My Church held a men’s retreat this past weekend. This was my Church’s first men’s retreat in years and, as the lead planner for the weekend, I did not fully know what to expect. Would the weekend be spiritually profitable or a waste of time? Thankfully, the Lord blessed the weekend and it was an incredible time of fellowship and focus on God’s word. Now that the weekend is over, I have been thinking about the many benefits of a men’s retreat. 7 in particular come to mind.

1. A focused time of worship

Most Christian’s would agree that worshiping Christ should be a daily priority. However, oftentimes in the busyness of the week, worshiping the Lord can take second priority over more “pressing” concerns. One of the benefits of a men’s retreat is you have time to simply worship. There are little distractions around you. You can’t make excuses. You are stuck in a singular location with other believers for the sole purpose of listening to the Word, praying, and singing.

One of my favorite things about my Church’s men’s retreat was the singing. At Church, you might sing 4-5 hymns on a given Sunday. But at the men’s retreat, we sang 5 hymns each teaching session. There is something about praising the Lord loudly from the heart with a group of believers over and over again that revives your soul. It lifts your affections and reminds you of the surpassing value of Christ. The sheer amount of focused worship which takes place when you set aside a weekend for a retreat is one great reason to schedule one.

2. A structured context for fellowship

As I have written before, most people even within the Church are somewhat lonely and crave connection with other believers. But where to start? Oftentimes, a quick conversation before or after morning worship is not going to cultivate the deep closeness that you crave. A men’s retreat gives the men of your Church a structured context to simply talk and be around one another. Although it can feel “forced” or “artificial” at first, sticking a bunch of Christians together for a weekend of mealtimes, singing, preaching, and free time is fertile ground for growing closeness among your congregation.

The closeness you cultivate with others during a weekend retreat sticks around long after the retreat is over. Those shared memories, those unexpected conversations, those fellow Church members you talked with for the first time suddenly become fuel for future conversations and meet-ups in the future. Shared experiences are powerful means to connect people together. Creating a context for those memories to be made is one of the greatest benefits of a men’s retreat.

3. A temporary step-back from daily responsibilities

Personally, my normal week-day is one long list of responsibilities. I have things I need to get done at work, I have chores that must get done, I have projects to complete and a hundred other things I “need to do.” While responsibilities are good and given by God, sometimes the urgent cares of the day can get your mind stuck on “things below” rather than “things above where Christ is seated.”

A retreat gives you the chance to temporary set aside your daily responsibilities. This isn’t so that you can forget about them. Rather, this temporary break is so you can seek the Lord and ask that He revive your soul. Then you can then go back and do those daily responsibilities with even more zeal for His glory. You can think of a retreat as a time of refocusing and revival. By removing the normal, daily responsibilities which choke your schedule, you have a whole day or two free to seek the Lord with your whole heart. The excuse of “I don’t have time” no longer applies; you have nothing on your “to do list” but to get your mind re-focused on Christ.

4. Teaching that can deal directly with a pertinent topic

Expositional preaching through a book of Scripture is the best way to consistently expose a congregation to the Word of God. However, every so often a “deep dive” into a pertinent topic addressed is needed. It can be difficult for Pastors to pause an ongoing series to deal with specific topics. But one of the benefits of a men’s retreat is you can choose a single topic to focus on for a weekend.

For my Church’s men’s retreat, we had a guest speaker give three sessions on Biblical manhood. The first session was the “theological foundations of manhood,” the second was “manhood in the context of the home”, and the final session was “manhood in the context of the Church.” Then we had a question and answer session with the Elders to directly address some of the pressing issues brought up. All of the teaching was needed, practical, and edifying for the men of the congregation and there was no better time or place to address such a topic than at a men’s retreat.

5. Time for long and lingering spiritual conversations

Is there anything more edifying than conversations amongst believers? I have taught before on how conversations with other believers are mutually encouraging and impart spiritual blessing to all parties involved. But the most beneficial spiritual conversations often require lingering and long discussion. Dealing with tough theological questions or meditating on applications of a text or sharing a specific spiritual struggle all take time. A normal Sunday service does not provide adequate time to talk about some of these necessary things.

A men’s retreat provides time for believers to talk and to talk long. In the course of a weekend, I had multiple conversations on personal difficulties I have been having, discussed what doctrines Christians should divide over and which ones they should not divide over, thought through the different aspects of God’s character, shared my thoughts on what it means for a man to protect his home, and a host of other conversations. I can’t remember every detail or conclusion these conversations reached, but I can still feel the closeness that came from talking openly with fellow Church members.

6. A time to re-prioritize Christ and His Church

Jesus warned that the “cares of the world” and the “desires for other things entering in” could choke the Word and cause it to become unfruitful. One of the benefits of a men’s retreat is it gives you a chance to “clean house” within your own hear, so to speak. What idols have you picked up during the course of living in this sinful world? What desires do you need to crucify? What excuses have you been making for sin that need to be removed?

I believe revival is a sovereign work of God that cannot be manufactured. But simply setting aside a weekend to seek the Lord as a group of believers can revive your heart in a lesser sense. By focusing your mind on Christ and His Church for an entire weekend it reminds you that nothing in your life is half as important as the Gospel. You are reminded of the value of Christ and your heart longs to return to “your first love.” A men’s retreat can be a very convicting time, but that conviction gives you opportunity to repent and refocus your mind and heart on Christ and what He did for you on the cross.

7. Growing friendships within your congregation

On any given Sunday, there are about a dozen people I want to talk to and need to talk to. The question always comes after the last hymn plays: should I find and talk to the people I already know but need to talk to? Or do I go talk with someone I do not know? A men’s retreat gives you enough time to reach out to believers in your body who you seldom connected with. Suddenly a person who you only swapped a few sentences with before becomes a new friend.

Certainly believers are spiritually united in Christ and Church members in particular are committed to loving and serving one another. Yet having real friendships among believers makes all of this easier and more tangible. A men’s retreat gives your congregation the time and space to either develop new friendships or grow old ones. The hope is that these real friendships would continue past the retreat and grow your body closer together.

Conclusion

These 7 benefits of a men’s retreat are by no means exhaustive. But if your Church has not tried to do a men’s retreat or any other type of retreat (women’s retreat, family retreat, elder-deacon retreat, etc.), I would encourage you to start planning something annually. It can be tough to plan and coordinate a retreat, but the spiritual benefits of a men’s retreat far outweigh any difficulty you might have getting it set up.

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