The Youth Ministry & Spirituality Project

Youth Ministry Volunteers' Retreat

This one-day retreat has the following objectives:

To begin building relationships among the ministry team.
To help individuals identify and deepen their call to this ministry.
For the group to begin discovering their collective identity and the unique vision that God is calling them to undertake.
For the group to understand their roles as youth ministry volunteers and the way in which they will function as a group.
To begin to do some basic planning/organizing for the year.

Setting
Choose a setting that will have limited distractions. Sometimes going to a retreat center or even spending a day at a different church allows a new openness and awareness among the group. Try not to hold this retreat at your church—it may be too distracting for staff and other members; too tempting to make phone calls, or fiddle with tasks and projects during break times.

Supplies
Bible
Copy of “Group Call: Through the Life of the Disciples” for each person
Copy of “Liturgy for Discernment” for each person
Pens and paper for each person.Crayons and drawing and/or construction paper
Clay (optional)
Newsprint or Whiteboard with pens
Candle
Matches
Tape Recorder with contemplative/spiritual/reflective music
Snacks/Drinks
Lunch (or plan for lunch out)

Schedule
8:30 am	Retreat facilitator should arrive and set up room.
9:00	Volunteers should arrive.
9-9:20	Snacks, coffee informal conversation.
9:20	Begin retreat. Opening prayer or ritual to begin time together.
9:25	Facilitator should go over schedule and in simple words outline the purpose of the retreat (see above).
9:35	Ritual. Relating. Check-in. Time for people to answer, “How are you today?”
9:50	Lectio-Divina (Receiving). After everyone has shared, invite the group to a time of prayer. [You should already have a passage chosen for this exercise. Some good passages that focus on call and ministry are: Jeremiah 1:4-8; Isaiah 43:1-7; Mark 10:13-16; Mark 4: 1-9; Luke 4:16-21.] Explain how you are going to lead this prayer. For example you might say,

“In a moment I’ll invite us to recognize God’s presence here with us. We’ll have a couple minutes of silence then I’ll read the scripture passage two times. As I’m reading listen for a word or phrase that seems to stand out, that seems addressed to you, like it’s in bold. If a word comes to you ignore the rest of the reading and just begin to meditate on that word repeating it over and over within yourself. See what images and insights come to you. You may want to spend some time in prayer in response to this word. You may also find yourself just resting in the silence…enjoying God’s presence and what God has given you this morning.”

“We’ll have about five minutes of silence after the second reading. After five minutes I’ll invite us to draw our attention back to the group and then I’ll ask each of us to share what, if anything, has come to them during the prayer. Any questions?….Then let us pray.”

Lead the prayer allowing for five minutes of silence. At the end of the five minutes invite the group to offer thanks to God for their time in prayer and then draw their attention back to the group.

10:05 Ruminating. Invite people to share the word that came to them and any insights or noticings that came out of the prayer.

10:20 Reflecting. Call. Ask the group, “Given everything we’ve heard and shared what is our call (God’s invitation to us) this morning? What is God saying to us this morning as a group?” The purpose of this question is for the group to begin to notice common images and insights from the sharing and begin to notice common ways that the group is being called to serve/live. Also be prepared that there may not be any connections.

10:30 Break.

10:45 Prayer Exercise. Invite the individuals in your group to engage in a prayer exercise with colors. Explain that this is not an art exercise but a time of prayer without words. You might say the following:

“The purpose of the prayer is to listen for the ways in which God is seeking to relate to you at this time in your life. We are listening for how God is calling each of us to live so that we might be clearer as to how this ministry is part of God’s over all call in our lives. We’ll do this through creating an image of our individual lives. In a minute I’ll invite you to a time of silent prayer. In this silence I want you to take a piece of paper and some colors, and then find a place by yourself somewhere in the room (or facility). Ask God to give you an image of your life at this time. It may contain images of different aspects of your life right now…it may be more impressionistic…just colors and designs. Don’t try and force anything just let the images or colors come as you pray [You may want to use this time to explain your own understanding of call. Refer to some of the readings, notes from the inservice, or explain your own understanding or experience of call in order to give the group some ideas on what to pay attention to.]

11:15 Have the group gather and share the images and what they noticed in the prayer. Ask them: 1. What do you notice about your relationship to God in this picture? 2. What seems to be God’s invitation or call as you look at this image? 3. How is this ministry part of your life as you look at this image?

11:45 At the end of the sharing ask, “Are there any common themes in our sharing?” Spend some time discussing this question.

12:00 Lunch

1:30 Group Call. This is a time for the group to begin to examine the unique way that God is calling them, as a group, to serve youth. Give each person the hand-out “Group Call Through the Disciples.” Talk through some of the different stages that the disciples went through as they were called to serve with Jesus. Then allow some silence and ask people to reflect in prayer…what story or emotion from the sheet seems to match our group…or is there another word or image that God gives you that helps explain how were feeling in relationship to Christ and our ministry together?

1:45 Covenant. Create a covenant of how you hope to work together. Present some of the commitments in the original calling (hours per week, meeting times, etc.) [See the commitments in the Calling Process]. Explain the roles of volunteers and the purpose of the ministry team. Create a “working covenant” a document that can be revised as the group engages in the ministry.

2:30 Break.

2:45 Liturgy for Discernment. . Hand-out the “Liturgy for Discernment” and go over the steps of the meeting. You might reflect on how many of these steps have been experienced and incorporated into the retreat this day.

3:45 Business. Go over any agenda items…whatever tasks the group has for the ministry.

4:40 Awareness Examen. End with an Awareness Examen over the day. For what moment do people feel most grateful for this day? For what moment do people feel least grateful?

5:00 Returning. Closing prayer.

6:00 (Might be nice to have dinner inviting families of ministry team…in order to see the larger context in which this ministry operates.)