|
Marriage
Overnight Cruise |
Another Way to
Get Away | Dinner
for Eight | Game Nights
Overnight
Cruise
An
overnight getaway inside your own church... pretty
crazy??
Pick a theme. Our church
used a cruise line theme. We dressed up and
boarded in the front lobby and teen boys whisked
our luggage to our suite. Each suite had a name,
Moonlight, Caribbean, etc.
We began with dinner. A
banquet hall decorated with beach balls, captain's
wheel, netting, plastic fish and crabs.
Serving fish, shrimp and
other island foods.
We retreated to our Sunday school rooms to change
out of formal clothing and what a treat. Each
"cabin" did not have tables or chairs, but a full
sized mattress on the floor (we brought our own
sheets and pillows). The teens had made the
beds. On each bed was a his and her T-shirt for
the cruise line (Rapture Cruise line was the name
we used), leis, after dinner mints and a schedule
of the evening. The table had a small lamp and an
empty coffee can full of ice with bottles of water
in them. There was also a radio playing softly in
the room and a clock radio.
We changed into jeans and the
T-shirts and met in the different rooms at
different times. Each room had a cute name, how
could i remember them all? There was a comedy
routine the first evening involving how a man
finds a wife. We shared our first dates or how we
met. We were laughing more than anything.
The morning brought a
wonderful breakfast. Our kids that were too young
to be home alone were camped out in the nursery
run by the older teen girls.
After breakfast we met in the
sanctuary and had a lesson on financing your
home. We had a break time and some fun in the
gymnasium with a light baseball game and some
hoola-hoops. Marriage Enrichment had been
scheduled to give us an interesting program in the
afternoon. I can find the phone number for them
if you what to find a ME couple in your state.
It was a full cruise but I know my husband and I
enjoyed the excitement and we have the matching
T-shirts, the little umbrellas from our dinner,
leis, pictures and many memories.
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Another
Way To Get Away
In our
previous church, the youth's ministry to the young families in the church
was once a year they would set up a "free babysitting night" at church. They'd have snacks, toys, and games for the kids to have fun while Mom and
Dad went out with friends to have some fellowship and "adult time." It was
a lot of fun! I could have enjoyed it more than once a year, but hey, you
take what you can get! I still think this is a great way for youth to serve
in the church. (There were plenty of older youth and the youth pastor & his
wife so it wasn't just 7th and 8th graders watching babies!)
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Dinner
for Eight
Members of the congregation sign up to
participate in this function. "Dinner
for Eight" consists of 4 couples or pairs.
(singles, widows, etc.) One of these 4 couples
will agree to be the host couple for one dinner.
Each couple will have an opportunity to be the
host couple once within the 4 month period that
the program runs. The host couple sets the
date of the dinner and provides the main course
and drinks. The other 3 couples will be
assigned a dish to bring, either a vegetable, a
salad, or a dessert. Couples will then be rotated
by a schedule so that the next month you will have
dinner with 3 completely different couples.
This encourages fellowship in the homes and mixes
the old, young, widowed, singles etc. together so
they will get to know more about each others
lives.
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Game Nights
When I was a small child, my parents used to spend
time at the neighbors house playing games until the
wee hours of the morning. All of the kids
would have fun playing and when it was bed time, we
would all go to bed - even if it was at the
neighbors house!
There was something about hearing my parents and
our neighbors laughing, teasing one another and
shouting over game pieces that gave me a great sense
of warmth and safety. Playing, laughing, enjoying
the company of other couples around a game board is
healing and relaxing. It bonds friendships, creates
unity and emotional health - when centered around
life giving relationships with Jesus Christ.
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