Tips for Planning a Successful Church Retreat

Planning a retreat can be tough; but remember that retreats are supposed to be adventurous, exciting, fun and relaxing. A church retreat is an opportunity for your members to get in touch with their spiritual self, to get in touch with God. To stay on track of your objective, it is ideal that you coordinate your activities with your facilitator.

If you are planning a retreat, spend some time to assure that everyone will enjoy the retreat. It can be quite a task to put together a church retreat. Don’t worry, here at Quest Adventure Camp, we’ve handled a lot of church retreats that’s why we have some tips on how to plan your own church retreat.

Why Should You Go on A Church Retreat?

The main purpose of the retreat is to provide a Christ-centered program to all the participants that belong to diverse cultures. It will help them make their relationship stronger with Jesus Christ and serve Him in the best way. It will provide the necessary support and training that will help you to plan and promote an exciting retreat that will meet everyone’s expectations.

What matters the most is how you plan everything. We understand that you are tired of hearing the same thing, but in your heart, you know that it is important. Being a retreat coordinator is not an easy task because there are many details and tasks that you must manage with perfection. So, let us get started to assure that all your hard work will be worth it in the end.

We have the seven important steps that you have can follow to flawlessly plan a retreat:

Define the purpose of retreat

When you are considering the purpose or theme of the retreat, make sure it has nothing to do with just leisure time and dilly dally. There should be an important purpose behind the retreat if you want people to come and associate with you. Define your purpose with the following tips:

• Select an organization in your church and write down the objectives and reasons of sponsoring the organization for a church retreat. Is this organization full of beginner members? Do they need some refresher? Are there existing conflicts that needs to be resolved?
• Write all the specific objectives of your retreat. Are you aiming for a reflection retreat? Or are you looking for a more active, team-building type of retreat?
• Make a list of all the major activities and events and compare them with the objectives that you have planned. Are those relevant to each other?

Promoting and announcing the retreat

Proper promotion of retreat plays an important role in its success. You have to set some goals that will help you to grow the enthusiasm and excitement of the participants.

• When communicating the purpose of retreat, you have to be clear and specific
• The registration deadline and late fee should be highlighted — you still need funds to make the most out of your retreat!
• Maintain a time schedule and publish it with the details of program
• Select three individuals from your team that will personally invite everyone else — promotion through word-of-mouth can do wonders for your attendance and participation.

Pay attention to the participants

The participants are the most important aspects of the retreat, not the program. That’s why it is imperative to come up with a program that will be exciting and beneficial for the participants. For the success of your retreat, you will have to be the best leader.

• For the entire personnel, you should provide training, orientation, and motivation.
• You should give a written job description to all the leaders — you need to be specific with their roles to avoid overlapping of responsibilities during the activities.
• There should be a time commitment for the retreat by all the members of the team, so everything can be properly managed.

Plan the program

The elements of your program will always be incomplete if you will only rely on your team members. There are several individuals that can give ideas about the programs they have seen in the other retreats but they do not have the ability to put it all together. To make everything manageable all you have to do is make a list of Do’s and Don’ts.

• Beginning of the program should be at departure point
• There are several idea books and resources that can help you out
• The guest leaders and speakers should know about the objects of the retreat
• Retreat facilitators can create the program for you; coordinate with your venue facilitator at least a week before the retreat to settle things.

Wisely select your location

An important decision that you will have to make is the selection of the retreat location. All the options that you have in mind, make sure that you share it with your team. It will help you in the selection because they will enlist all the pros and cons of different locations. Here are some tips that will help you in the procedure of selection:

• Consider your retreat objectives when you are selecting the site.
• Visit the location and bring your team so they can check the site’s orientation.
• At your orientation, read through the camp rental agreement.
• With the camp’s food service coordinator, discuss the menu and food service arrangement because you have to assure that everything will be according to your specifications. Some participants may have food allergies.
• You should be at the location an hour before the participants. Check all the setup and staging so you can assure that all your goals have been properly met.
• Make sure to rate all the service and facilities that you have included at the site. This feedback can help you and the venue to improve on the next church retreat.

Do not forget your expenses!

One of the most important things that you have to consider is the cost of the retreat. In your budget, you have to manage the cost of program, food, transportation, and services. Allot at least 10% additional in case you have to cancel some of the services for unknown reasons. Proper arrangement of the cash is important, and you should assure to always keep some extra money in case of emergencies.

• Instead of reducing the fee, give a scholarship to participants.
• Maintain a budget for profit
• There should be policies for all the tasks
• On cancellation, you should be able to review all the policies.

An effective retreat can give your team a life-changing experience. If you want to experience a one-of-a-kind church retreat while getting in touch with nature, Quest Adventure Camp has the best church retreat venue for your organization.