Food + Fun – Formality = Great Fellowship
On the long weekend (5th-8th June) we had a team weekend away. The main aim of this weekend was binding and getting to know each other. So we planned to do…not very much. And it worked….incredibly well, in fact better than I expected.
It was not like we did not do thinking or talking about Jesus and the Bible. We looked at a talk on DVD, we went to church together, we prayed, we even had the Lord’s supper. Not because we had to, but because we wanted to (s0meone else organized the bread and port for Lord’s Supper).
An example of our high energy program!
Most of the weekend was spent talking about our dreams for our lives and the church and how it could please Jesus and reach out to people. And I think that because we were talking as we wanted to it was far more productive. But often it was having fun and getting to know people beyond the superficial.
The most surprising thing for me is that we got to the end of the weekend…rested and keen to serve each other and Jesus.
This kind of weekend works well for a small group. We had 13 people there through the weekend. Anymore than 20 I think the group would fracture and more formality and structure would be needed. On the other hand, hanging out and resting with each other was something I would would like to see more Christian do together.
It is a kind of Sabbath: enjoying the relationships and order that God has brought to the community. I suspect that many leaders have not done it in the past, that I have heard of, because it does not sound like anything is getting done, but lots gets done – in terms of relationships. In fact I often wonder if we over program some of our weekends away and time together that we program out relationships altogether.
I do need to acknowledge though that it is a big risk and the objectives of the weekend need to be carefully spelled out, some people like to know what will happen next and others jump in to organize what they see as disorganization. But in a world which is busier and more isolating than ever this kind of weekend is what Christians should be leading the way in.
June 26, 2009 at 8:27 am
Interesting approach. How do you thin it would scale with 300+ people?
June 28, 2009 at 11:11 pm
Personally I am looking forward to our church growing to this size so we can do something like this: (it’s all to do with the scale of economics)
- Book out a caravan park near the beach (where I live there are parks that have a variety of accommodation from family apartments to tents) but I would try and book out the whole park to ourselves.
- Bring in some entertainment for the kids (clowns and face painters, etc. which work out cheap at that size)
- Bring in a coffee cart for the adults
- Have some places where people can come and hang
- Have a BIG roast, thing for everyone on Saturday night
- Provide places for people if they want to pray through the weekend
There are a few ideas. I guess what I am saying is going on holiday as a church is a good thing.
June 29, 2009 at 1:40 am
Good thinking. I was stuck thinking of Merroo as a location, and trying to figure out how to get different people all socially interacting.
But of course if it’s a holiday focus and less corporate preaching then a holiday park would be much better. You could even think of it as a festival/celebration type atmosphere. And you could obviously do all sorts of different activities to cater to different people at a beach location.
Plus, it’s also much more open and outward focused – could visit local haunts and interact with them etc..
June 29, 2009 at 7:37 am
Yep, that is exactly what I was thinking. Especially being a witness to others. I think people seeing Christians celebrate their community is a good thing.