1st Blog
This weekend I spent the weekend at Camp Lutherwald with the Church that I am doing my practicum at. We spent the weekend getting to know some of the members of the youth group, and helping them grow in their walk with Christ. In all I spent about 24 hours with the group this weekend. The trip was from Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon. When we got there Friday night we all got settled in to our cabins, and then we had a camp fire with songs and fun. Then Kevin Aaron gave a little devotional about how we all need to practice the spiritual discipline of rest more in our lives. When he did this he had us lie on our backs and just look at the stars in the sky, and soak in God’s glory. This was a great time for all of the youth and leaders alike to realize how little we actually do practice this spiritual discipline. On Saturday we had a time of service projects where we tried to help out around the camp wherever it was needed, and bless them for allowing us to have our retreat there. After the service project we all got changed and participated in the mud hike, which was a blast to experience with the youth and the other leaders that went on the hike. This hike did have a great purpose to it at the end other than just being a fun time of fellowship. At the end of the mud hike we ended up in a stream, which is where Kevin had a little “lesson” prepared for us. He said that the mud was like sin, and how often times we get stuck in sin, and it sticks to us. The stream was like a baptism of sorts in that it was a public showing and time for us to get clean of our sin. Later in the evening we had another bible study with the youth. It was about the story when Jesus compared the kingdom of heaven to the mustard seed. He told us that in Jesus’ day the mustard plant was somewhat of an annoyance, and had the youth think about why Jesus would compare the kingdom of heaven to an annoyance. In this time we broke the student up into small groups and talked about this, and one of the answers was that it was because we are like the mustard plant because we can be somewhat of an annoyance, and we as believers make up the kingdom. On Sunday morning we then had a church service outside, where Kevin’s dad Dave brought the message. One question that I have is how you deal with the students in your group that will not cooperate with anything that we are supposed to be doing in the group. The second question that I have is do all of the devotions and Bible studies all have to relate to one another in some way when you are at a retreat?
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2 comments:
1. RE: Uncooperative Kids. Here's the way I see it. In truth, they are the ones missing out. You can really only do the best you can. First of all, it helps to keep them involved, ask them what they think about a certain question or are of the study. Try and lead them towards answers and do not let them wander into other discussions within the group. Another thing you can do is pull the kid aside after the study or before the next one and have a private chat with him or her. Explain that you are delighted they are with you and that you really like having them with you, but that you need them to remain cooperative within the group. Make it clear that it is not expected that they have all the answers and not have any fun. But make clear that they need to bring it down a notch or two. Bribery is not a bad option if done tastefully. I am not talking about money or food for good behavior. But tell them that if they can just sit through the study and be good, their will be a fun activity scheduled to happen afterwards. All in all, it is a touchy situation with numerous solutions, but none that work under every circumstance. You really have to just feel out what works best.
2. RE: Same Topic Studies. I do not feel it is necessary to remain focused on one subject. Many times a retreat is focused on one thing. Often it is focused on Christian community and the values of being surrounded by other Christians. After all, it is a great time to bring the group together and bond. In some cases, such as the Lutherwald retreat when you are in nature, it is an easy thing to do having studies of the same nature. They can all be tied together throughout the retreat and the youth can see a small idea at the start of the weekend or a lot of small ideas come together by the end of the retreat into the big picture. It is fun for them to see the final product of all the lessons put together. But I do not feel it is vital to the retreat. You could have a different topic altogether for every study or devotion and still be able to give the youth a powerful and memorable retreat. I think it would be important to make most of the devotions and studies structured to have one main point that can be easily identified and taken from it. This would allow the youth to walk away with a bunch of big picture ideas instead of a multitude of scripture, details and small bits that do not all fit together easily. Either way, I do not feel it is vital to have a topic for the whole retreat, though it can sometimes be easier to plan and implement.
-Kevin Aaron
1. RE: Uncooperative Kids. Here's the way I see it. In truth, they are the ones missing out. You can really only do the best you can. First of all, it helps to keep them involved, ask them what they think about a certain question or are of the study. Try and lead them towards answers and do not let them wander into other discussions within the group. Another thing you can do is pull the kid aside after the study or before the next one and have a private chat with him or her. Explain that you are delighted they are with you and that you really like having them with you, but that you need them to remain cooperative within the group. Make it clear that it is not expected that they have all the answers and not have any fun. But make clear that they need to bring it down a notch or two. Bribery is not a bad option if done tastefully. I am not talking about money or food for good behavior. But tell them that if they can just sit through the study and be good, their will be a fun activity scheduled to happen afterwards. All in all, it is a touchy situation with numerous solutions, but none that work under every circumstance. You really have to just feel out what works best.
2. RE: Same Topic Studies. I do not feel it is necessary to remain focused on one subject. Many times a retreat is focused on one thing. Often it is focused on Christian community and the values of being surrounded by other Christians. After all, it is a great time to bring the group together and bond. In some cases, such as the Lutherwald retreat when you are in nature, it is an easy thing to do having studies of the same nature. They can all be tied together throughout the retreat and the youth can see a small idea at the start of the weekend or a lot of small ideas come together by the end of the retreat into the big picture. It is fun for them to see the final product of all the lessons put together. But I do not feel it is vital to the retreat. You could have a different topic altogether for every study or devotion and still be able to give the youth a powerful and memorable retreat. I think it would be important to make most of the devotions and studies structured to have one main point that can be easily identified and taken from it. This would allow the youth to walk away with a bunch of big picture ideas instead of a multitude of scripture, details and small bits that do not all fit together easily. Either way, I do not feel it is vital to have a topic for the whole retreat, though it can sometimes be easier to plan and implement.
-Kevin Aaron
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