Surrender is a youth retreat that is put on every year by several youth groups throughout Shanghai. It's not a full-scale youth conference, but it is a great time to get away from life for a few days and focus solely on God. We missed out on the retreat last year because we were exploring the Great Wall for the first time and checking out the Terracotta Warriors with Lyssa and Kirsten (which was SUCH a great trip, btw). This year though, we were excited to be a part of the retreat. So for the first two days of October break we headed over to the other side of Shanghai (which feels like another city in and of itself since it's about an hour's drive away) to focus on our students, and on the concept of surrender.
We spent two full days helping students work out personal fears and giving them up to the Lord. We spent a lot of time worshipping, praying, encouraging, and of course....playing dodgeball.
The essence of the retreat can be summed up in this main idea. :)
To surrender, Jesus says, "I'll trade you"
He trades:
- His righteousness for our sin (Romans 3:20-23)
- His together for our alone (Colossians 1:21-22)
- His peace for our chaos (Philippians 4:6-7)
- His confidence for our fear (1 John 4:18)
Here are a few pics from the weekend :)
The essence of the retreat can be summed up in this main idea. :)
To surrender, Jesus says, "I'll trade you"
He trades:
- His righteousness for our sin (Romans 3:20-23)
- His together for our alone (Colossians 1:21-22)
- His peace for our chaos (Philippians 4:6-7)
- His confidence for our fear (1 John 4:18)
Here are a few pics from the weekend :)
One of the highlights of the weekend was smashing plates- we wrote lies (that make it hard for us to surrender our problems to God) on ceramic plates...and then we smashed the plates with a hammer! It was awesome to see students smash their burdens away and receive the life JC has to offer. Overall, it was a great time together with our KG students (KG is the name of our youth group (Knowing God)), and a very fun and full weekend on the other side of town.