retreats gives the students an oppurtunity to go outside the church walls and experience something new. It is a chance to spend quality time with one another and to deepen relationships. From personal experience, certain retreats have changed my life. With teens, the idea of just getting away from home and spending a weekend with others their age gives them excitement and an oppurtunity to grow in a whole different way.
ReplyDeleteI think that camps and retreats are set up to be a treat for the students. In a world where students feel marginalized, ignored and a disappointment a camp that makes the student feel like they are the best thing sense sliced bread is going to win them over. This sets up an environment where they feel safe to be honest. Honesty makes a student feel vulnerable, feeling vulnerable makes the students emotional and thus the stage is set for an alter call.
ReplyDelete