Showing posts with label retreat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label retreat. Show all posts

Why You Should Question Everything in Your Children's Ministry

5:01 PM  Dale Hudson  

This week I am leading our children's ministry team in a retreat (we call it an advance).

Today we spent the entire day working on ourselves as leaders.  We spent time with Jesus, had a Bible study, talked about personal responsibility and sharpened some of our ministry skills.

Tomorrow we will spend the entire day in strategic planning.  A big part of this will be questioning everything we do.  We'll take every part of our ministry and ask these and other questions.
  • Does this still correlate with our goals?
  • Is this still helping us accomplish our purpose?
  • Is this overlapping or duplicating something else we are doing?
  • Are we seeing lives changed through this?
  • Is it working?
  • Does it need to be tweaked or adjusted?
  • How can we improve it?
  • Do we need to stop doing it?
Question everything in your ministry on a regular basis.  If you don't, you'll find yourself busy but ineffective.  Just because it worked yesterday doesn't mean it will work today.  
CHILDREN'S MINISTRY STAFF TEAM AT PLANNING RETREAT





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January Staff / Volunteer Retreat...See the Agenda We Follow

7:07 AM  Dale Hudson  

I am often asked for our staff retreat agenda.  I take our team on a retreat twice a year.

Once in January to prepare for the new year and once in the summer to prepare for the fall.

I have found these retreats (we call them "advances") deepen our relationships, renew our passion, and give us time to dream and plan for the future.

Whether you have 2 or 20 or 200 people on your team, I would encourage you to make some time to pull away together.  It doesn't have to cost a big chunk of change.  It can be as simple as getting together at someone's house or driving over to the next town and sitting in Starbucks together.

The benefits are enormous and it might be just what you need to help you and your team get to the next level.

If you'd likc a copy of our retreat agenda, feel free to email me at dalehudsoncm2@gmail.com and I'll send it to you.

Believing with you that 2014 is going to be your best ministry year ever!
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9 Elements of a Productive Staff Retreat

6:16 AM  Unknown  


Twice a year, our Children's Ministry staff goes on a retreat.  One is a two-day retreat that is held in July.  You can read about our summer retreat at this post.

The other retreat is held in January.  This is a one-day retreat.  Here are the elements that we incorporate into this retreat. 

Devotional and Prayer
We start off in God's Word and prayer.  It's important we prepare our hearts for what God wants to do in us and through us.  The prayer time usually consists of prayer stations.  This past retreat we had four prayer stations people could spend time at. 
  • Fresh wind of God's Spirit - We had a fan set up.  People could stand in front of the breeze and ask God's Spirit to blow afresh on their life.
  • Lend a hand - We had paper that people could trace their hand on and then write prayer requests inside the traced hand.  They could then spend time praying for the needs others had written in their traces.
  • Pictures of Christ - We had pictures of Christ looping on a screen.  People could sit and meditate on the images.
  • The Suffering of Christ - We had a bowl of ice available.  People could hold a piece of ice in their hand and be reminded of the suffering Christ endured for them.
 
Review of Previous Year
  • Goals - How did we do?
  • Stories - Each campus shares life stories about what God did.

Preview of Coming Year
  • Key events
  • Budget
  • Staffing
  • Goals

Team Building Activity

Lunch
We cater in a meal.  We also have snacks and drinks available throughout the day as well.

Leadership Development
Teaching on a topic that will help us grow as leaders.

Game
Fun is an important part of growing together as friends.

Initiatives 
We look at a key initiative we are preparing to implement.

Encouragement Activity / Closing Prayer Time
This is a prayer activity where we pray for each other.  This year we had everyone write prayer requests on a beach ball and then swapped them so we could pray for each others needs all year.

If you would like a copy of the agenda we used, feel free to contact me at dalehudsoncm2@gmail.com.

Below are also some pictures from the retreat two weeks ago.











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