Each year over President’s Day Weekend the High School and Middle School youth join with teenagers from many of the churches in our Presbytery for a winter retreat called Breakaway. It is a weekend where our teenagers have an opportunity to get away to get to know each other better, make new friends from other churches and be challenged in what it means to be followers of Jesus Christ. It is a weekend full of singing, talks from various youth pastors, seminars on living the Christian life, games, lots of free time and chances to share in small groups.
This year our theme was “Outsiders”. We looked at how as Christians we are outsiders in our world and culture. We model Christ who was the ultimate outsider. Our speaker was Drew Derreth, the senior pastor at Hanover Valley Presbyterian Church. We had various breakouts where youth pastors/leaders shared around topics like: what is Sunday worship all about, how do I submit to the authorities over me, what does a Christ centered relationship look like, how do I navigate the social media world, and how do I think about gender and sexuality in a culture that is sending all kinds of messages? We enjoyed some good times getting to know each other but most importantly pushing each other to get to know Jesus. See below and enjoy pictures from this past year’s Breakaway.
Our Breakaway retreat is held at Blue Mountain Christian Retreat and Conference Center.
