How to plan a youth group retreat (+ free download)

Like so many youth leaders, I grieve how little time I actually get with young people. Sure, youth group is 90 minutes a week. But between school, extracurriculars, and busy schedules, most students aren't at church every week.

That’s where retreats come into play. In one retreat, you’ll get more face time with teenagers than in an entire semester of youth group. Done well, retreats will connect teenagers, enabling them to form deep relationships built on trust with students and leaders alike. They’ll also jumpstart or restart discipleship.

Good retreats don’t just happen, though. They take preparation, attention to detail, and intentionality. Here are 14 steps you can take to help ensure your next retreat will be as effective at discipling young people as possible.

Follow these steps to plan your youth group retreat

1. Set some goals for your retreat with key stakeholders (people who care about and are invested in your ministry). Is relationship building your primary goal? Discipleship? Service? Worship? Knowing what you’re trying to accomplish will shape every other aspect of your retreat and enable you to define success.
2. Choose your topic. Good ministry starts with listening, so before you decide what you want to talk about, ask young people what’s important to them. What questions are they currently wrestling with? What issues are they facing? How is your group doing as a whole? Check in with adult leaders to hear their thoughts. Retreats give you uninterrupted time and space to dig into a topic deeply with students, so they can be good opportunities to wrestle with hard topics that might be difficult to break up over multiple weeks. Or you can introduce spiritual practices that young people can then take home with them.
3. Choose your date and location. While you can certainly do a retreat at your church, something powerful happens when you can get away. Plus, getting away discourages teenagers from coming and going as their schedule allows, which is helpful for both relationship building and discipleship. Just about any setting can work for a retreat: a hotel, conference center, school, another church, someone’s vacation home, or even a campground. Reserve your location early so you can get your retreat on people’s calendars in time for them to schedule around it.
4. Set your schedule based on your retreat goals. Since free time is when people tend to feel lonely, and it tends to be when you’ll run into the most behavioral issues, carefully consider how much free time to include in your schedule. In general, the less young people in your ministry know each other, the less free time you should have. The younger the students in your ministry are, the less free time you should have. You’ll also serve young people and their families well if you plan for lights out and sleep, particularly since high school teenagers still require 8-10 hours of sleep a night. A solid schedule for a youth ministry’s weekend retreat might be:
   
   
   
5. Choose your curriculum. Once you know your goals and what topic you’d like to explore during your retreat, choose a curriculum. In addition to looking for a curriculum that matches your context’s theology, consider what other components might help you meet your goals. For example, if your goals are discipleship and community building, you might want a curriculum that has a small group component, that is discussion-based, and that has experiential elements that help teenagers get to know each other. 
   
   💡 Need some inspiration for your next retreat? We've created a fun and meaningful 4-session retreat curriculum to help your youth group explore what it means to trust God and grow closer as a faith-filled, trusting community. Find it in the FYI store! 
   
   
6. Recruit. You can’t lead a retreat by yourself. Start recruiting leaders early. Encourage your regular team to join, reminding them that doing so will fast-track their relationships with young people and give them a great opportunity to build trust. If your team includes parents, check with their teenagers before inviting them to attend. Doing so helps teenagers feel like their retreat can still be theirs (as opposed to their parents.) If a teenager says they don’t want their parent on the retreat, respect that. Also, spend time recruiting young people to join you. While your regulars will likely be the first to sign up, retreats are a natural opportunity to reach out to young people on the margins of your ministry and invite them to participate.
7. Prep your curriculum. No matter how good your curriculum is, you’ll need to spend considerable time prepping. Tweak problematic theology, rewrite questions to meet the unique needs of your group, and adjust sessions to fit into your retreat schedule. If you’re utilizing small group leaders, prep your curriculum with enough time to get those components to your leaders at least a week or two in advance so they also have time to prep.
8. Train your leaders via Zoom, video, or in person. Cast vision for the retreat. Then, tell leaders exactly what you need and expect from them during the retreat. Help them understand their role in discipling the teenagers on the retreat. Give them a preview of the different sessions along with practical dos and don’ts on leading the material you’ve given them.
9. Consider how to involve others in your retreat. Ask people in your congregation to be prayer buddies who will pray for specific students by name during your retreat (and perhaps even send their buddy a note during the retreat.) Invite people to do your shopping for you. Ask others to lead worship. Invite adult or student leaders to give devotions or testimonies. Invite your pastor to join you in the parking lot as you leave and pray for those on your retreat. These seemingly small practices can lead to big wins as more people in your faith community begin investing in young people.
10. Overcommunicate with parents. Send an email, host a dinner, or make a video for parents that walks them through what you’ll be exploring during the retreat. Cast vision and let them know why this retreat matters for the faith formation of their teenager. Immediately following the retreat, send an email sharing retreat highlights and 3-5 questions they can ask their teenager to get them talking about their experience.
11. Think about the details. To help all young people feel welcome, carefully orchestrate your environment. Consider assigning vans and small groups to separate cliques and help those on the fringes of your ministry make friends. Think through the start of each of your sessions and how you’ll engage teenagers throughout them. Tap student and adult leaders to watch out for students on the fringe and sit with them at meals. If you have free time, give teens activity options and help connect teenagers before you dismiss people.
12. Decide how to handle cell phones. If teenagers have their cell phones, they will be on them. While that may be comforting to them, it can steal their attention. So consider setting an expectation to leave cell phones at home; or once you arrive at your destination, collect cell phones, or only allow them during free time in common areas (never in sleeping areas or bathrooms).
13. Intentionally find ways to share about the retreat after you return home. Invite a teenager to give a testimony at youth group about how they saw God at work. Or do the last session of your retreat curriculum at home with everyone. Options like these help those unable to participate in your retreat feel included.
14. Pray. As you prepare for your retreat, pray by name for the leaders and young people who will participate in it. Pray that they will encounter God and be moved. Pray for relationships to form. Pray that the retreat will be a powerful catalyst for growth in the lives of those who are a part of it.

FREE GIFT: Download a printable copy of these 14 steps to plan your next youth group retreat with ease

Take time out to build trust in your ministry

Our 4-session retreat curriculum for middle and high school youth groups explores biblical stories to help your students grow to understand that God sticks with us even when we struggle to trust. You’ll have fun and explore Scripture together in ways that will create conversation, lasting memories, and deeper bonds.

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