The Need For Us to Have MYP Teen Retreats By Tom Leavens

Every June,  the MYP Team gets together to plan the upcoming season. We look at the calendar and plan the dates for meetings and events—and we always schedule a retreat toward the end of the season, usually following Easter. Very often, we need to postpone the retreat for a number of reasons: Team availability, number of teens, suitable location. So why do we keep scheduling a teen retreat every year?

Most former MYP Teens and Team Members will recall their best retreat experiences. They are usually tied to Saturday Night Entertainment, or breaking the curfew, or really breaking a rule. Maybe it’s a memory of a Team Member on Night Patrol catching them sneaking out of their bedroom; or a skit or music video they performed in; or how one of their favorite Team Members was “the Sap in the Forest” or the Potpourri category in Jeopardy.

But the most important reason for planning a retreat is to provide the teens with a better, more intimate experience than they have at our regular monthly events. The Team creates or revisits a theme that is memorable and powerful. The talk outlines are more detailed and challenging to give and inspire. The activities strive to be fun and allow the teens to be more introspective. All of these factors are important—but the most important desire for the Team is to schedule a  retreat that brings the teens to a different level in their faith journey. The teens should be able to focus of themselves, on their lives and, hopefully set goals for themselves. The fun, the laughs, the memories are critical—but how they leave the retreat with their relationship with God is most important—and the marks that we have left (and continue to leave) on each other that changes us for the rest of our lives. Please pray for us—that this year’s scheduled retreat can happen for our teens!