Why do a Core Retreat ?
With everything else that fills the youth ministry calendar, why take more time to do a retreat for the Core Team? Good question with an even better answer. Simply put, we cannot expect the teens to take time to encounter Christ on a retreat if we do not do the same. We cannot expect to lead the teens to a profound relationship with God if we are not developing one ourselves. And in the end, God brought you into youth ministry not to just transform teen’s hearts, but to transform yours as well. It is a sacrifice to take time away from families and busy schedules, but God is never outdone in generosity. We recommend that the Core Team make a yearly retreat together. This resource is just one of many retreat outlines for Core Teams published by Life Teen. Choose a retreat date well in advance and encourage the entire team to schedule accordingly. This retreat should not be a “planning weekend/ retreat.” Set this aside as sacred time for prayer and use other meetings for planning youth ministry events.
Goal
The goal of this retreat is for the Core Members to understand their identity as baptized sons and daughters of God. Before we are husband, wife, father, mother, minister, employee or anything else, we are primarily God’s children. In our Baptism, we were baptized priest, prophet and king. These identities form the basis of who we are in Christ and give us the ability to minister in Christ’s name. This retreat will unpack these three baptismal identities and how they affect our relationship with God and our ministry to young people.