[W.A.T.C.H] Jabodetabek Teens Ministry Retreat 2017

1 Peter 2:17 Honor everyone, love your brothers and sisters, fear God, honor the king!

Jesus taught many things in His ministry, but the focus of His ministry was love. Jesus taught, healed, fed people, and in the end gave His life to save us. He did all of that solely because He wanted to show love. As disciples of Jesus, we need to imitate and teach the love that He has, as Peter showed in the verse above.

This desire to learn to imitate Jesus' love became the theme of the Jabodetabek teens ministry retreat this year. Held on July 7-9, the theme of this retreat was W.A.T.C.H., short for Want To Be Like Christ. Taking place at Taman Bukit Palem Resort Bogor, this retreat was attended by around 150 participants from Jakarta and the surrounding areas.

On the first day the participants arrived and immediately registered. They were divided into several groups. These groups would become their games groups and also their D group (fellowship groups). The event opened with praise and games. Without the help of the mentors, the teens themselves opened the retreat event.

After the opening, Pastor Budi delivered the first lesson for them. After receiving the lesson they continued on to dinner. After dinner they returned to their respective groups to discuss the lesson that had been given. They shared their opinions with one another and learned from each other, seeing the lesson from different perspectives.

At 8 p.m. they gathered again in the hall to play games. For about 1 hour, they played games that taught teamwork. After that they had family time. This family time was used for mutualencouragement with one another. The participants took turns raising their hands and sharing who had inspired them that day.

The second day began with morning exercise. Several participants were chosen in turn to lead the movements. After exercising, the participants had breakfast and got ready to receive the lesson. The second lesson was delivered by Pastor Harliem. The lesson, which lasted about 2 hours, ended with D group. The participants once again gathered to share about the lesson they had just received.

At 12 o'clock the participants had lunch. After that they played several indoor games and afterward enjoyed about 1 hour of freetime before receiving the third lesson delivered by the leader of Jakarta teens ministry, Pastor Alex. After the lesson the participants hurried to the swimming pool to witness a baptism.

After the baptism event the participants returned to the room for dinner. The praise and worship session was held after dinner. Teens Jakarta and Bekasi were the ones assigned to lead the praise at that event. After that they went back outside to enjoy the bonfire and closed the day with family time.

On the last day of the retreat the teens held a devo together and morning prayer. This was followed by communion and sharing, as several retreat participants came forward and shared what they had received from the retreat. After about 2 hours, the mentors announced the winners of the games. The final event was a group photo taken in front of the hall. The teens then had lunch and returned to their homes.

At this retreat they learned to love one another, practice God's word in their lives, and become people who are more like Christ.

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