Fall Retreat Recap
[October 16, 2021]
In July of 2021, 100+ members moved to the Northeast region to start churches in Philadelphia, New York, Stony Brook, and Boston. Just three short months later, we had our first ever Northeast Region Fall Retreat where almost 50 students joined from 13 different campuses. It was a short but sweet one-day retreat where our students got to bond and take ownership of their campuses as mission fields and places where the gospel could be proclaimed.
Group picture of all retreat attendees at Sunday Service.
How It Started
In typical GP fashion, we welcomed the students who drove long hours with some late night food at their respective host-homes, settled them in and got ready for a full day ahead. We started the next morning with breakfast at Denby at 8am where some of our members prepared a mouth-watering array of breakfast foods including burritos, tater-tots, eggs, and fruit. We then began with Shadowboxing, an interesting icebreaker where we let out our nervous energy by pretending to box one another… yeah it is exactly as absurd as it sounds.
Afterwards, Pastor Manny gave us a message on John 4, the account of the Samaritan woman at the well who spent her life trying yet failing to satisfy her soul thirst of being loved by pursuing different husbands. We were challenged to examine how we respond to uncomfortable truths about ourselves and recognizing when Jesus approaches us with a better life strategy.
From Boston to New Hampshire and Back
Harvard students kayaking during New Hampshire outing
After the morning session, we packed up and headed out in a drove of vans to Gardner Lake in New Hampshire to eat lunch and kayak with beautiful views of the quickly waning fall foliage.
After an already packed day, we headed back to Denby for a special church-wide potluck dinner and our second session. We heard two testimonies followed by a continuation of the Samaritan Woman narrative. As the woman leaves her water jar at the well and goes to tell everyone else about the arrival of the Messiah and her close and personal encounter with him, we see the invitation of Christ: to be more than a “Sunday Christian” who gives God 1-2 hours a week at church and to instead be involved in God’s mission for us. The woman acknowledges her sin and experiences being fully loved by Jesus, so she goes to share this news with the very people who shun her.
After this message, we had a meaningful time of prayer for each of the schools. We spent time reading about campus culture and the needs of the students as we read about how many of the students suffered from anxiety and depression, especially after Covid. After getting a sense of what these campuses were like, we wrote a short prayer for them. The students and mentors got a chance to bathe the school in prayers (pictured below: MIT, Rutgers, Boston College, Northeastern, Babson, Brandeis, and Wellesley).
The End
Sunday morning was marked by a spin on Boston’s classic Freedom Trail, the Freedom Experience: four of our CPI’s led tour groups to see significant American landmarks during the Revolutionary War. Along the way, there were challenge stations like building play-doh sculptures at the Boston Athenaeum, taking a short citizenship quiz at Faneuil Hall, and dueling at Boston Common. We then headed back to Denby for our Sunday Service where we were joined by some of the Boston students who couldn’t make it to retreat the day before. We then headed back to Denby for Sunday Service. Pastor Manny gave a message on Genesis 3, the moments directly after the fall where the natural consequences of crossing the boundary in the relationship between man and God led to shame, guilt, and fear. When confronted with uncomfortable truths about ourselves, which the gospel will often point out, how do we choose to respond? We were urged to rather than focusing on truths that protect our self-image, to take responsibility for our sins. In doing so, we get the opportunity to move towards love and connection with others in contrast with the shame and hiding we see in Adam and Eve’s responses to their sin.
Students from Rutgers, Stony Brook, and Drexel University by Faneuil Hall
CPI tour guides at Boston Common
We officially ended retreat by blessing the students with a song and then sending them off to their respective campuses with a tunnel! What an amazing time to meet together with such a new region of our church. It was inspiring to see students willing to drive several hours to Boston and receive a vision for life that God has for them.
Goodbye tunnel at our Boston church location
What’s Next?
While this was a really exciting landmark experience for both our Boston Church and for many students, there is still much so come… including our 2022 Northeast Winter Retreat! We’ll be heading to Mirror Lake, NY with some of the same schools that attended this past Fall Retreat. As the semester gets busier, it’ll be an important time to recommit and reconnect with God.
Sign up for winter retreat in New York!
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