About this resource

Retreat: Just Like You: a Retreat Event Guide for Youth Ministry Event Category: Retreat Spiritual Habit: Spend Time with God & Spend Time with Others Age Group: Students For a well-rounded and holistic approach to your ministry events, there are 10 different kinds of events we recommend including in your annual event strategy. The category for this event is a RETREAT. This type of event is focused on helping teenagers grow spiritually and build relationships. Over a weekend, they'll practice the spiritual habits of spending time with God and others. A weekend retreat is the perfect environment to challenge students to go deeper in their faith. It's an opportunity to take all the relationships and trust you've built throughout the year, and leverage them for a significant spiritual moment for your students. The right weekend retreat, when done strategically, can help your students grow closer to God, grow closer to each other, and connect more deeply with your ministry. Whether you decide to hold your retreat in your community (at a combination of church and host homes) or at a nearby retreat center, this Event Guide will help you plan a weekend retreat for the first time, or maybe just get a little better at it! All our events are built to be flexible! You can customize this event to your ministry's needs, but here's how we recommend using this one: use this event for spiritual growth, outreach and fun. You can do this at a retreat center or host homes. You'll receive games, group activities, teaching and more! TOPIC: Jesus SCRIPTURE: the New Testament DECORATING THEME: Reflections AGE GROUP: Students When you were a kid, was there someone you wanted to be just like? Maybe it was a favorite cartoon character, athlete, musician, or even an older sibling or a friend who just seemed cool. We all have people we look up to and want to be like, but what if the person we're meant to reflect the most is Jesus? During this weekend retreat, we'll explore what it really means to follow Jesus and become more like him. We'll see that we're called to be just like Jesus and that as we spend with God, God's Spirit makes us more like Jesus. BIG IDEAS & BIBLE STORIES We're called to be just like Jesus. Jesus Washes His Disciples' Feet: 1 John 2:6; John 13:1-15; 1 John 3:16; Philippians 2:3-4 God's Spirit makes us more like Jesus. (The Fruit of the Spirit: 2 Corinthians 3:18, Galatians 5:22-23; Matthew 5:14-16) WEEKLY CURRICULUM SUMMARIES: In this session, we learn that living like Jesus means obeying God's words, and we see Jesus set an example by washing his disciples' feet. Have you ever noticed yourself acting like your family or friends after spending a lot of time with them? In this session, we'll learn how following Jesus means obeying God's words and see Jesus' example of washing his disciples' feet. The more we walk with Jesus, the more we love and serve like him because we understand that we're called to be just like Jesus. In this session, we see that being like Jesus means putting others first, showing love through selflessness, and serving humbly, just as Jesus did in his life. Sometimes, being around kind and generous people makes us want to be kind and generous, too. In this session, we'll see how Jesus showed ultimate love by putting others before himself and how we can follow his example in our own lives. The more we reflect his love and humility, the more we live out the truth that we're called to be just like Jesus. In this session, we explore how God's Spirit transforms us to be more like Jesus and learn about the fruit of the Spirit that we can grow. Just like a coach helps us improve at a sport, we're not on our own when it comes to growing in faith. In this session, we'll see how God's Spirit shapes us to reflect Jesus and how the evidence of that change shows up as the fruit of the Spirit. Real change happens from the inside out because God's Spirit makes us more like Jesus. In this session, we see how we're called to shine as lights in the world and how we bear fruit by remaining in Jesus. A lightbulb can't shine unless it's connected to a power source. In the same way, as we spend more time with Jesus, our lives start to reflect his love and goodness to the world around us. In this session, we'll see how God's Spirit works in us to make that possible because God's Spirit makes us more like Jesus. MEMORY VERSE: "Follow God's example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." - Ephesians 5:1-2 (NIV)

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