Now that you’ve sat down and worked out the reasons you want to run a youth retreat, you’ll have a good idea of your vision. A good next step is to decide on the aim and theme of the youth retreat.
What’s the difference between an aim and a theme? An aim is what you want to achieve, while a theme is the subject you’ll be covering during the youth retreat – often in order to help you achieve the aim.
Choosing your youth retreat aim and theme early in the planning process will actually help with the rest of the planning. How so? Consider the following things you will organize and how knowing your youth retreat aim and/or theme will assist these areas:
1) Retreat center
If you choose a theme about nature, creation, etc. for your youth retreat, booking a retreat center in the mountains or a forest will help tie in with that theme, rather than booking a center not surrounded by nature. If your aim relates to team-building, a retreat center which offers a lot of group activities will facilitate that.
2) Volunteers
Knowing your youth retreat theme and aim upfront means potential volunteers can see that you’re well organized and will have more confidence in your leadership. It can also be a good idea to include your volunteers when choosing an aim and theme for the youth retreat in the first place. That way they can give their own suggestions, which in turn helps them to feel more included in the planning and provides a sense of ownership.
3) Parents
If you haven’t set an aim or chosen a theme and parents ask what the youth retreat is about, you might struggle for an answer. Therefore, having an aim and theme chosen before speaking to parents about the youth retreat will give them greater confidence in your abilities – something youth workers and youth pastors will always welcome!
4) Budget
The largest part of a youth retreat budget will be allocated to paying for the retreat center. As your aim and theme can affect which retreat center you book (as mentioned above), it can in turn affect your budget. Depending on your youth retreat theme and aim, you may also need to purchase additional resources which will further affect your budget. It’s best to know this upfront, rather than having several unplanned expenses further down the line.
5) Activities
Once you’ve chosen an aim and a theme, you can start planning activities and games for the youth retreat that relate to them.
So even if your next youth retreat isn’t happening until next year, start thinking now about what theme you want to cover – it could save you time and hassle further down the line.
**We’ve published a book to help anyone planning a youth retreat. It has a chapter dedicated to setting youth retreat aims and objectives, as well as giving 85 youth retreat theme ideas. Find out more about How To Plan A Youth Retreat here**
Question: What youth retreat themes have you used before and did they work well? Please let us know in the comments below.
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