Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Retreat and Revival
As we near the end of the semester, there are many things that occupy our time. We have projects, papers, and events that may seem to pile up and overwhelm us. In preparing for our retreat, we are also in the middle of revival week. This is a time for us to relax and regain composure through the Spirit. What are some of the ways you hope to grow this weekend? What are some things you hope to learn or have reaffirmed on the retreat? And what are some benefits of incorporating a type of "spring revival" in your ministry (for both the church staff and the congregation)?
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The more I think about it, I feel that having this retreat right after Student Revival is a perfect time to have it. After being a part of revival week this weekend can give us a time away from campus to reflect and prayerfully work through anything that we may have realized from the week. I am hoping to relax over the weekend and grow in simplicity through the Spirit. I hope to learn more on the Spiritual disciplines and to gain a better understanding of living a spirit-filled disciplined life. I think "Spring Revivals" are very important and good to have in your ministry. I think it is a great time to "wake up" everyone in the church to the habits they may have fallen into or even a spirit of apathy that can often arise in the off seasons of the church calendar. This would be a great time to remind the staff and congregation God's call for them, to fill their spirits, and prepare them for their ministry in the months to come. Revivals and retreats can be great ways to reawaken people and give them the energy and spirit-empowerment they need to continue ministry in their local community.
ReplyDeleteI'm very much looking forward to this retreat for many reasons. I'm excited to get away from campus with some of my closest friends, but I'm also excited to have time to focus on me and my spiritual walk. Often times as we serve others and pour our lives into our ministries we get caught up and forget to take time to focus in on ourselves. I'm ready to serve and journey alongside you guys this weekend but I also want to be intentional about doing what I need to in order to grow and refresh.
ReplyDeleteSo, I realize that I'm on the end of this weekend and so have already experienced both revival and the retreat, but I feel like they both greatly surpassed the expectations that I had for them. Through revival I realized so much about the way that I say and think about things and how I haven't really let go and trusted fully that God would take care of some areas in my life. And through retreat, I'll admit I was reluctant to go, what with all the projects and missing a weekend that I could be working to save up money. However, I really felt God use that time to help me build better relationships with people that were on the trip and help me to solve some issues that I feel like I was unconsciously struggling with. I learned a lot about myself and others, and came back a lot more refreshed than I thought. :)
ReplyDeleteSome things I hoped to learn on this trip was more about the disciplines, and to spend more time with each other and God. This being a post trip post I can say I did enjoy the time in which we learned of the importance of time with God through the disciplines. At the being of the retreat I was very unsure of how the retreat would go. Now I see how the retreat has brought me closer to my fellow min majors, and I have been see new ways to spend time with God.
ReplyDeleteHonestly this I did not have much hope of spontaneously growing over the weekend. I believe that retreats like this and camps can promote growth, but what occurs is more than instantaneous, but rather a slow reboot. It is beneficial in creating the momentum that is needed for a more maturing growth, than what could be done in an instant. The retreat was also something I dreaded due to my introversion and knew that I would by the end of the trip be worn out, and incapable of tolerating others. Thankfully I didn't actually bite anyone's head off. I did appreciate some of the topics within the spiritual disciplines that were approached, and I enjoyed the various games and events. Even if it was to a lesser degree then I could have if I wasn't getting increasingly negative as time wore on. Honestly though I mostly hoped to rekindle something in myself that has been smoldering as off late. Talking about it with my small group helped a little but what I really need is something only God can provide.
ReplyDeleteSorry, for jumping on this one late. I will try to portray my thoughts before both things happened. For revival, the most important thing I was looking forward to was finding rest in the Lord. This semester has kicked my butt hard and I am constantly exhausted from everything that I am doing. So, revival was really a time of hope for rest and relaxation for me. The retreat on the other hand, I went in with very little expectations one way or another. I knew it was at an inconvenient time and so to combat the negative thoughts that come so naturally, I had to just not expect anything at all. I was definitely looking forward to the retreat in terms of getting to know some of my fellow students and friends a little bit better. I was really looking forward to the relationships that would grow over the course of the retreat.
ReplyDeleteI liked this retreat. I went into it with a crappy attitude and ended up having some really cool conversations with a few people and came out of it appreciating what I learned. Most trips like this I want to get to most fun out of it, do the craziest things and meet the most amount of people. But for this trip I picked two people I already knew well and two I wanted to get to know better and tried to spend as much time with them. I loved it! I guess I'm more of an introvert than I thought.
ReplyDeleteI was hoping that the weekend would bring a peace to my heart. This semester has been full of grief and drama in several areas of my life. It has been one of those semesters that you just wish would end because you are tired of it. I was hoping that the weekend would give me more direction in my life, and would help relieve some of the stress i've been dealing with lately.
ReplyDeleteI hoping to go into the retreat for a time of rest, sadly that wasn't the case! However, I still had a fantastic time! It was a great time of spiritual growth. God didn't really speak to me in any amazing ways,but it was a good time to just rest in his presence! I am very thankful that I was able to go on this retreat and as the semester is coming to an end it has proven to has help me to stay spiritually healthy through the business of the semester!
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